Zero tolerance call for Oxford Street

Zero tolerance call for Oxford Street

ACON CEO Stevie Clayton called upon Clover Moore to declare Oxford St a homophobia-free zone with a zero tolerance policy at the City of Sydney’s second GLBT Community Forum on Monday night.

Safety on Oxford St was again a major point of discussion on the evening with Surry Hills Police Commander Donna Adney, Stevie Clayton and the City’s new cultural quarter coordinator Deborah Mills all expressing a commitment to tackling issues of drunken disorder-liness and homophobic violence along the strip.

Clayton commended the shift in attitude from the Surry Hills police since Adney’s appointment, but called on the City to go even further by declaring Oxford St a no homophobia area.

There needs to be a zero tolerance policy towards homophobia, Clayton said.

You can’t just target violence itself. The police need to be able to step in and tell people off when they start hurling verbal abuse.

Supt Adney seemed keen to promote a stronger sense of GLBT identity on the strip, declaring the trend of young men coming to Oxford St to re-assert their masculinity by beating up gay people unacceptable.

It’s like going to a brothel and not expecting to see prostitutes. Don’t go to the Midnight Shift and think that you’re not going to see gay men, Adney said.

She noted there had been some improvement in the rate of drunken disorderliness, but called for an even stronger commitment from licensees.

I went to the last Liquor Accord meeting and told the licensees that if there wasn’t a demonstrable change then we would move swiftly, she said.

I have been speaking to Clover about the possibility of lock-outs or placing further restrictions on trading hours.

There has been some improvement, albeit short, and we are in winter. We would like to see more done by venue operators, including a code of conduct for patrons.

At the end of the day no-one benefits from drunken violence. Somone who’s been bashed doesn’t buy drinks, people who are too scared to come to Oxford St don’t buy drinks and people who are too drunk to stand up don’t buy drinks either.

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49 responses to “Zero tolerance call for Oxford Street”

  1. As a gay man that came out to my mother 1,000 days ago, oh and Tony, I have got a life, I am studing public relations at TAFE, learned so much legally, socially, morally, politically, ethically, etc – Now for the last time I am NOT homophobic. I have been an activist since June 2007. I am also a male, autistic, gay and an athiest (that makes me part of 4 minority groups) I have learned so much. I only seem homophobic just because I do not ever “fancy” blokes that act like girls, [i only like masculine blokes]. I think that the mardi gras “is a total embarrassment to Australian gay men and lesbians” [we can do much better] and when I want to say something I say it, with no bottlenecks at all.

  2. I will say it once and I will say it again, I am not homophobic, I am not heterosexist, I am not intusinized homophobic and I do not “accociate” with Fred Nile and John Howard.

  3. Oh just to annoy people with another posy, I am also 100 percent supportive of both same-sex marriages and relationship registories. I have continually signed numemerous petitions on these two. Now how can I be homophobic when I support SSMs?

  4. Homosexuality is still sadly illegal in about 80 countries. Our neighbours; Malyasia, Singapore, Papua New Guinea [PNG], Fiji [can not be enforced], Cook Islands, Western Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, and many others. Why is it still illegal in these countries? It should be 100 percent legal to have sex with anyone in the privacy of your own bedroom in a consexual manner between adults only. Stop saying I am homophobic.

  5. I am an athiest myself (no religion or not religious). I can put up as many posts as I like thank you, I am trying to build a strong bridge between all aspects of our gay lives based on; sexual orientation, religion, race, color, race, creed, ethnicity, disability, gender, etc – and accusing me of homophobia is just not on. I do not call them “purses” I myself personally call them “banks”, while others call them “wallets”, no wonder why most gay men are so clever, smart and inteligent.

  6. I have read report after report and page after page (445 papes about it, mainly crime) in the Council Chambers of Sydney about OS (Oxford Street) that I found it very appalling. there is no strategy at all. It is just “spin”, I am not liked at all by many (I have been critizised by many people, even hre on thid page and thank you) and I do not blame them one bit. I came-up with a “homophobic scale” (from 0 to 10 – the lower the number, the less homophobic you are). Examples bob brown is 0, I [paul mitchell] am a 2, kevin rudd is a 4, john howard and brendon nelson is a 10, and get this fred nile is a massive 20. The reason I am a 2 is because I am aginst the mardi gras, against oxford street and afraid of “famanine” males. On the legal side of things, it is high-time that every single piece of legislation/law (state, territory and federal) recognises both all same-sex couples and all opposite-sex couples. Same-sex couples should have the same human, social, ethical, legal, economic, civil and political rights [equal rights] as opposite-sex couples currently have and take for granted. From adoption (single, step and joint adoption), relationship registries, foster parenting, surrogacy, IVF, assisted reproductive technology [ART], blood donations, organ donations, organ transplants, reproductive tissue storing and freezing, reproductive tissue donation (both eggs and sperm), marriage, NO religious exceptions, free condoms for all, etc. Please everyone stop saying that I am homophobic/heterosexist because I am not. Oh! and another thing how do you “fully define” homophobia anyway?

  7. Um, “a homophobia-free zone”? Homophobic vilification is already illegal, does this jingoism actually mean anything? It reminds me of the “nuclear free zone” signage that councils used to put up and I’d always wonder where the nuclear facilties were supposed to be. Still, I guess Stevie has to say something for her money.

  8. Hmm, I was thinking of moving to Australia from Los Angeles California but if being gay is an issue there, I think not.

  9. Paul Mitchell – i have always had a bit of a laugh over the issue of ‘ masculine guys ‘. In my experience , so often when you get to finally meet the so called ‘ masculine guy ‘the bloke ends up putting not one , but three purses down on the bar !!! As I said in my earlier post Paul I reckon there is definitely some internalised homophobia in your reasoning mate !

  10. Ughh, Paul Mitchell, will you *please* stop bignoting yourself (“I am creating change along with other activists”), stop glamourising your personal bigotries (eg. against Mardi Gras, Oxford St, and non-masculine guys), and stop having running conversations with yourself (five posts in a row!)?

    Your repetitious Labor-doting comments on here are not doing any favours for the real activists out there nor the wider community in general. Instead of manic obsessive, try “less is more” or “short is sweet” for change, please.

  11. Paul, why is it ok for you to oppose homophobia in the Catholic Church but wrong for other people to oppose homophobia in other religions? Why is it ok for you to complain about homophobia in mainstream Australian culture but wrong for other people to complain about the homophobia that exists in some of our ethnic communities? Personally I’ve met Muslims who are lovely people and who don’t have a problem with us, but unfortunately in 2008 they’re still a minority in their community and it’s impossible to ignore that a disproportionate number of the people who bash and intimidate gays and lesbians around Oxford St are from middle eastern backgrounds (this includes people from middle eastern Christian backgrounds too- it was you that singled out Muslims not me). However I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the only countries that still execute gay men are Muslim nations and homosexuality is illegal in all but a few middle eastern countries. At the same time we almost never hear about Asian Australians being perpetrators in homophobic assaults. That one study in the US found that some homophobic men have issues with their own sexuality is no reason to blame homophobic violence on homosexuality. 90% of my friends are wonderful straight guys but to claim that most gay bashers aren’t straight is just crazy and delusional.

  12. Seems Paul has managed to steer everyone well away from the topic.
    Naming Oxford St a homophobia-free zone may be symbolic, but it has the power to send a very real message about the strip, its origins and the people who have for 30 years grown, cared for and struggled along it.
    What it creates is a nod to history – much like heritage listing the Town Hall.
    Such a declaration acknowledges the struggle of the past and helps fight the struggles we are yet to face.
    I like the idea – I only question how such an idea will be conveyed to the public and how it could beenforced.
    But as a basic concept, way to go Stevie Clayton.

  13. Remember also there are gay pollies [in power and elected] who actually voted in favour to ban same-sex marriage in the US in 30 states!!! Now tell me gay men are not homophobic?

  14. There urgently now needs to be a -œsexual orientation Convention, because there is already a Convention provided for everthing else (eg for women, for ingedenous people, people with a disability, ethnicity, rights of the child, and plenty more except for sexual orientation. gay sex should be 100 percent legal all over the world, gay men and lesbians should be protected from hate crimes (remember matthew sheapard back in 1998?), now I can’t be homophobic now can I?

  15. Just because you are gay, does not mean that gay men are attracted to every single male in the world.

  16. I was very angry with the anti-everything pope and I fully support condom usage to stop STDs.

  17. I am a gay man myself, I am not homophobic, I am not internalised homophobic, I have never ever insulted or bashed a gay man or anyone else for that matter. I have actually read a report that said gay men are homophobic themselves. It was based on an Gergeion/American study back in 2004. “Homophobic men are actully turned on by men”. Blaming ethnic groups, other religions (eg Muslims) and heterosexual males for violence towards gay men is NOT on at all and totally and utterly unsatisfactory and unacceptable! – Reverse discrimination is also totally unsatisfactory!

  18. Paul Mitchell …the irony of your post is that it smacks of internalised homophobia !!!

  19. Now when I say “dirty” – I mean rubbish and the smell of urination all over the place.

  20. I have actually driven by Oxford Street and I thought to myself – Is this where gay men of Australia hang-out, Oxford Street is dirty, full of alcoholic-fuelled violence, full of insults?

  21. Paul, how can you decry homophobia but then claim it’s only gay men beating up other gay men because supposedly most homophobes are secretly gay? The fact of the matter is that in recent years a number of venues have set up on Oxford street that have brought a very rough crowd into the area who didn’t come before. Many of these people come from ethnic groups that have religious and cultural objections to homosexuality, others are just thick homophobic white Australians who’ve always been that way. Partially it’s because the gay scene has refused to change and so many guys and girls who aren’t into what the scene offers have gone elsewhere, and partially its because venues across the city have adopted no-admission policies when it comes to these thugs so they’ve come here instead. I’m a masculine gay man who isn’t into the scene too Paul, but you really don’t seem to know what you’re talking about. I’ve been threatened by strangers in the street and they most certainly didn’t secretly want to kiss me. They wanted to destroy me because I represented something that they despised and hated. If only there were 234 stereotypes for gay men and lesbians- or is there some spacing and punctuation missing there?

  22. Paul – how can you possibly comment on Oxford St if, by your own admission, you never set foot there?
    And what of all these figures? Do you just pluck them out of your arse?

  23. I am the only gay man that will not go near or step foot on Oxford Street in my lifetime!!! “Zero tolerance” – give me a break, I heard this too many times over in NSW parliament and council chambers before repeatedly and gay men like me are totally fed-up with it all. It is high-time that same-sex couples should have the same human, social, legal, ethical, economic, civil and political rights [equal rights] as opposite-sex couples currently have and take for granted. Homophobia will only stop with advanced education in all schools (both public and private) from year 7 onwards, homophobia does not go away with “just a couple of police officers standing by”. Oxford Street is a total joke and an embarrassment to all Australian gay men and lesbians. As a masculine gay man myself, what is it with young men who bash or vilify gay men just to prove that the boys are men? It is just silly gay men themselves who are bashing gay men. About 80 percent of gay bashers are gay or single themselves! Stop blaming heterosexual males, it is not them. Heterosexual males are good-looking and stop vilifying heterosexual males. I am up to here with of the 234 or so stereotypes surroundings gay men and lesbians. About 80 percent of gay men are very muscular or masculine and DO NOT talk funny. About 76 percent of lesbians are feminine, have long hair and carry make-up. The Mardi Gras is another “total embarrassment”. Why do we need Mardi Gras anyway? – To show that we are silly, stupid and pathetic gay men and lesbians who do not create change at all. I am a gay activist myself, I am not sexist, racist, homophobic/heterosexist at all. But please do not shove Mardi Gras down our throats, it is very annoying – I am creating change along with other activists who are actually doing the work. Mardi Gras is a -œtotal utter disgrace to all masculine gay men out there like me. I am sick and tired of Mardi Gras organisers who think that there the ones who are creating legal/social changes – NO we are [the activists] who are creating legal/social changes , get it right please.