Zoning signs to curb the violence
Oxford St will be declared a no homophobia zone by the City of Sydney Council.
The motion, which was won by a close vote, has some concerned that any finances spent on zoning signs would be better spent on police.
The council voted in a five to four split to officially declare Oxford St a no homophobia zone -” an idea which was first proposed by ACON CEO Stevie Clayton at the GLBT community forum.
Liberal councillor Shayne Mallard said he was concerned such a move was a tokenistic misuse of funds which could be better spent on developing a community policing centre on the strip.
Council’s decision to endorse a homophobia-free zone on Oxford St is yet another token PR effort from this Lord Mayor, Mallard told Sydney Star Observer.
The best response to homophobia and gay bashing is more and tougher, high-visibility policing applying an aggressive zero tolerance policy. The last thing we need is -˜homophobia-free zone’ signs along Oxford St. It will not prevent one bashing and may even attract more violence.
Greens councillor Chris Harris said the use of signs would not detract from the importance of police, but add another avenue for attacking the problem.
Homophobic violence is based on ignorance and fear around homosexuality. So, even though some people say that it’s tokenism, I don’t think an initiative like this, in an area like Oxford St, could be a bad thing because, if promoted well, it’s really about consciousness-raising, he said.
As for all the other ideas that have been proposed, I think we should do them all. Shayne Mallard moved a motion a while ago to trial some extra police and I supported that. I would also like to see a return of the safety bus which used to run along Oxford St.
Law and order is an issue in the area and if that means spending a bit more then why not do it? We spend so much on CCTV in the area, and that doesn’t stop violence, so, if we need to pay a bit extra to get some more police on the streets and get some consciousness-raising happening, then it’s a small price to pay.
As a 22 year old gay man, I thought that is the funniest thing I have ever heard in my life.
Shayne Mallard is right, this is totally ridiculous. It’s a gimmick. It’s obvious that those bigoted thugs who go to Oxford Street and other places to bash up gays for sport aren’t going to be deterred at all by signs saying “homophobia-free zone”. If we want to stop the gay-bashings and feel safe again on Oxford Street then we need to make the bashers feel the rule of law, and that means more boys in blue!
Yes Dan you are right and it IS the intention of the City of City Council to declare the whole area of the city of sydney includibg the CBD a homophobia free zone.
Shouldn’t the entire city be declared a no-homophobia zone? Does this mean that homophobia is acceptable in the CBD? This seems a little tokenistic to me too.