The Canberra contractor dropped from a children’s party business after publicly expressing her choice to vote ‘No’ in the same-sex marriage postal survey delivered her viewpoint on the issue last night, saying the decision was unfair.
The woman, identified only as Madeline, had been relieved of her duties at Capital Kids Parties by owner Madlin Sims. Speaking to PEDESTRIAN.TV on Monday, Sims said she ended the business relationship with Madeline over fears her “out and proud” stance against marriage equality – and a Facebook profile photo filter with an ‘It’s OK to vote No’ theme, reportedly visible near Madeline’s photos of work-related events – could be detrimental to LGBTIQ clients and their children.
“We have gay customers, we do parties for children of gay parents, we might be doing parties for gay kids who don’t know they’re gay yet. I wasn’t comfortable with someone working for us who was so out and proud about having homophobic views,” Sims said.
In return, Madeline spoke on The Bolt Report, telling host Andrew Bolt that she doesn’t harbour homophobic views, and “this is a democracy and we were given the options and asked, as Australians, to vote yes or no and it is my opinion to vote no.”
“I don’t think that my job should, you know, be taken away from me just because I have an opinion that someone disagrees with.”
WATCH: A contractor, fired for posting support for ‘Vote No’, says she shouldn’t have been let go because her boss doesn’t like her opinion pic.twitter.com/8ARBYpGLpJ
— The Bolt Report (@theboltreport) September 19, 2017
Madeline also spoke on Triple J’s Hack, explaining that while “I love everyone, I’m not a hateful person at all,” her religious convictions keep her from supporting marriage equality.
“I simply can’t vote yes without going against my God,” she said.
FWIW, Hack also spoke to a lawyer regarding potential legal options available to Madeline, including the possibility of a case built on alleged discrimination based on religious or political beliefs. You can check out that discussion right HERE.
