The Deep North (Queensland) Strikes Again.

[DesDownunder]

Opinions on this?

http://www.samesame.com.au/news/10613/Theres-nothing-wrong-with-two-men-kissing

[Guest Dabeagle]

I think it's a cop out, a bow to the hetero-normative ideas imposed on the rest of us. The next thing is 'think of the children!'. Disney used this for years on their programming, claiming that it was too controversial while letting the little beasts glance longingly at an opposite sex person oif interest.

If anything it forces people to confront reality and have an honest conversation with their kids - if they are capable. It's a teachable moment that weak willed or bigoted politicians won't allow. And, 'lifestyle' chairman? Really? As my good friend George said, 'If you want to know what a moronic word lifestyle is all you have to do is realize that, in a technical sense, Attila the Hun had an active, outdoor lifestyle!'

[Nigel Gordon]

A good point was made at the Untold Stories reception where one of the speakers made the point that having equality was not enough what we need is acceptance, as long as issues like this come up we do not have acceptance so the fight is still on.

[Jeff Ellis]

Brilliant strategy... it's worked before in love and war... provoke them into attacking and then shoot them down. It sounds like the lifestyle charman hasn't spotted the fighter's on her tail.

[Chris James]

Reminds me of that beach scene with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity....where are the Japanese planes?

Sexy stuff, perhaps a little too much for the average kid to absorb, but then sex sells, we all know this. I wouldn't want to see a heterosexual couple like this on a billboard, so why is it okay for a gay couple to be doing this?

[Guest Dabeagle]

Reminds me of that beach scene with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity....where are the Japanese planes?

Sexy stuff, perhaps a little too much for the average kid to absorb, but then sex sells, we all know this. I wouldn't want to see a heterosexual couple like this on a billboard, so why is it okay for a gay couple to be doing this?

Because they DO put hetero couples up in public places in the same way. There is nothing wrong with a kiss on the beach in swimwear - anyone who has ever been swimming has seen people attired in such a way. We get hetero billboards, commercials, etc - if you do it for one, you do it for the other. Whether or not we want to see it at all doesn't matter - just like I don't want to see billboards for churches, even though it's advertising for a business like any other.

[DesDownunder]

Because they DO put hetero couples up in public places in the same way. There is nothing wrong with a kiss on the beach in swimwear - anyone who has ever been swimming has seen people attired in such a way. We get hetero billboards, commercials, etc - if you do it for one, you do it for the other. Whether or not we want to see it at all doesn't matter - just like I don't want to see billboards for churches, even though it's advertising for a business like any other.

Not like any other...other businesses pay taxes.

Being a free spirit, I don't care if we have honest carefree advertising of naked people doing it in public, provided they are advertising sex, and not using sex to advertise some commercial venture. For instance it might be fun to have billboards with photos of people in various stages of sexual play and a caption underneath saying, "Love they neighbour" or "Make Love Not War."

The poster under question here, is mildly erotic, but is also a gay version of an iconic scene from a movie: From Here To Eternity, classified by f\the Commonwealth censor as PG since 1987. As such it is being used to advertise a Queer Film festival.

[Cole Parker]

For instance it might be fun to have billboards with photos of people in various stages of sexual play and a caption underneath saying, "Love they neighbour" or "Make Love Not War."

And then I guess we could have a small disclaimer underneath saying, "Hey, you kids. Don't look at this."

[Graeme]

A follow-up with what is probably spin from the council 'lifestyle chairman'.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/councils-reception-cold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow-flag-request-20140225-33fys.html

She claims she questioned, not rejected, one aspect of the image, and that the organisers chose a different image to proceed with because "they needed to keep moving."

[The Pecman]

Reminds me of that beach scene with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity....where are the Japanese planes?

From Here to Eternity happened in the months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, so they weren't there yet.

Spoofs of the beach scene have been featured in commercials and billboards before, but I think it'll be some time before gay couples can be interchanged with straight couples for advertising, especially in an (almost) sexual situation.