A petition calling for Basil Zempilas to stand down as Lord Mayor of Perth is gaining traction after comments made yesterday about trans, gender diverse and intersex communities.
The petition, launched by Perth Scorpions Volleyball Club, have branded the Lord Mayor’s comments as “hateful, bigoted and appalling.”
“This is not how a Lord Mayor should be acting,” the Change.org petition reads.
“This is not how any person in power, or not in power even, should be portraying any other human being regardless of sex, gender, sexuality, race…”
This petition follows a separate petition circulating among WA communities, calling for Pride WA’s PrideFEST to be moved to the City of Vincent.
As both petitions pick up signatures on social media, Zempilas has issued another public apology for his comments yesterday, following this morning’s apology on air on 6PR.
“I made a mistake… it was bad broadcasting,” Zempilas told journalists at a media call today, saying yesterday’s comments did not reflect his values.
“I think transgender people should be allowed to live their lives the way that they wish to, and I think everybody in Australia should be allowed to live their life the way they wish to.”
“That’s the society that we live in, that’s the society we’ve fought hard to have available to everybody, those sorts of opportunities, so that’s why significantly I regret my comments, because I know they’re unhelpful.”
One journalist commented to the Lord Mayor that he has been on the job for less than a week, and that Zempilas has been a “bit of an embarrassment to the City of Perth.”
Electrical store Retravision, who were mentioned in yesterday’s broadcast and sponsor local LGBTIQ+ sporting club Perth Rams, have joined 6PR and local LGBTIQ+ organisations in condemning the comments made by the Lord Mayor.
“As a strong supporter of the LGBTQI+ community, Retravision and our staff would like to strongly address yesterday’s comments from Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas on yesterday’s 6PR breakfast radio,” the company posted to social media.
“The comments pertaining to the transgender and non-binary communities are in no way endorsed by Retravision. We deeply regret that Mr Zempilas associated Retravision with his comments as we in no way support the views he shared.”
“Furthermore, we would like to stress that Retravision had not provided Gift Vouchers to 6PR in relation to this specific topic.”
“As a proud WA company, Retravision continues to support the people we live and work with, encouraging a greater acceptance for a diverse and inclusive community.”
OIP Staff
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