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Homophobia Free Zones in OZ


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According to this news report ...

Sydney council to declare homophobia-free zones

It's an Aussie first, but critics say it's a gimmick

Venues will need to show anti-homophobia measures

FIRST there were nuclear-free zones, then alcohol-free zones. Now Sydney is set to introduce "homophobia-free zones".

In an Australian-first, City of Sydney council is moving to single out parts of the city for a crackdown on homophobic behaviour.

One of the commentators asks, "If you declare areas as 'homophobia-free' zones it means anywhere else its ok?"

:icon13:

Meanwhile for all our UK members our Aussie Murdoch press has now reported that Margaret Thatcher (now suffering from Alzheimer's) was "Britain's first and, so far, only female premier".

Premier? What happened to Prime Minister? :smile:

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I think I'd rather assume it will be like Smoke Free Zones, in that the adherence enforcement is much more rigid there, than the soft enforcement in other areas.

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What's the excuse for not making it city-wide, or even state-wide?

West Hollywood is the gayest area I've ever been in (even more so than a lot of San Francisco), and there's gay-bashing incidents there all the time. When you have a large congregation of gay people in one area, there's always the risk of attracting violent people who want to come to town and cause trouble.

I believe there are statewide anti-hate-crime laws in California, but applying them is generally up to the D.A., when they're charging somebody with a violent act. Usually this adds X number of years to the prison sentence, or (in the case of murder) makes the suspect ineligible for parole.

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What's the excuse for not making it city-wide, or even state-wide?

The council is a local government area, roughly analogous to a county, though usually smaller. They don't even cover all of Sydney, but only the central area (where the main gay area in Darlinghurst is located). That's why they couldn't make the decision to make it city-wide, let alone state-wide.

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