Mum puts up rainbow flag, homophobes respond ‘I hope your kids get AIDS’
An Australian mother who put up a rainbow flag to show her support for equal marriage received homophobic hate mail targeting her young children.
Australia is currently holding a public vote on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to get married.
Mother-of-two Bec Spiteri, of Melbourne, had decided to show her support for equal marriage by flying a rainbow flag from her home.
But after putting up the flag, an anonymous person left a horrific homophobic letter at Ms Spiteri’s home.
The letter, printed in red capital letters, appears to threaten Ms Spiteri’s children.
It says: “YOU FERAL SCUM PUSHING DISEASE ON OUR CHILDREN OF THE FUTURE ALBION SCUM
“ILL [sic] GIVE U A YES SAME SEX SCUM I KNOW YOUR HOUSE I HOPE YOUR KIDS GET AIDS AND BASHED”.
Speaking to the Mail, Ms Spiteri said: “This is absolutely a legitimate attack on me, a straight ally, who happens to be flying some rainbow flags.
“I have no issue with people having an opposing opinion to mine. As long as they express that view respectfully.
“This is not respectful. This is a threat. And I will not tolerate my children being threatened.”
The mother has called the police and handed over CCTV footage of a figure leaving the man leaving the homophobic letter in her mailbox, and kicking over her bin.
She said: “Whoever it was is irrational and uninformed. I’d say he’s done his worst, but I wasn’t going to leave it to chance, which is why I contacted the police.
“It makes me angry because they’ll think they’ve won. It’s so important for allies to stand up for those who are most affected by this vote.”
There have been a spate of homophobic hate incidents across Australia during the vote.
Last month a cafe was threatened with arson for supporting the Yes campaign while a 14 year old girl received a death threat for supporting marriage equality on social media.
Two Australian radio stations last week abruptly cut a live feed of a Macklemore performance at a sports event when he began to sing gay anthem Same Love.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a hardline opponent of LGBT equality, led calls for the performance to be cancelled, claiming that Macklemore’s track would be perceived as supporting same-sex marriage.
