By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
CASEY councillor Rafal Kaplon has come out publicly as gay after his fellow Four Oaks ward councillor Rosalie Crestani attempted to raise a motion to stop the City of Casey promoting awareness of different sexual orientations.
Cr Kaplon announced he was homosexual on Wednesday following a tumultuous council meeting on Tuesday night in which Cr Sam Aziz left in protest, forcing the session to dissolve because there was no longer a quorum.
Cr Crestani’s motion sought to stop council from issuing media releases and remove signs concerning sexual orientation or the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.
Cr Crestani, who is a candidate for the Rise Up Australia Party (RUAP), also sought to abolish council’s LGBTI diversity training program.
But none of her fellow councillors supported the motion.
In a statement released after the meeting, Cr Kaplon said he felt it was important to make his sexuality public in a show of “strong community leadership”.
“I chose to make the personal disclosure that I did in my statement at this time on a matter which is normally private and of no relevance or importance to my daily life because I believe this issue called for a show of strong community leadership,” he said.
“And it is pivotal for Casey GLBTQI youth to know that there is nothing wrong with them, and that they have support from the wider community and members of the council.”
Cr Kaplon said he was “relieved” Cr Crestani’s motion did not pass and that the City of Casey remained “accessible and inclusive for all and not just some”.
“Cr Crestani justified her Notice of Motion as not being against the GLBTQI community but rather to stop singling out groups for special treatment and protecting heterosexuals from discrimination,” he said.
“However I sadly feel that the motion was nothing more than a cheap political ploy by the Rise Up Australia Party and the mischievous “Lord” Christopher Monckton who was present in the chamber to gain traction before the state election by picking on the Muslim and GLBTQI minority groups.”
Monckton, a well-known conservative and controversial climate change sceptic, was at Tuesday night’s meeting but Cr Crestani didn’t elaborate on his attendance apart from to say he was assisting the RUAP with their anti-abortion agenda.
Cr Kaplon said he’d been considering making his sexual orientation public when he heard about Cr Crestani’s proposed motion, but he hadn’t made his mind up until after Tuesday’s council meeting.
Deputy mayor Cr Berkelmans said Cr Kaplon’s decision to come out publicly was “courageous”.
Cr Crestani said Cr Kaplon’s announcement would not affect their working relationship.
“I care about him (Cr Kaplon) greatly, I would take a bullet for Cr Kaplon and he and I work so well together, we have such a love for the community,” she said.
“I know we will continue to work together, we might have some slight differences bus we also have genuine respect for each other.”
Cr Aziz said he left the meeting in protest after an alternative motion was put by the deputy mayor which reaffirmed Casey’s commitment to all members of its community including the LGBTI.
