Business

Children’s entertainer sacked because ‘voting against same-sex marriage is homophobic’

Sep 19 2017
Written by Josh Jackman

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

An Australian business owner has sacked a staff member for voting No in the same-sex marriage ballot.

Madlin Sims, whose company arranges children’s birthday parties, said she had fired one of her entertainers after they publicised their intention to vote No on Facebook.

Right-wing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has introduced a postal vote that has led to a flood of homophobic hate speech, including posters which call gay people “child abusers” and “terrorists”.

And Sims justified her decision to let 18-year-old staff member Madeline go by saying on Facebook that “advertising your desire to vote no for SSM is, in my eyes, hate speech.

“Voting no is homophobic. Advertising your homophobia is hate speech.”

Sims, who lives in the capital of Canberra, explained: “1. It’s bad for business.

“2. I don’t like s*** morals. 3. I don’t want homophobes working for me, especially in an environment with children.

“It’s not okay to vote no. It’s not okay to be homophobic.”

She denied censoring her staff member’s freedom of speech or discriminating against their religious beliefs, saying: “This isn’t a matter of opinion or even religion.

“It’s a matter of the love [and] livelihood of real human beings. Freedom of speech is there for a reason and so are consequences.”

Sims has received a lot of backlash online for her decision, with some calling her “a bigot”.

Others have lent their support, with one person telling her: “Please reach out if your old employee takes legal action against your business”.

They continued: “I would like to contribute to help pay for your lawyers.

“Thank you for taking a stance and putting the future of young gay girls and boys first so that they can have an easier life.”

One person wrote: “Madlin that’s the best!! I’m so proud of you for standing up!!”

Another pointed out: “If you can sack someone for being racist you can sack someone for being homophobic”.

And writing today on Facebook, Sims had zero regrets, promising to “keep talking about marriage equality and how fkn important it is ❤️ “.

She added: “I risked my business and my integrity doing this but I don’t really give a s*** because I can wake up tomorrow and marry any bloke I want (if they consent of course)”.

Sims also encouraged others to join her cause, adding that “if anyone else supports equality like I do and has a few spare bucks, skip your afternoon coffee and donate to the equality campaign “.