Andrew Bolt: Frenzied untruths the poster child for Australia’s ugly gay-marriage campaign
FRENZIED untruths over a single nasty “Stop the Fags” poster in Melbourne only confirm the gay-marriage lobby and their media mates are the real hatemongers, writes Andrew Bolt.
Andrew Bolt
Don't miss out on the headlines from Andrew Bolt. Followed categories will be added to My News.
LAST week, a same-sex marriage supporter claimed he’d found a single nasty “Stop the Fags” poster in an alley in Melbourne’s Chinatown.
Activists and the media were ecstatic. Finally they could prove their opponents were just as nasty.
But the frenzied untruths that followed — with photographic evidence even faked by Channel 10 — only confirm the gay-marriage lobby and their media mates are the real hatemongers.
In fact, the only thing that could lose them the postal vote is their bullying — the lies, abuse, threats, violence and misuse of power that’s marked their “yes” campaign.
I suspect the activists knew that already. That’s why they reacted so eagerly when supporter Dan Leach-McGill tweeted a picture of a poster he said had been put up in Heffernan Lane.
This was a godsend for their cause. At last, these bullies could play the victim.
The poster was indeed harsh, showing a sad child menaced by two adults holding rainbow-coloured belts.
“Stop the Fags”, it shouted, repeating survey data claiming children of same-sex parents were more likely to suffer depression.
Spotted in Melbourne - Heffernan Lane. How is this for a unity moment? @TurnbullMalcolm @cityofmelbourne @AdamBandt @VicGovAu @abcnews pic.twitter.com/syL7vqRJLK
— Dan Leach-McGill (@DanLMcG) August 19, 2017
Leach-McGill added in anger: “Spotted in Melbourne — Heffernan Lane. How is this for a unity moment?”
His tweet went viral last Monday, and not just with gay outlets or on social media. The ABC, Fairfax, Junkee, Huffington Post and FM radio stations all went crazy.
Media outlets like Channel 9 and news.com.au agreed there were more such posters around Melbourne. As the Australian Women’s Weekly put it: “Melbourne streets plastered with disgustingly homophobic posters ahead of plebiscite.”
But Channel 10 had a problem: it could not find even one.
That should have been a big warning, but the station still claimed there were posters all around the city, and to demonstrate, it showed a picture of a bus stop with a huge advertising billboard featuring the “Stop the Fags” poster.
But it was a con. Without telling its audience, it had taken a stock image from Getty of a bus stop overseas and superimposed a “Stop the Fags” poster on to its advertising panel, as if it were part of a big-budget campaign.
Journalists, meanwhile, competed to be outraged. On 2Day FM, host Em Rusciano tore into Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull: “Your respectful debate, with all due respect, is in the toilet.”
Labor leader Bill Shorten exploited the fury, blaming the Turnbull Government’s public vote: “Labor opposed this postal survey because we feared exactly this kind of hurtful filth would emerge.”
But then strange facts started to emerge.
First, no one could find evidence of a second such poster anywhere, not even on social media. Melbourne City Council said it knew of no others.
But why would gay marriage opponents put up just one poster, and in an obscure laneway?
In fact, who even saw that original poster?
The council sent a worker to Heffernan Lane last Monday but found nothing.
The far-Left Crikey site visited on Tuesday and couldn’t find even the pro-same-sex marriage poster said to have been plastered over the rude one.
Leach-McGill, the only person with a photo of the original poster, then conceded he’d actually been sent it by a friend.
So let’s sum up. Someone unknown sent a Leftist a picture of a rude poster in an obscure lane that’s been seen by no one else. No one knows who put it up, whether opponents of same-sex marriage or supporters trying to discredit them.
Yet politicians, activists and the media beat this up into a story of Melbourne “plastered” with hateful posters — even on bus stops — thanks to Turnbull’s plebiscite.
How much such fakery and bullying have we have seen from the activists already? How much abuse and threats against their opponents?
There was even an explosion at the headquarters of the Australian Christian Lobby, and three Christian preachers have been dragged to an anti-discrimination tribunal.
Then there’s been the abuse of power. For instance, the ACT government, led by a gay chief minister, is spending $45,000 on the “yes” campaign but giving zero money to the “no”.
Meanwhile, ABC presenters campaigned so hard for same-sex marriage that management had to order them to stop.
Even the Australian Medical Association, in backing same-sex marriage, falsely claimed there were no peer-reviewed studies suggesting children with same-sex parents struggled more. Some 400 doctors signed a letter telling the AMA to stop telling untruths.
Bullies and cheats are pushing the same-sex marriage crusade.
If we let them win, what next will they do to us?
Lockdown will kill Victorians — but not from coronavirus
Politicians are destroying Australia — throwing a million people out of work, causing suicides — because they’ve fallen for two great weaknesses, both of which will extend crippling lockdowns much longer than necessary, writes Andrew Bolt.
Record day proves crude bans on freedom don’t work
Victoria’s new record of 725 infections is more evidence that the government’s hard line policies on masks and lockdowns aren’t working as planned, writes Andrew Bolt.