Cape Town - LGBTQ+ organisation OUT is calling for prominent scientist, Professor Tim Noakes to publicly apologise for sharing what they described as a “harmful and homophobic” cartoon with thousands of his followers on social media recently.
The cartoon, which depicts a Trojan horse being wheeled towards ‘social acceptance’, is harmful and homophobic and amounts to hate speech, said the organisation.
But Noakes maintained he had simply retweeted the cartoon, and immediately removed it when members of the LBGTQ+ community expressed concerns.
Human rights manager at OUT, Lerato Phalakatshela said: “While the horse is labelled LGBTQ+ from the outside, the interior of the horse is labelled ‘paedophile’. The implication that the LGBTQ+ community is linked with or inclusive of paedophiles, and that society’s acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community is a first step towards the acceptance of paedophilia.
“The cartoon repeats the dangerous narrative that members of the LGBTQ+ community are harmful to young people, and amounts to hate speech.
We call on Professor Noakes to not only remove the tweet, but also clarify this intention in sharing it and to publicly apologise for doing so. We will be taking further steps. We are speaking to our lawyers as well for their guidance,” he said.
Noakes on Thursday told the Cape Times that the facts were “distorted” by those who dislike his scientific opinions.
“The cartoon was about the decriminalisation of paedophilia in the US. It had absolutely nothing to do with who the paedophiles were. My point is that this will come to South Africa and as a grandparent to two young children, I’m concerned. As others should be.
“I do however apologise if the LBGT community was misled by others with personal agendas against me, into believing their gross distortion of the facts of this matter.
If I was homophobic surely that would have been only too obvious to the hundreds of thousands of South Africans with whom I’ve interacted in my career over the past 54 years. That there is not a smidgen of evidence to suggest this, means that it’s a completely manufactured claim, dreamed up by those who dislike my scientific opinions for whatever reasons,” Noakes said.
He said he had removed the post, but it was already retweeted.
“The post did not originate with me. I have no idea where it came from. I simply retweeted the original tweet that included the cartoon.
I removed the retweet as soon as members of the LBGT community expressed concerns. This is a coordinated attack by those with their own agendas who want to discredit me,” he said.
OUT recently settled a hate speech case against singer Steve Hofmeyr, with the latter agreeing to a R100 000 fine payable to the organisation.
This after Hofmeyr was reported by the organisation to the SAHRC over his social media statements in which he told followers the LGBTQIA+acronym included those who engaged in bestiality.
Spokesperson for Triangle Project, Ling Sheperd said the tweet that was retweeted by Noakes was “deplorable”.
“It feeds into the incorrect and harmful conviction that the LGBTIQ+community is inclusive of paedophiles.
It is not and never will be. These are dangerous narratives that keep getting endorsed. He says he removed the retweet as soon as members of the LBGT community expressed concerns.
How did he not see the image fully and take in what it was actually saying? Getting called out should serve as an opportunity to learn, not become defensive and refuse to take responsibility,” Sheperd said.
SAHRC commissioner André Gaum said they will be looking into the matter. “This is deeply concerning. Steve Hofmeyr has just settled with the Commission and had to pay R100 000 for his remarks concerning Disney’s inclusive characters. The Commission will definitely look into a complaint in this regard,” he said.
Cape Times