Harassment has now reached new heights

OUTCRY over supposed ‘skybullying’ shows lengths to which the Yes campaign will go to shut down free speech in the same-sex marriage debate, writes Caroline Marcus.

'Vote No' has been written in the sky above Sydney's inner west. (Pic: Instagram)

WE’VE all heard of the physical, workplace and cyber-bullying, but harassment has now reached new heights.

On Sunday, a Sydney pilot became possibly the first person ever accused of skybullying after scrawling the innocuous words “Vote No” among the clouds.

While many may have mistakenly interpreted this as simply backing one of two positions in a democratic, legal survey — not least, the position which happens to currently be enshrined in law — they were quickly corrected.

“Just sayin the last time some asshole bullied a bunch of queers via skywriting it didn’t end great for her,” Huffington Post’s Mat Whitehead tweeted, alongside pictures of the Wicked Witch of the West.

“Imagine if someone painted Ban Muslims in the sky under Sydney like this,” anti-Islamophobia campaigner Mariam Veiszadeh tweeted, not quite grasping basic physics.

“It’s deeply offensive. This is not ‘respectful debate’.”

Aside from the point no one had called for gays to be banned, if “vote no” is deeply offensive, I’d hate to think what Veiszadeh thinks about her own faith’s record on gay rights, given homosexuality is punishable by death in several Muslim countries. But, you know, skywriting is mean and stuff.

The problem is, for many Yes voters, the only “respectful” debate is no debate.

The organisers of a crowd-funding page behind a separate plan to skywrite “Vote No” learned this when advocates piled on to accuse them of homophobia and spreading hate with those two words alone.

“I hope your families hate you as much as we do,” wrote one such hate-hater.

Another wrote she was comforted by the idea these anti-SSM dinosaurs would soon be “maggot food”, asking them to please “hurry up”.

Ahh, love is love!

By Sunday night, the page’s organisers announced Gofundme had frozen their funds until they revealed their identities, something they were somewhat hesitant to do after receiving the torrent of personal abuse.

Now, this is the point in the column where I feel the unfortunate need to declare I am not personally opposed to same-sex marriage.

I say “unfortunate” because it shouldn’t really matter how this writer plans to vote. Only I know too well from experience that Yes advocates like to play the man — or woman — and not the ball.

Skywriting that reads "Vote No" in support of the Same Sex Marriage "No" Campaign was seen above Sydney, New South Wales on Sunday. (Pic: Instagram)

But as a journalist and a strident supporter of free speech, I can’t help but feel alarmed by the attempts to censor and stifle debate — and that’s before the laws have even changed.

I’m not denying that a minority on the No side may be homophobic and that hurtful, shocking things about gay people have been said and written in this discussion.

One example that comes to mind is the Greek Orthodox priest who, a parishioner reported, said gay people should be shot.

While the priest implausibly claimed not to remember saying the words, he doubled down by comparing homosexuals to rotting fruit.

Such statements should be roundly condemned.

But we’re also seeing those who hold traditional views about marriage, or have legitimate concerns about the wider consequences of changing the law, being tarred with the same brush of bigotry.

Take the vicious attacks and attempts to discredit the three mothers who appeared in the Coalition for Marriage’s No commercial.

I interviewed Sydney doctor Pansy Lai, who took part in the ad, for Sky News and she told me while she was expecting criticism, she felt blindsided by the physical threats and attempts to deregister her that followed.

In the days after the spot’s television debut, more than 6000 people had signed a petition on a GetUp!-created website for Dr Lai to be barred from practising medicine.

The site eventually removed the petition and, to its credit, the Australian Medical Association — a body that has pledged its support of same-sex marriage (to the ire of some 500 doctors, including five past state presidents, who disagree) denounced the petition.

“Individuals should be able to express an opinion on a political matter without being shouted down,” its president Dr Michael Gannon said.

Another No campaigner I interviewed, a university student I’ll simply call Daniel, had his personal Facebook account suspended for 30 days after a tame post imploring people to vote No on a Defending Natural Marriage page was reported to the social network by an ­offended user.

It was only when I contacted Facebook for a response that the social media giant — which signed up to the Australian Marriage Equality campaign last year — acknowledged the “error”, apologised to Daniel and reinstated his account.

Then last week, Sydney University students were physically intimidated by up to 60 activist thugs after setting up a stand on ­campus with signs saying, “It’s OK to Say No.”

The students reported being kicked in the shins, yelled at with vile anti-Christian abuse, having their table up-ended and free hummus thrown to the ground and smeared on their clothes and faces (a crime in itself: why waste perfectly good hummus?).

Rugby star and devout Christian Israel Folau also incurred the wrath of the thought police after tweeting last week that: “I love and respect all people for who they are and their opinions. But personally, I will not support gay marriage.”

Abuse labelling him a “bad human” and a “d...head” were among the more printable insults.

There’s no doubt there are gay people genuinely struggling with this debate, as mental health services have reported.

But I can’t help but wonder how much of that could be a self-fulfilling prophecy, with everyone from radical activists to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten — who as recently as four years ago supported the plebiscite — now telling young LGBTQI people over and over that their mental health and very self-worth hinges on changing the law.

Either way, the attempts to shame and censor those who simply hold ­different views set a dangerous precedent for democratic debate in this country.

Caroline Marcus is a journalist with Sky News.

@carolinemarcus