Related Story: Oxford Street to be officially homophobia free

For those that have not heard the news, within a matter of months, Sydney could have as many as half a dozen homophobia free zones, meaning that a person’s right to enter late night venues in these areas could be refused if they display signs of homophobia. At first I liked the sound of this initiative, but I must ask; is council wasting its time on developing policy on something that is already illegal?

I must confess, I haven’t read the entire state law from back to front (being served the constitution on a silver platter was bad enough), but isn’t homophobia already against the law? Why do we need another piece of legislation to identify this? Being abusive towards somebody (whether physical or otherwise) is assault, so why do we need additional legislation stating what we already know?

To be honest, I don’t think an extra piece of paper saying that homophobia is prohibited in certain parts of Sydney is going to stop anybody. Think about how much of Sydney would not be included in the homophobia free zones; it would have to be at least 99.95 percent if not more. Will the penalties be less harsh if you conduct homophobia in an area that is not a homophobia free zone? It’s the same crime, no matter where it is.

Although I am a Sydney resident, I currently live nowhere near any of the areas set to be included in the zones, and I infrequently visit these areas. So what about us gay people who want to go about our business as we normally would outside these zones? Are we going to have less protection as a result, because we don’t live in a “homophobia free zone”? Hardly seems fair to me.

I think our tax dollars would be better suited doing something now to tackle homophobia, such as having additional police patrol key areas affected by homophobia, or providing community groups with the ability to have their presence felt in a non-destructive fashion. I’d hate to think how much money has been wasted over local MPs getting together to make an unnecessary law and the actions associated with developing and implementing the law over the coming months. We all know homophobia is wrong, just do something about it already.

And just one more pondering thought to conclude. I thought we were all about obtaining equal rights in the twenty-first century, so why are we having laws created with us as a community kept solely in mind? Surely this is only a step back, and not forward?

Tags: gay australia, homophobia, Oxford Street