A Melbourne-based gay and lesbian group plans to sue the makers of Bruno for all $80 million of Australian box office takings.

Musician Michael J. Boyd says he formed the LGBT Foundation to pursue legal action over media products perceived to be discriminatory towards gays and lesbians.

Its first high-profile target will be Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator of 2009’s controversial and highly profitable film, Bruno.

The film took more than $76 million at the Australian box office and the LGBT Foundation intends to sue for the lot, according to Boyd.

If successful, he said, all proceeds would go towards assisting gay and lesbian community organisations, which would be invited to submit proposals for funding on a quarterly basis.

“[Bruno] was purely offensive and ludicrous. It encourages a discriminatory society,” he told Sydney Star Observer.
“The media has direct injections into everybody. I was frustrated by sitting at home of a night watching television and finding that there would constantly be some sort of homophobic remark.

“If we hit these people where it hurts ­— their pockets — we’ll eliminate a lot of that and fight to end homophobia.”

The organisation’s website lists well-known Melbourne identity Brett Hayhoe and an associate from Nicholes Family Lawyers,
Kristina Antoniades, as co-directors. The fourth director, Justin James, is listed on Facebook as Boyd’s partner.
However, Hayhoe told Sydney Star Observer he had not agreed to be a part of the board, was not aware of any plans to launch a class action or had never seen the film.

Antoniades similarly said she was unaware that Boyd intended to launch a class action over Bruno.

Both said they were anticipating the group’s first official meeting on March 29 to discuss company structure and aims.
On the same date, Boyd has scheduled a meeting with Gadens Lawyers — a firm specialising in business law — to discuss legal options for pursuing the makers of homophobic media products.

Boyd claimed to have government funding to pursue the action, but would not comment on which departments had provided the financial assistance or if the funding would be for the duration of any legal action.

Boyd could not confirm the grounds on which a legal action would be launched, stating that while there may be limitations to anti-discrimination legislation, “there are many different legal loopholes that lawyers can go through”.

He explained that confusion from his cited board directors was a result of him “jumping the gun” in contacting media, and was in no way an attempt to mislead anyone.

He said after the organisation’s meeting at the end of the month, they would still be interested in hearing from people interested in pursuing legal action over homophobic media content.