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 A gay Bowen Hills man has launched an anti-vilification case against a group of fellow Housing Commission tenants he claims have repeatedly called him homophobic names within earshot of other neighbours.
Wayne Draper, 58, told Queensland Pride the campaign against him and a fellow tenant intensified after another tenant who had threatened him with a knife was transferred to another community.
Draper, who is HIV positive and also suffers cardio and vascular problems, claims he was admitted to hospital after the now-transferred neighbour allegedly sat outside his flat and threatened to “cut ya” and “knife ya, ya fucking faggot!”
On other occasions, Draper says the man called him a “fucking faggot” and a “fucking poofter” and a “weak-gutted faggot c*nt”.
Friends of the evicted man, who remain in the adjacent flats, have continued the campaign of vilification, he said.
Draper said one elderly neighbor had repeatedly yelled “poofter” and other obscenities at him when he walked in the shared areas of the Housing Department complex.
“On Mother’s Day he said that when I was born I fell out of someone’s arse,” Draper said.
“Apart from being an insult to my late mother on Mother’s Day, it is generally a filthy remark for anyone to overhear,” he added.
Draper told Queensland Pride that although nine other LGBT people live in the 24-unit complex, none were willing to make a complaint for fear of possible repercussions, though some had said they would sign statutory declarations.
“I can understand their reluctance,” Draper said, “but I have a background in anti-discrimination and I’m not a shrinking violet, and I think it’s important to show that no-one has to take this kind of crap.
“There are things you can do, and I’m doing it,” he said.
Draper said the Housing Department had tackled the issue in a fair and responsible way and that the Anti-Discrimination Commission of Queensland was also investigating his complaint.
“At the end of the day I just want it to stop,” he said.
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