Australian judges ruled on Thursday that it was not offensive to call a gay United States television star a ”pillow biter” and a ”pompous little pansy prig”.
The judges dismissed a complaint by a gay rights activist against a radio broadcaster who made the remarks about Carson Kressley, popular star of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
Veteran broadcaster John Laws, known as ”Golden Tonsils,” said his on-air comments about Kressley were tongue-in-cheek and were meant to be funny.
But gay rights activist Gary Burns filed a complaint with the Administrative Decisions Tribunal in New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, saying Laws’ comments presented homosexual men as dirty and perverted.
Burns told reporters outside the tribunal he was disappointed by the decision.
”I took this action because I believe it’s important to stand up and erase hate in society,” he said. ”It’s about standing up against bullies.”
Laws was on air at the time of the judgement and unavailable for comment, but lawyers for Southern Cross Broadcasting said the radio network was pleased with the decision.
”The result is what we had hoped for, and what we were confident we would get,” said Adam Olding. ‒ Sapa-AFP