Corporate sponsors have withdrawn financial support from a number of homosexual festivals in country towns, prompting celebrations from Australians opposed to events that sexualise children and promote radical gender ideology.
Supermarket giant Coles will not provide money for the Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras this year while Charles Sturt University is undecided, Rainbow on the Plains in Hay has had major sponsors pull out, and Drag’d Out in Victoria has been scaled back after its major corporate benefactor Billson’s collapsed.
Coles said in a statement provided to ABC News that it had pulled money from the sexual deviancy event “to ensure that we are sharing the support that we can provide to other communities”.
“We support and celebrate a variety of regional and metropolitan based community-led pride events,” Coles said.
Last week the Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras posted an appeal for new sponsors and donations along with a photo of a man dressed in a revealing and sexualised female outfit cavorting in front of young children, and photos from this year’s event show similar scenes.
Australian Mother of the Year 2023 Kirralie Smith was among those who responded positively to the sponsorship exodus.
“Looks like Coles and others are starting to realise most Aussies hate the sexualisation of children and the erasure of women’s sex-based rights,” she wrote.
“Yeah we’ve all had it with your freak festivals,” said another.
“I used to participate in mardi as an ally to many gay friends but it’s now become about kinks and fetishes and no longer about gay rights or equality. It’s repulsive now,” said another.
Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras president Holly Conroy told the ABC that losing the festivals could have serious consequences.
“We’re not talking about having nothing to do for the weekend, we’re literally talking about saving lives,” she said in a quote used by ABC News to promote their article on X.
But X users objected to the implication by the ABC and Ms Conroy that homosexuals would commit suicide if big corporations did not fund the annual event.
“That’s a bit hyperbolic don’t you think? Nobody died because they couldn’t attend a drag show or parade around in bondage gear or a furry suit in public,” said prominent women’s rights activist Angie Jones.
“So you’re actually threatening Coles with suicides if they don’t sponsor your parties? Parties that promote the sexual acts and sexual behaviour you prefer?” asked another X user.
“Coles and others would be well advised to stay completely clear of this.”
“So people are trying to bully other people out of money using suicide as a threat? I don’t think ABC should platform such behaviour. It’s extraordinarily toxic,” said a third.
The corporate pull-out comes after amid growing anger towards radical gender ideology worldwide, with the UK’s NHS banning so-called gender-affirming care earlier this year and President-elect Donald Trump announcing plans to crack down on rogue doctors who mutilate children in “gender transitions”.
“Drag queen story hour” events around Australia were hit by protests this year, including in the rural town of Albury where right-wing protesters turned up at a homosexual film event marketed to children with a banner saying “destroy paedo freaks”.
Header image: Left, children watch a “drag queen” at the Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras in March. Right, Rainbow on the Plains earlier this month (Facebook)
