Equal marriage mural in Australia defaced with ‘hetero pride’
A mural of rainbow wings in support of same-sex marriage was vandalised in Melbourne overnight.
The mural in the Fitzroy area of central Melbourne had the phrase “hetero pride” sprayed across the centre.
The writing on the mural which read “I’m voting Yes for marriage equality” was also hidden by spray paint.
The idea of ‘heterosexual pride’ often arises when LGBT+ issues are discussed, with a Seattle man organising a ‘straight pride’ parade in 2015.
In March of this year, an Indiana high school was the centre of a controversy when students put up ‘straight pride’ posters.
The vandalism of the mural was spotted by twitter user @AtticusThomas, who lives nearby.
The mural was painted by street artist Van Rudd last week.
This is the third set of wings that the artist has painted in the lead-up to the postal survey,
The artist told Pedestrian that his first mural: “didn’t see the light of day” and was promptly painted over, whilst the second was also defaced with a large ‘No.’
The postal surveys are due to be sent out from today, and the polling will last until November 7.
Related: What the hell is going on with same-sex marriage in Australia?
The vandalism comes shortly after the proposal of temporary laws designed to prevent some of the bigotry that has surfaced in the run-up to the postal vote.
These emergency laws are designed to prevent “vilifying” or “intimidating” people based on their sexual orientation or religious convictions during the postal survey.
The postal survey has been widely criticised by LGBT+ activists due to the fact that the survey is not legally binding and has contributed to a surge in homophobic speech in Australia.
Murals have been used in the lead-up to the Australian postal survey before, with a beautiful mural appearing in Sydney recently showing Tony Abbott marrying… Tony Abbott.
