Sexual orientation discrimination

Complaint about offensive sign during the period of the same-sex marriage law survey

During the same-sex marriage law survey, a person had put a sign up at his property describing anal sex in a crude way and linking this to same-sex marriage. There had been media reporting of the sign. A person who had driven past the sign had made a complaint.

Equal Opportunity Tasmania conducted a conciliation conference between the person who had made the complaint, and the person who was displaying the sign. Following a discussion of the issues, the parties agreed to issue a joint statement and agreed to resolve the complaint. The joint statement said (amongst other things) that:

• Both of the parties agree that in public debates everyone has the right to express an opinion.
• Both of the parties agree that this needs to be done in a respectful way and that does not breach the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas).
• The respondent stated that given their time again, they would not have used the words they did.