‘Don’t annoy Catholics’ law annoys Australians

PASS an annoyingly stupid law, and people will soon rally to show their contempt for it – as they did yesterday in Sydney, Australia.

Wearing T-shirts that read “Pope Go Homo” and “The pope is wrong, put a condom on!,” a group of demonstrators poked fun at a new Australian law aimed at protecting Catholic participants in next week’s World Youth Day from being annoyed by opponents.

According to this Fox report:

The new rules, which critics have condemned as a form of censorship, give authorities the power to order anyone to stop behaviour that ‘causes annoyance or inconvenience’ to the 250,000 pilgrims expected in Sydney for the Roman Catholic festival being held July 15-20.

Anyone who doesn’t comply could face a fine of $5,300.

The law will apply in dozens of areas of downtown Sydney – including the city’s landmark opera house, train stations and city parks – that are designated venues for World Youth Day, which will culminate in a papal mass.

Police and the New South Wales state government say they are a necessary security measure. Libertarians and rights activists disagree.

Said Rachel Evans, a spokeswoman for the NoToPope Coalition, which is supported by the Australian National Secular Foundation:

These annoyance laws are outrageous.

The coalition, made up of gay rights, student and atheist groups, is planning a July 19 march to protest what it calls the pope’s homophobic and antiquated ideas. The group is also planning to distribute condoms to young pilgrims and speak with them about human rights issues.

One demonstrator, Colin Charlton, gleefully held up a series of T-shirts: one bearing a picture of the pope’s face, surrounded by the words, “We put it on down under,” another reading “This T-shirt is annoying” followed by the names of several government officials.

To Charlton, 57, the annoyance law is just another in a string of poor decisions by Australia’s leaders.

They can’t get anything right, this government. If they’d have shut up, there would have been a little (demonstration) … Now there’s gonna be thousands, because Sydneysiders are saying we want to keep our rights, which are being eroded away.

Danny Casey, chief operating officer of World Youth Day, told reporters that officials are not concerned about the planned protests.

Protesters tend to make a lot more noise prior to the event than they do during the event. World Youth Day will be a wonderful celebration, there will be enormous joy flowing through the city. People are free to protest. We believe in free speech, we practice it ourselves, so we don’t have any particular concerns about disrupting the event.

Eden Bates, wearing a hot pink wig, a matching “There is NO GOD” tank top and fluffy white boa, bounced up and down clapping and chanting as a tour bus ambled by, catching the attention of one passenger, who gave a small wave.

We want to express ourselves and what we’ve got to say has to be heard, I believe. It’s OK for the Catholics to celebrate their day, but there’s another side to the story and it has to be told.

A poll on the NotoPope website showed that 10 percent Australians favoured the new “annoyance” law, while 90 percent opposed it. A total of 10,983 votes were cast.

UPDATE -July 14: A POLL by social networking giant MySpace brands the Catholic Church “out of touch” with young people, just ahead of its World Youth Day event in Sydney. The online poll, which targeted Australians aged 14 to 24, found 77 per cent of respondents felt the church was out of touch with them.

UPDATE- July 15. Good news: A Federal court has struck down the anti-annoyance law.