Hephaestion
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4795
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posted 10 January 2006 06:18 AM
quote: (Wellington) No one bats an eye when American baseball players pat each other on the butt over a good play, but in New Zealand where cricket is the big game two women who hugged and kissed were threatened with expulsion from a stadium.
Richelle Fitzgibbon, 29, and Kelly Holdway, 20, were in the stands watching a match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Napier.
Their moment of jubilation was caught on the jumbotron screen at at McLean Park. A security guard intervened and said they would be thrown out if they did it again. The women, who are straight, said they were shocked.
Central Districts Cricket Association chief executive Blair Furlong has publicly apologized for the guard's behavior.
But in Wellington, Westpac Stadium Trust chief executive David Gray said if a similar thing happened in his stadium he expected security staff act in the same way.
"We would not accept that that's something that should be broadcast on the screen. At a family stadium it's not appropriate and we would instruct our operators accordingly.
Openly gay New Zealand Cabinet minister Chris Carter said the reaction to the incident smacked of unfairness.
"It seems to me that this is a human rights issue. If there's no kissing allowed at all, then fair enough. But if opposite-sex couples can kiss, then . . . same-sex couples should be allowed to as well.
From: goodbye... :-( | Registered: Dec 2003
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