On the morning of Sunday September 24 2017 I approached the shopkeepers in High Street Ashburton, offering them the opportunity to display a “YES” placard in their shop, to indicate their support for marriage equality.
Bakers Delight says Yes to Marriage Equality (Sep 24 2017)
I have previously documented an incident that arose that morning while I was attending Bakers Delight. As a side note, I’m overjoyed to say that to date, almost a week after the Yes vote was announced on Wednesday November 15, Bakers Delight still have their YES placard on prominent display in their shop window.
On the morning of Saturday November 18, as I was driving down High Street, I spotted a massive YES symbol carefully spray painted on the exterior wall of the barber shop. This was in the same design of the placard I supplied to the shopkeepers in the street, presumably inspired by the several placards visible along the street. Adorning the placard was the hashtag #YESASHY, by way of saying “Ashburton says Yes”.
As a resident in the adjoining suburb Ashwood, I am proud to associate myself with the #YESASHY campaign, and thank the artist for their time, money and initiative in furthering the cause of equality.
Bigotry belongs in the bin, not the equality posters this Vote No supporter threw away.
Today I handed out “Yes” posters for the same-sex marriage survey along the length of the shopping strip in High Street, Ashburton. For the most part it was a rewarding experience, with a handful of shopkeepers very keen to proudly show their support, and a lot more shopkeepers who were similarly keen, pending their manager’s approval.
I am happy to endorse the shops that support equality, like this one:
and this one:
One shop in particular, Baker’s Delight, was magnificent. The staff member whom I spoke to said he’d need to speak to his manager before he could put it up. I was happy enough that he wanted to do the right thing and seek permission. Then a few minutes later I walked back past shop and he was sticking the poster to the shop front. My heart swelled because they were proud to support equality.
Bakers Delight Ashburton say Yes to equality
However something happened between me leaving the shop and coming back a little later that disturbed me greatly. I saw a woman shoving a scrunched marriage equality Vote Yes poster into the rubbish bin out the front of the shop. The bin was full so her adding this large poster to the mouth of the bin didn’t help very much with its disposal.
A woman wearing a “Vote No” badge stuffed a “Yes” poster in this rubbish bin in High St, Ashburton
I was alarmed to see someone throwing this poster in the bin because I knew it had been taken down from one of the many locations along the length of the street that had been covered with these posters.
Yes poster in High St Ashburton
Yes poster in High St Ashburton
Yes poster in High St Ashburton
I asked the woman why she was putting that in the bin and she said “Because it’s rubbish”. She then turned to walk into the bakery, but not before I could see the prominent pink and blue circular badge on her top that said something along the lines of “I’m voting No”.
The woman who ripped down a Yes poster in the street, wearing a Vote No badge, in the Bakers Delight shop that subsequently put up a Yes poster
I was hoping to capture some footage of her and challenge her on camera about her actions but the best I could do get was her walking back to her car (Burgundy KIA Sportage, rego VIC ANS-072) and driving away.
So when the people opposed to marriage equality claim they have no voice and are the silent majority, being denied their “free speech”, just take a look at this woman, ripping down Yes posters, calling them rubbish (and by inference calling equality rubbish) and putting them in the bin.
She could have handed the shop a poster asking to promote her anti-equality cause, just like I did for my pro-equality cause, or put similar posters up and down the strip of shops, but instead she chose to remove a poster that someone else put up, in a cowardly attempt to silence people wanting equality under the law.
What belongs in the bin are the bigoted attitudes of this woman who is opposed to all people having the same rights under the law, and not a poster calling for equality.
