Christians target CoastOut

Christians target CoastOut

Organisers of Coffs Harbour’s first gay and lesbian festival remain unperturbed in the face of a campaign to stop the event.

Lifehouse Church, a Coffs Harbour-based religious organisation, has initiated a letter-writing campaign to stop council from providing support for CoastOut, a gay and lesbian beach festival scheduled for October.

In an email to followers, senior pastor Steve Slater encouraged people to “flood council with letters stating opposition to the festival”.

“We believe such a festival and the lifestyle it promotes would deter families from coming to Coffs as a holiday destination,” he wrote. “The lifestyle that gay and lesbian festivals promote is not one we wish Coffs to be known for and is not representative of our population.

“We do not want the city’s young people subjected to this type of influence … and do not believe any significant part of the local population would support the festival or council’s support of it.”

Slater urged others who chose to write to council not to come across as anti-gay or “too Christian”.

Despite Slater’s efforts, Coffs Harbour Council reported receiving only six signed letters from Lifehouse members, and had not received complaints from any other parts of the community.

“Is it going to be cancelled? Absolutely not. We support them financially and physically, and it will go ahead no matter what,” Coffs Harbour Council’s manager of economic development Jenny Oloman told Sydney Star Observer.

“Council cannot discriminate. We have a process of evaluation for events. Its criteria are social and economic and what the benefits are to the area. We judge everything by those same criteria and CoastOut passed with flying colours.”

CoastOut organiser Todd Buttery said there were concerns but nothing about the festival would be changed.

“We always expected some people to take issue — it’s a new gay and lesbian festival in a country town,” he said.

“It’s not going to change anything about the plans we’ve made. We’ve always planned for the events to have security. We’re working with police and security staff to ensure the safety of all participants.

“It is concerning that this [letter-writing campaign] has been organised by a particular church, who haven’t made any attempts to get in touch with us.

“CoastOut is an inclusive event. Anybody who wants to attend is welcome — any colour, creed or background is welcome.

“But it’s not compulsory, so if you don’t want to be involved you don’t have to.”

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9 responses to “Christians target CoastOut”

  1. Cheers for the link Dave. Also done. Here’s hoping the religious cranks don’t rain on this parade too.

    Peter – sorry for your loss. Just a smidge unsettled by circumstances that sound a little too familiar for my liking: “my best friend was murdered by a ‘Christian’ who could not handle his homosexuality…a psychopath”

    Eeep.

  2. I am the proud Mum of a gay son, living in Coffs Harbour – I and my friends are in total support of CoastOut. More Power to Coffs Harbour City Council and we wish them and CoastOut every success for 2010. Roll on CoastOut year 2!

  3. These “Christian” groups trade on so much bullshit to cultivate their membership…what do they think is going to happen at the Festival….suppressed homosexuals…my best friend was murdered by a “Christian” who could not handle his homosexuality…a psychopath…hope the Festival is a huge success.

  4. Spring Migration copped the same stuff from right wing churches,from the beginning and still now,they feed of what the festival of light did each year,having there nutcases at the biginning of the parade saying Jesus Forgive Sydney.However they havent learnt by history,and they help us get more press and show what a hatefull bunch of people are

  5. I hope this event is going to happen since my partner and I are planning to go!

    I am also a member of Gay Camping NSW and will definitely try to organize a trip for the group up there.

    Since this event is the first of its kind, Coffs Harbour can be honored to host it.

    Well done, guys ‘n girls

  6. Let’s do one better and actually GO to the festival. Should be fun! Coffs Harbour in october would be great. once the council sees how much money comes in, they won’t even think about not having it on!

  7. This is an incentive for supporters of the festival (locals or not) to write or email the Coffs Harbour council to counter this anti-gay “Christian” campaign.