A campaign to remove gay safe-sex posters from Queensland streets had ‘nothing to do with homosexuals’, ACL state director Wendy Francis says.
Pressure from the Australian Christian Lobby pushed the advertising firm, Adshel to pull posters for a safe-sex campaign targeting gay men in Brisbane. Adshel, a company that provides advertising in bus shelters in Brisbane; Goa Billboards and the Advertising Standards Bureau had received about 30 complaints about a particular advertisement where two fully-clothed men were embraced and holding an unopened condom. Adshel removed the posters, organised by the Queensland Association of Healthy Communities (QAHC) as part of Queensland Government’s funded HIV prevention program, following the complaints. QAHC was not informed of this before they were removed.
Complaints likened the advertisement to propaganda; suggested the couple were fornicating and ‘promoting an unhealthy lifestyle’ to children. One complainant felt like the advertisement was an attack on her catholic beliefs since one of the men used was wearing a cross around his neck.
QAHC Executive Director Paul Martin said in a release, he was deeply disappointed with Adshel’s behaviour and the ACL’s actions were homophobic.
‘The advert is in no way explicit or offensive to the average Queenslander. The complaints claim that depictions of gay people and discussion of sexual health are not appropriate for the general community. We reject these claims outright,’ he said.
‘2010 saw the highest number of people diagnosed with HIV than at any time since testing began in the mid 1980s. 65% of these diagnoses are among gay men. Now, more than ever, it is important that we get the safe sex message out to Queenslanders, particularly gay men, wherever they may be.
‘The advertisement is quite conservative when compared with other public advertisements for a range of commercial products and previous sexual health campaigns by the Australian and Queensland Governments.
‘The Australian Christian Lobby has used homophobia dressed up as protecting children to have an important public education campaign removed. ACL’s Queensland Director Wendy Francis has previously been criticised and forced to apologise for sending out a homophobic tweet likening gay marriage to ‘legalising child abuse’. They are now trying have gay people erased from the public sphere.’
In a press release, the ACL pronounced the grass-roots campaign as a ‘success’ in removing what they claimed as ‘sexualised advertising’ from Brisbane bus shelters. Francis spoke to OUTinPerth over the phone; she said she was opposed to sexual advertising campaigns in general and had been since 2010: her ideal standard for advertising in public spaces would be a g-rating.
She said the ad in question should have not been put in a public places like bus shelters and on billboards.
‘The whole issue is about children in bus shelters,’ she said.
Francis said she was personally tired of living in a ‘sexually-saturated’ society and stated that it should be up to parents to inform their children of sex. Francis said research showed that Australia’s ‘pre-sexualised culture’ was contributing to youth issues like depression and anorexia. The QLD director said she was not homophobic and the campaign ‘had nothing to do with homosexuals’.
‘Everyone has the choice to choose their lifestyle,’ she said.
‘A massive groundswell of people power has won the day when it comes to the bus shelters which have been pulled down over night,’ she said.
In a statement, Adshel said it had never had any dealings with the Australian Christian Lobby and has not responded to any requests from this organisation.
‘Adshel does not take a position regarding the views or position of various community groups,’ the press release said.
OUTinPerth approached Adshel but understands the spokesperson was away at a training course all day.
UPDATE: Adshel have since annouced that they will be re-instating the advertising campaign.
Adshel CEO Steve McCarthy commented in a media release, ‘It has now become clear that Adshel has been the target of a coordinated ACL campaign. This has led us to review our decision to remove the campaign and we will therefore reinstate the campaign with immediate effect.’
Benn Dorrington & Graeme Watson
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