Gay politician targeted by ‘bigoted’, homophobic vandals
Jason Ball has condemned anti-gay vandals after they targeted his election posters.
A gay, Australian Greens candidate has spoken out against the ‘bigots’ who scrawled anti-gay slurs across his election posters.
Jason Ball – the Greens candidate for the Victorian seat of Higgins – released a photo on Thursday showing the word ‘FAG’ scrawled in black paint across a picture of his face.
Condemning the attack, Mr Ball said he would “never be silent in the face of bigotry”.
“I post this picture not to give the haters oxygen but to send a message to young LGBTI people that I have their back,” he wrote.
“The last time I had this word written about me it was scrawled across a school toilet door. I was 15.
“Now, in 2016 the homophobes are thankfully in the minority. But acts like this show we have a long way to go. And these acts do not happen in a vacuum,” he added.
“We should not have to fear for our safety just for daring to live our lives openly.
“We must not be scared to hold our partner’s hand as we walk down the street.”
Mr Ball – who became the first Australian Rules footballer to come out as openly gay in 2012 – said the gay community had been “relentlessly attacked” in recent times.
“Politicians have likened us to paedophiles. Religious leaders have compared the fight for equality to the advance of Nazism.
“We should not have to fear for our safety just for daring to live our lives openly.
“We must not be scared to hold our partner’s hand as we walk down the street.”
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was forced to apologise earlier this week for having dinner with an anti-gay preacher.
Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman claims that homosexuality is an “evil action” that causes God to give them AIDS.
