Protest over gay comments
2008-07-25 15:33
Cape Town - Cape Town Pride held a protest outside the Media24 building in Cape Town on Friday in response to the comments by Sunday Sun columnist Jon Qwelane.
Qwelane angered the gay community by writing that he could only pray politicians would one day have "the balls" to scrap the sections in the Constitution that sanctioned gay and lesbian marriages.
He also predicted that soon people would start demanding the right to marry animals.
Protesters, sporting pink cowboy hats, shouted slogans like: "Fire Qwelane", "We are wild, but we are not animals", "Down with hate speech" and "We are not Zimbabwe".
Organiser of the peaceful protest and chairperson of Cape Town Pride, Ian McMahon, handed a petition to the CEO of Media24's newspaper publishing division Abraham van Zyl, calling for an apology and for the media house to suspend ties with Qwelane.
McMahon also urged editors to be more sensitised to homophobia.
When asked what action will be taken if their demands are not met, McMahon responded by saying that "no battle plan had been set yet," as the decision to protest happened so quickly.
Glenn De Swardt, director of Cape Town Pride, added that "freedom of speech shouldn't infringe on human rights".
De Swardt said that editors should take responsibility for what is published and, if they don't, then it should become the responsibility of the publishing houses.
Media24 statement
Van Zyl issued a statement to McMahon, which reads:
Media24 acknowledges the protest arising from Jon Qwelane's column in Sunday Sun dated 20 July 2008 and does not associate itself with the contents of the article.
We respect the rights of complainants to express themselves freely in this matter and the recourse they may have.
Media24 also respects the editorial integrity of its titles and therefore it must be the prerogative of the editor of the Sunday Sun to respond to the complaints.
News24 is part of 24.com, which is owned by the Naspers subsidiary Media24