No apology, no accountability, and throwing the rainbow community under the bus; Pavel Zivnustka asks why sorry seems to be the hardest word for the Green Party.
Even the most dedicated news avoider could not escape the media storm surrounding Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle and their social media posts this week.
Doyle had shared a photo of a child on Instagram, labelled ‘bussy galore’. This and other images went viral primarily due to social media posts by Winston Peters, New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First Party, as well as several conservative and religious groups.
I had to Google what “bussy” meant.
Doyle’s posts were highly inappropriate, and I struggle to see in what context this supposed ‘slang’ attached to a photo of a minor would be considered amusing—especially when shared by a sitting member of Parliament. They were clearly asking for trouble.
Not surprisingly, the responses from the general public were unfavourable. Some were hostile, and some indeed hateful, calling the rainbow community a group of perverts and paedophiles.
I sat at home wondering how all of our community who work with children are feeling—teachers, sports coaches, nurses, therapists.
Have we just travelled back in time?
I am young enough to have enjoyed all the freedoms and hard-won liberties that the gay community enjoys in the majority of liberal democracies today, but old enough to appreciate how we got here. I know of the pain our elders faced in the era before Homosexual Law Reform, the horrors of the HIV epidemic, the discrimination, and, indeed, the false stigma that gay men are paedophiles.
I listen to their stories. They are my rainbow whānau.
The freedoms enshrined in laws and the goodwill our elders built with the wider community did not come easily—people suffered, some even lost their lives.
The response from the Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick at their Monday presser addressing Doyle’s viral posts was infuriating.
I expected, ‘We are sorry about these deeply concerning posts, and are investigating.’
It became obvious that I would be waiting a long time for that.
Instead, we were served a grotesque attempt at deflecting the actual concerns and spinning this as an orchestrated hateful campaign from the ‘dangerous conspiratorial corners of the Internet’. ‘Bussy’ was innocent slang only the chosen few insiders can truly understand.
Not a hint of accountability. No suggestion of remorse.
The disastrous presser heavily implied that Doyle, as a member of the rainbow community, should be protected and is without reproach, and accountability should lie with these ‘haters’.
No, Marama. No, Chlöe.
Here in the real world, any individual, irrespective of their immutable characteristics like gender identity, sexual orientation or race, should be open to criticism when they mess up.
The backlash, which was orchestrated by groups gunning for the rainbow community since the dawn of days—like Destiny Church and Family First—only became possible because of the complete negligence on the Green Party’s part.
This—and I mean ALL of this—could have been easily prevented with the most basic HR policies and high-school-level media management.
If the Greens’ HR team had done their due diligence, Doyle would have studied the social media clauses of their employment contract, and their social media accounts would have been bleached before they were sworn into Parliament.
One would hope lessons were learnt after the Elizabeth Kerekere, Golriz Ghahraman, AND Darleen Tana scandals. They clearly were not.
The PR management of this latest saga has been incredibly irresponsible and will damage the rainbow community at large. We have been effectively thrown under the bus.
If this is the Greens’ idea of rainbow allyship, then I don’t want them anywhere near my gay whare.
All that remains is to ask of Marama and Chlöe is: “Why sorry seems to be the hardest word?”
Image Source | Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand Facebook page.
