Last month I blogged about a hate crime in the South Island, where two men in Moeraki were kidnapped and threatened because they were believed to be gay. But it looks like its not just rural areas where such homophobia persists. The Press this morning reports that a gay couple in Christchurch were forced to close their bakery after a campaign of vandalism and harassment from local residents.
This is simply appalling, and it is not something we should tolerate in New Zealand. We're meant to be a better society than that. But if we want to be that society, we need to challenge this sort of bigotry whenever it occurs. If we just ignore it out of fear of "making a fuss", then the bigots think it is acceptable. We need to make sure that they know that it is not.
