Davenport Underwear. You will be dying to wear it

Congratulations to Rob Mitchell for taking an important stand yet again in fighting intolerance and the tide of suicide victims.

If you’re not speaking out, you’re part of the problem.

Michael.


From: Rob Mitchell <rob@rjm.it>
Date: 8 September 2010 20:11
Subject: Stephanie Rice
To: customerservice@davenportunderwear.com.au

Hi,

Can I suggest you check out

www.davenportsucks.com

It is a web site I have set up highlighting the link between the systemic vilification peddled by your ‘star’ and the inevitable result is has on the mental health of the 10 % of young people in this country who are not straight.

For years Davenport has banked great wads of money from the gay community by flogging it their expensive underwear, but when the time comes to discipline one of your ‘ambassadors’ for vilifying that community, you are missing in action.

It’s not good enough, and we are not going to put up with it.

Starting tomorrow (Thursday) we are going to be hitting the GLBTI and metro media with the website, and that is just the start. If you google ‘Davenport’ and ‘suicide’ you will see we are already at number six out of 360,000.

You should ditch Stephanie as an ambassador, as Jaguar have done. To do anything less is to simply profit from hatred and vilification.

Stephanie Rice can burst into tears as often as she likes but I can see no concrete offers of help, monetary or otherwise, to genuinely assist the GLBTI community deal with the vilification related rates of suicide and depression that are endemic in our communities.

If it’s one thing we’ve learnt fighting HIV / AIDS over the last quarter of a century, it is that persistence works. Sooner or later, the broader community are going to associate Davenport underwear with bad corporate governance, and you don’t have to be clairvoyant to work out what that will mean for your bottom line.

It’s unfortunate it’s come to this, but for too long sport has been a ‘safe harbour’ for behaviour that would be unacceptable in any other context, and too often companies that profit from the sporting world won’t step up when required.

Those days are gone.

Rob Mitchell

Member Governance & Inclusion Project, Vic Dept. Sport

Member Integrity In Sport Committee, Australian Sports Commission

My Jewish New Year message

My Jewish New Year message is that I will be fighting intolerance of homosexuality by Jewish religious bigots in the new year. Spread the love.

It’s the eve of the Jewish New Year.  The Jewish world moves from 5770 to 5771.

My message for the Jewish New Year is that I am going to continue to fight the hate and bigotry perpetrated by the religious bigots in the Jewish community.  I’m going to fight the attitudes that contribute to the atrocious levels of youth suicide, self harm and mental health issues.

Organisations such as the Jewish Community Council of Victoria will remain my key targets.  Whilst they remain adamant that it’s ok for segments of the Jewish community to remain intolerant of homosexuality, I will fight them.  They will be shown up for the narrow-minded bigots, haters and fools that they are.

Intolerance is unacceptable.

Bring on 5771.  Bring on the fight.

Sending sweet wishes of New Year love.

Michael.