World

Someone tried to kick this dog because it was wearing a marriage equality scarf

  • Sep 27 2017
  • Written by Katharine Swindells
Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

A homophobe in Australia tried to kick a dog, because its owner had dressed it in a marriage equality bandana.

Claire Sutherland, the acting editor of RendezView, tweeted a picture of her dog Mack with the caption “So some mouth-breathing cretin in the park tried to kick my dog while shouting homophobic slurs. Australia you have truly shat the bed.”

Sutherland wrote a piece for the Herald Sun describing the incident.

She said that she didn’t usually put clothes on dogs, but that Mack hadn’t seemed to mind this one, since he “seems to have upped his pat count on walks since donning it.”

Mack was being walked by their sitter in a park in Yarraville, Melbourne, when he ran past a man who saw the scarf, and aimed a kick at him.

Thankfully he missed, so Mack wasn’t hurt.

Sutherland said the man then began verbally abusing their sitter.

“He called her a “perverted f***king poofter”, a degenerate and dangerous, while referencing the same-sex marriage survey,” she wrote.

Sutherland said that she’s surprised by how vitriolic the same-sex marriage debate has become, though realises this may be because she is straight.

This is far from the first instance of abuse, with Yes campaigners report verbal and physical attacks.

One woman ‘feared for her life’ when rocks were thrown at her home and posters and leaflets have been circulated that call gay people “terrorists” and “child-abusers.”

Leading mental health organisations have expressed fears that this debate could leave lasting damage on the LGBT community.

“But honestly Australia,” Sutherland asks. “Have we really reached the “shouting at dogs” stage of the marriage equality debate. How did we get here?”

People have responded with support for Claire, Mack, and the Yes campaign as a whole.

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