LGBT Australians are unsurprisingly fairly cranky right now about the fact that we have to sit around and wait while the country ‘debates’ our equal status under law, and the worst of that debate is probably yet to come.
While the government’s hastily thrown-together postal plebiscite still faces a challenge in the High Court and may not even go ahead, it’s safe to say that many are dreading the kind of material that the ‘Vote No’ campaign will be dumping in their letterboxes over the next couple of months.
With that in mind, Tim Brennan from New South Wales has decided to step up with a small but powerful gesture, a ‘No Plebiscite Hate Mail‘ sticker that he’s selling for cost price through DIY site Redbubble.
The die-cut vinyl stickers measure 62mm by 38mm, and serve as a way for people to show their support for marriage equality, while also attempting to discourage too many negative letterbox drops.
P.TV spoke to Brennan earlier today to find out more, and he told us he felt the need to take a positive step for LGBT people, because he was fed up with attempts to instil fear and mistrust in the community, particularly in the discussion around same-sex parents.
“Due to the government’s insistence on running a plebiscite and letting ‘everyone have their say’ it was important to me to do something proactive for the yes campaign,” he told us.
“It has been long thought that the arguments for the no campaign will be malicious and insulting and no-one needs to be bullied like that, especially in their own homes.”
There has already been a good response so far, with a mother contacting Brennan to thank him for the stickers, as her daughter is part of the LGBTQI community “and she was worried about what sort of propaganda she would be subjected to.”
Of course, just because you don’t want plebiscite material showing up in your mailbox, you may not be able to stop it from happening.
Regulations around unsolicited advertising material and junk mail differ from state to state, but the bottom line is that if somebody wants to dump a political flyer in your mailbox, they’re probably going to go ahead and do it.
Brennan is well aware of this, and says he hopes people’s wishes are respected, adding that if individuals are “targeted” with letterbox drops, this would point to the maliciousness of the ‘no’ campaign.
“At the end of the day I think at the very least it is an open display of support for the LGBTQI community and the ‘yes’ vote. The more rainbow flags out there in the community, the more people from LGBTQI community will know they are supported.”
As for the burning question of money, Brennan tells us that he is putting his stickers up for sale at cost price with no intention to make a profit from them.
“Redbubble lets you set your profit margin and I have made it zero so that there is no grey area around money, I’m just doing it because I feel it is the right thing to do,” he says.
“Having said that, if there were a particular LGBTQI group or charity that was interested in working with me on this I would be more than happy to discuss.”
You can grab one of the ‘No Plebiscite Hate Mail’ stickers here via Redbubble.
If you’re interested, here are some places where you can read more about the rules surrounding junk mail in Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia.
