Council sex split

By Lia Bichel
CASEY Council has narrowly voted down a motion specifically supporting youth with differing sexual preferences.
Councillors voted six to five against a motion, moved by Edrington Ward Cr Simon Curtis, which aimed to show support to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and any other bullied youth.
The motion prompted a heated debate which lasted almost an hour at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
Cr Curtis wanted to place a pledge on council’s website which stated “The City of Casey pledges that everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. We pledge to spread this message to our community. We will speak up against hate and intolerance wherever we see it in Casey or wider community. We will provide hope for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and other bullied youth by letting them know that Casey Council will work to a brighter future in Casey.”
The motion also invited councillors and Casey Council staff to publicly support the “It Gets Better Project” by taking a pledge at American-based website www.itgetsbetter.org and also wanted to produce a video of support to be submitted on the website.
Cr Curtis was supported by Cr Lynette Keleher, Cr Wayne Smith, Cr Judy Owen and Cr Kevin Bradford.
Mayor Shar Balmes said she opposed the motion as it singled out a specific group.
“It suggests we show support to one group of youth. I condemn any form of bullying, but I don’t believe we can articulate our support to one group,” she said.
Cr Amanda Stapledon agreed.
“We do value our youth, but why would we endorse a lifestyle choice?” she said.
Cr Stapledon said it was not up to councillors to talk about “a lifestyle choice or sexuality” at a council meeting. “It is not what we do,” she said.
Cr Aziz agreed.
“We need to get out of people’s bedrooms (and out) where we belong,” he said.
Cr Aziz said he respected the fact that Cr Curtis was trying achieve inclusion and anti-bullying, but didn’t think it was appropriate to single out a specific group.
Cr Aziz also said when he accidentally typed in a wrong address similar to the website’s name, links to pornography appeared. Cr Curtis responded by stating that it was quite common, when putting in incorrect website names, that links to pornography would appear. He said this could be avoided by putting a direct link on the council website.
Cr Keleher said she was in full support of the motion and said many youth were harming themselves or even committing suicide because they felt unaccepted due to their sexuality.
“We need to support everyone,” she said.
“We can’t sit here and ignore this motion. This would be a ground-breaking move. We need to set an example. It’s a bullying issue. These people need protection and I am here to protect as all councillors should be.”
Cr Bradford said he did not necessarily support making a video, but did support the pledge.
Cr Bob Halsall said he would prefer to vote on the motion at a later date, after hearing more public opinion about the issue.
After voting against the motion, councillors unanimously agreed to make a pledge on the website that demonstrated their stance against bullying and showed support to all youth.