Madlin Sims, the owner of a children’s entertainment company who caused controversy after firing a contractor who posted in support of the ‘Vote No’ campaign, has today supplied more info about her decision. She has also publicly discussed the awful threats that she has received since the story broke.
It all started initially when Sims posted about the firing on Facebook, saying that she had to let the contractor go after seeing her publicly posting about her feelings towards marriage equality on social media.
Voting no is homophobic. Advertising your homophobia is hate speech. As a business owner I can’t have somebody who publicly represents my business posting hate speech online.
She also made the salient point that personal positions are one thing, but having those situated alongside images that represent Sims’ business is another kettle of homophobic fish.
I had a look at her page and I could see it there, and I was a bit disappointed because [along with] this profile picture she’s got photos of her at work events, representing the business, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s not cool.’
You can read the initial post below.
Sims’ actions obviously caused a huge stir, with many passionate people coming out on both sides of the debate.
In a follow-up post on Facebook, which she says has now been deleted (by Facebook), she discussed some of the abuse that her and her brother have received, saying that she has been called “skank, whore, bitch, putrid, slut”, along with various other insults.
She also claimed that, shockingly, someone brought up her stance on refugees and said they hope her two-year-old son gets sexually assaulted for it, and that her brother “has received death threats and been called horrible names.”
Un. Cool.
In the post, Sims also clarified that the worker was not let go because she held opposing views on marriage equality.
She was let go because her actions showed she is extremely out & proud about her views on homosexuals and as someone who, as I said before, has an responsibility to the vulnerable people we work with, could not risk her voicing those opinions to any children of ours.
We have gay staff members. We entertain at parties where the children of gay parents attend. We entertain at parties where gay children attend. This. Woman. Was. A. Risk.
In a new post that followed her deleted one, she linked to the Equality Campaign and said that she had given a final interview on Triple J, which would be her last comment on the situation. She acknowledged the risk she had taken with her posts, but knew that it was the right thing to do.
I risked my business and my integrity doing this but I don’t really give a shit because I can wake up tomorrow and marry any bloke I want (if they consent of course) so if anyone else supports equality like I do and has a few spare bucks, skip your afternoon coffee and donate to the equality campaign.
You can read her statement in full below.
The LGBTQI community has been calling for allies to take a stand, and there is no denying she definitely has done that.
