2014 THE YEAR THAT WAS
CASEY councillor Rafal Kaplon came out publicly as gay after his fellow Four Oaks Ward councillor Rosalie Crestani attempted to raise a motion in November to stop the City of Casey promoting awareness of different sexual orientations.
Cr Kaplon announced he was homosexual following a tumultuous council meeting in which Cr Sam Aziz left in protest, forcing the session to dissolve because there was no longer a quorum.
Cr Crestani’s motion sought to stop council from issuing media releases and remove signs concerning sexual orientation or the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.
Cr Crestani, who was a candidate for the Rise Up Australia Party (RUAP) in the State Election, also sought to abolish council’s LGBTI diversity training program.
But none of her fellow councillors supported the motion.
In a statement released after the meeting, Cr Kaplon said he felt it was important to make his sexuality public in a show of “strong community leadership”.
“I chose to make the personal disclosure that I did in my statement at this time on a matter which is normally private and of no relevance or importance to my daily life because I believe this issue called for a show of strong community leadership,” he said.
“And it is pivotal for Casey GLBTQI youth to know that there is nothing wrong with them, and that they have support from the wider community and members of the council.”
Cr Kaplon said he was “relieved” Cr Crestani’s motion did not pass and that the City of Casey remained “accessible and inclusive for all and not just some”.
“Cr Crestani justified her notice of motion as not being against the GLBTQI community but rather to stop singling out groups for special treatment and protecting heterosexuals from discrimination,” he said.
“However I sadly feel that the motion was nothing more than a cheap political ploy by the Rise Up Australia Party and the mischievous ‘Lord’ Christopher Monckton who was present in the chamber to gain traction before the state election by picking on the Muslim and GLBTQI minority groups.”
Monckton, a well-known conservative and controversial climate change sceptic, was at the controversial council meeting but Cr Crestani didn’t elaborate on his attendance apart from to say he was assisting the RUAP with its anti-abortion agenda.
