Homophobic, transphobic flyers appear before Sydney election
Homophobic and transphobic flyer advises people not to vote Labor. (Reddit/bedroomtissue)
Homophobic and transphobic flyers have appeared around Sydney, Australia, in the run up to this month’s state election.
The flyers, which appeared on Reddit, are written in English, Arabic and Chinese. They warn Australians not to vote for the Labor Party unless they want their children to “become homosexuality.”
“If you do not want your children to learn how to sponke their monkeys,” the flyer continues, “Do not vote Labor.”
The series of bizarre and bigoted warnings to those thinking of voting Labor. (Reddit)
The election material was delivered around the suburb of Huntsville, which has a high immigrant population and predominantly voted against same-sex marriage in the 2017 postal vote.
The poster also attacked transgender people by demanding people avoid voting Labor “if you do not want the children have 63 genders.”
“The confusing thing is that the writer knew enough English to know about the phrase spanking the monkeys and yet f***ed everything up grammatically.”
—Reddit user Goonred
The flyers also include a picture of a young girl covering her eyes as she is surrounded by cartoons depicting same-sex relationships.
The cartoon figures appear to be engaging in a range of activities, from hand-holding and taking their baby out for a stroll, to engaging in sexual acts and masturbation.
This isn’t the first time homophobic and transphobic election material has been spotted around Sydney.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the exact same posters were spotted in the run up to the equal marriage postal vote in September 2017.
Labor MP Chris Minns reported them at the time to the electoral commission. He told 9 News that he has done the same again.
Homophobic and transphobic flyer advises people not to vote Labor. (Reddit)
“Parents across southern Sydney have every right to be worried that their children have been exposed to these filthy images in their letterboxes,” he said.
The MP for Kogarah, New South Wales, continued: “This disgusting material should have parents worried, and I’ve referred it to the electoral commission because it’s illegally distributed.”
The internet reacts to homophobic, transphobic flyers
The post has ignited debate on Reddit, attracting nearly 300 comments.
Some users were understandably outraged. AlexisN168 said the posters “undermine the rapidly fading basic tenets of our democratic system.”
User Ceelai pointed out that it is reminiscent of other flyers, more extreme in their language, which they claim were posted in the same area during the equal marriage campaign.
Reddit user says Sydney homophobic flyers remind them of this bigoted poster delivered to Huntsville prior to the equal marriage postal vote. (Reddit)
But most people attempted to undercut the homophobic content with humour.
Goonred pondered that “the confusing thing is that the writer knew enough English to know about the phrase spanking the monkeys and yet f***ed everything up grammatically.”
(Goonred/ Reddit)
Gpoly said that they “already have a huge sponking problem,” and asked if that meant they are allowed to vote Labor.
(Gpoly/Reddit)
And Jay_shizzle wrote: “Voting Labor will cause my kids to sponke the monkey and become homosexuality? Well, that explains my son, bi-curious George.”
(Jay_shizzle/Reddit)
Sydney will head to the polls March 23 for state elections, before the federal elections take place in May.
