ALSO defends boat party theme
The ALSO Foundation has defended the name of its Midsumma fundraising party — Boat People — after sections of the community have labelled the theme “tacky” and “bad taste”.
A number of Facebook users — including several former ALSO board members — have written on the event’s Facebook page expressing disappointment with ALSO’s choice of marketing for the event, claiming it’s offensive.
Former board member Natasha Richardson wrote to the Star Observer saying she was “surprised and horrified” the party was using a reference to ‘boat people’, so close to the Christmas Island tragedy in which almost 50 asylum seekers perished.
“There’s no question that the intent of the fundraiser is wonderful. The timing is simply shocking though,” Richardson said.
ALSO has defended the party’s ‘un-PC’ theme saying the marketing was adopted before the Christmas Island tragedy unfolded and money raised from the event will go to the Australian GLBTI Multicultural Council (AGMC) to work with gay and lesbian refugees.
ALSO Foundation CEO Crusader Hillis told the Star Observer he had expected some backlash, but said the idea was to show that every non-Indigenous Australian is a ‘boat person’.
“We were not particularly surprised by the response on Facebook, as we knew the language chosen was provocative, but we maintain that the phrase ‘boat people’ has been the main term used in mainstream media, without comment or protest by the most part,” he said.
“We were surprised that people who took offence to the terminology could not also understand that this was the context in which we were using this language.”
Hillis also denied that critical comments had been censored on the Facebook site, but conceded the organisation had learned a lesson in using social media.
“We were not trying to censor anyone’s comments, but made a decision, in retrospect wrongly, to take down all comments and make the event comment-free,” he said.
“We did this so that a small number of passionate opponents didn’t outweigh the largely positive comments we were receiving.”
Hillis said as soon as the move was perceived as being overly heavy-handed, the page was re-opened for comments.
AGMC chair Alyena Mohummadally said despite some opposition, the AGMC is still behind the ALSO event.
“AGMC [was] aware that the event was being promoted with ‘bad taste’ connotations as we had been informed by ALSO … how it would be marketed. Our understanding is that this is a satire, a send-up of attitudes to refugees and asylum seekers.”
I totally agree with all those who have expressed their disappointment. Our community should be leading the way in acceptance of and assistance to asylum seekers, not using their plight in this tasteless way.
I am bitterly disappointed to see such a tasteless and offensive promotion.
I understand that it was not the intention of the organizers to belittle and mock the suffering of asylum seekers and the horrors they flee, especially given what this event was in aid of.
However, this is exactly what it has done. I would expect much better from an organization that knows only too well what it’s like to be part of a community that is persecuted and marginalized.
Regards
Kon Karapanagiotidis OAM
CEO
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
You would think that by now the gay community ( and more particularly ALSO) would have grown up and developed some mental maturity and understanding. There is no humour or fun to be had in mocking people that do not have a voice and cannot strike back or defend themselves.
In the midst of a very substantial push for acceptance of Equal Marriage Rights, large sections of not only the broader community, but also the gay community have been put offside by mocking the ‘ Boat People’, who have nothing but disadvantage, discrimination and poverty in their lives…
Wake up, it is not so very long ago the entire GLBTIQ community were also considered pariahs, and discriminated against on every level, as are the asylum seekers today.
The staging of this event by ALSO in the pursuit of a few paltry dollars I’m sure is offensive to most Australians, and the proceeds should be donated to the Asylum Seekers Research Centre by way of reparation for this gross insensitivity.
Angered and saddened by this advertisement. Having supported refugees who were captured by pirates and also tortured before arriving in our seas I see nothing at all humorous or edifying about using the name of Tampa or any other inference to refugees. We are in the midst of this issue. It had not gone away when this ad was constructed. Imagine an advert inviting people to join you in a concentration camp in the 2ww years. Surely the GLBT community has been abused enough without us abusing others!!
Agree totally with Sam, Geoff and Kate. I am actually married to an asylum seeker (seems society sees that as “worse” than belonging to ALSO, I might add)so I found it particularly hurtful.
I have found this party to be in incredibly bad taste given the problems that our country has had dealing with refugees arriving from such salon countries as Afghanistan and Iraq over the last dozen years. Our community should be more sensitive to the needs of outsiders. I expected better than that from ALSO.
I also agree that this is a disgrace to our community.
The GLBTIQ community should be setting the standard for presenting more enlightened attitudes and fighting prejudice in all its forms. Instead, we appear to get a frivolous party theme which effectively mocks a life-and-death situation.
I think this is a disgrace, and I am really unimpressed with both the AGMC and ALSO. Refugee rights is such an important issue in Australia today and this so called “bad taste” event isn’t funny or intelligent in the slightest. I hope everyone really thinks about whether they think this is okay before they buy tickets to this event.