QUEENSLAND’S top billboard company has donated space to a provocative campaign in support of gay and lesbian rights.
The What R U Having campaign on GOA billboards features a pregnant woman and the words ‘congratulations, you’re having a lesbian’.
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) commissioned the campaign, with actors, advertising creatives and production crew also donating their time.
The billboard has appeared near the Inner City Bypass at Bowen Hills, PFLAG spokesperson Shelley Argent said GOA billboards had provided space at no charge.
“We’ve had some negative feedback, as you would expect, but we have also had some very positive. One was from a young couple having their own baby. They thought it was a very good idea,” she said.
“Some people have taken the view that it’s evil and all this, but of course it’s not – it’s just to make people think.”
Ms Argent said when she was pregnant with her son, who is gay, she read books on how to help children who were gifted or had disabilities, but there was no preparation for the inequality experienced by gay and lesbian children.
“It doesn’t matter as a parent how much love and support or what kind of family unit you are, when you have a gay or lesbian child, they are considered second-rate – not by the parents, but by society and the government,” she said.
“Everybody thinks that someone else will have a gay or lesbian child, but not you. So it’s a case of what would you do if that was your child, and what would you want. It’s just a simple message.”
The sister of Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Christine Forster, has put her support behind the campaign.
“The campaign is another reminder that lesbians and gays come from all walks of life and from every part of Australia, and should have the same rights as our straight brothers and sisters,” she said.
Author: Jane Chudleigh
Publication: Couriermail.com.au
Date: 13 June 2013