The man behind the ‘memorial rally’ for the Cronulla riots will gather followers again, this time to promote the rights of straight couples.
Nick Folkes, who runs far-right group Party For Freedom, will hold a ‘Straight Lives Matter’ rally in Green Park near Oxford Street in Darlinghurst on Saturday.
In a manifesto posted on the event’s Facebook page, Folkes claims he is representing: ‘Many Australians who feel excluded from the current debate on same sex marriage’.
He claims these people have been shut out: ‘Due to the militant group-think tactics used by homosexual marriage activists’.
Nick Folkes and his Party For Freedom will hold a rally called ‘Straight Lives Matter’ in Green Park on Saturday
The activist defended his right to hold the rally to News Corp, saying ‘in most cases’, being gay was ‘a lifestyle people choose’.
‘My neighbour has kids and he was straight but went gay,’ he said.
He claimed the Yes campaign would ‘attract more people to that lifestyle’, and create a ‘homosexual society’.
In his description of the event, which currently has 27 people confirmed as attending, Folkes rages against what he calls the ‘purple haired rainbow collective’ and said ‘Yes’ activists should focus their attention on what he sees as more pressing issues.
Folkes was behind the memorial to the 2005 Cronulla Riots, where he originally intended to bury a coffin at Cronulla Beach to symbolise the death of multiculturalism
Folkes and his followers have been posting signs which promote ‘Straight Pride’ throughout Sydney
‘Homosexual activists should be concentrating their efforts on building public opposition to Muslim immigration in Australia to protect their community from real religious hatred, intimidation and violence,’ he wrote.
‘But instead the gay militia concentrates its activities on attacking white heteronormativity.’
Speaking to News Corp, Folkes also slammed the idea of there being more than two genders, referring to anyone who did not identify as male or female as a ‘retard’.
‘All these 76 genders. I say there’s three genders: male, female and retards,’ he said.
‘The rest is lunacy The world’s being turned upside down.’
Not only is Darlinghurst widely considered the most gay-friendly suburb in Sydney, but Green Park, where the rally will be held, is home to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial.
He says the rally will be for Australians who feel excluded from the current debate by what he calls the ‘purple haired rainbow collective’
The memorial, a sculpture made of a pink triangle with black poles, was revealed in February 2001, to commemorate the persecution of homosexual men during the Holocaust.
Folkes defended his choice of space by claiming he wasn’t aware of the memorial, and said yes campaigners could hold their rally in a ‘straight area’.
In late 2015, Folkes attempted to hold a rally to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Cronulla Riots.
His initial plan was to carry a coffin through the busy Cronulla Mall before burying it at the beach – his intention being that the coffin would symbolise the death and burial of multiculturalism.
After a series of court battles, he agreed to a ‘Halal-free barbeque’ at which he was not permitted to address the small crowd who ended up attending.
The rally was widely mocked after Folkes and his followers failed to light a spit roast which they had planned to cook a pig on.
Folkes was the subject of an injunction in 2015, which disallowed him to hold his rally in Cronulla. He said he would comply with the court ruling but would hold a ‘Halal-free barbecue’ instead