Atlanta Vampire Alliance [AVA]

[Pan]

A quote from the Pagan Awarenes Network Australia stated and I quote:
http://www.paganawareness.net.au/casey.html
Here is how it started.

Olivia Watts unsuccessfully ran for Casey council in March 2003. Another Councillor was elected and only stayed in office for only 34 days. While in office he stirred up a mess of trouble in the council. What is the connection I hear you say? Well this councillor appeared on Today Tonight (Channel 7) and Olivia was asked to comment. Well Olivia exercised her democratic right to have an opinion and made a comment.

On The 28th May 2003 the Cranbourne Leader ran an article on the repeal of Section 13 of the Vagrancy Act 1958 Olivia featured In this article.

On June 2nd, 2003, Councillor Rob Wilson issued a press release warning that individuals with links to the occult were involved in attacks on the City Council and its recent run of negative publicity. In his press release, he named Olivia Watts, and stated among other things that her religious beliefs were ‘a matter of concern for all Casey residents.’ The Mayor of the City Of Casey, Brian Oates, weighed into the debate, supporting Cr Wilson’s claims. A media circus ensued, see below.

Here are our responses and developments to date.

Our original letter to Steve Bracks the Victorian Premier, received a response from his office stating that the matter has been referred to the Attorney General and the Department of Justice for further investigation. Our second letter sent as a cc in response to Mayor Oats' letter to has also received a response thanking us for brining this to their attention and has also been referred to The Attorney General for investigation.

We have sent a complete file of all the correspondence and newspaper articles with the complaint to the Attorney General. September saw a response from the Attorney General of Victoria. In his letter he wanted to reiterate his comments on April 14, "We govern for all Victorians – and that includes witches, magicians and sorcerers" . He also advised that we lodge our complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001

Our complaint lodged with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has had a response, we were advised to take it to the Equal Opportunity Commission of Victoria as it is out of their jurisdiction.

We then Lodged a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission in Victorian. Our complaint against Cr Wilson could not be resolved and will be referred to VCAT for hearing. Our Complaint with Mayor Oates is ongoing.

http://pagan.meetup.com/346/

[Eclecta]

That sounds like our govt.. LOL. When they realize they have opened their big mouths and have done a not quite up to par Politically Correct boo boo, then they wanna cry foul and yada yada... Assholes. I guess no matter where ya go, its all the same.
_________________
"Love is the law, love under will."

[Maloryn]

Looking at the PAN website, it looks like this was resolved in 2004... what is still ongoing with this?

---Mal

[Pan]

Dear Eclecta,

I just got this letter today send to me by Gavin Andrew
Media Officer, Pagan Awareness Network Inc. And it read`s as follows.



Hi Pan,

The case settled out of court with a retraction from the councillor
in question. The terms of the settlement were confidential.

A clarification - Olivia's loss at election was never the issue. The
issue was that her public profile as a local witch was subsequently
used by two councillors to suggest that a "Satanic conspiracy" was
at work in the Municipality. Pagans were accused of "promoting
evil", and Olivia specifically was accused of being responsible for
a litany of controversy that had dogged the council (mostly self-
inflicted - sex-scandals, rate hikes, junkets etc.)

The important thing was that we were able to demonstrate to some of
the more venal fundamentalist groups out there that we have the
capacity and willingness to take legal action against those who
slander, harass and vilify us. Much of this is due to the courage of
Olivia in standing up and fighting.

While I have no doubt that there'll be another case like this down
the track, in the meantime fundy groups have begun phrasing their
rhetoric more carefully.

You wrote:

I will like any other further information as to whom to contact
> just in case some of our members receive the same sort of
> victimization from either the public, employment, schools, etc.

Okay, if anything like this crops up get in touch straight away with
our Victorian Coordinator Marian Dalton on 0402 587 219 or via
vic@paganawareness.net.au We always want to make a rapid response to
these situations when they arise.

The Pagan Awareness Network operates exactly like a trade union -
the more members we have the more muscle we can flex on the Pagan
Community's behalf, but we still handle situations where non PAN
members are involved. (One that springs to mind is a schoolgirl who
was told to remove her pentacle at school while her friends were
allowed to wear crosses etc.) But the more members the better, so
please put the word out. Membership forms are dowloadable from the
website - www.paganawareness.net.au/joinPAN

On our front page and scroll down a bit you will notice a number
of .pdf files for download - these are information pamphlets
provoded free by PAN Inc. We would love you to distribute copies of
these to your members, particularly the "Safety in the Circle"
pamphlet, or at the very least have them in your "Files" section as
a resource.

BB,

Gavin Andrew
Media Officer, Pagan Awareness Network Inc.