Festival Rejects Government Requests to Stop Bestiality Story

New South Wales Arts Minister Ben Franklin and his staff have issued an official statement requesting that the Dangerous Thoughts Festival not be contacted and that a planned talk on bestiality be cancelled.

Simon Longstaff, curator of the festival, told the Executive Director of the Center for Ethics. Herald He did not bow to pressure by Joanna Burke, a New Zealand-born, UK-based historian and author of books including the 2020s, to cancel the story. love animals.

Longstaff said the event, called “Last Taboo,” scheduled for September 17 at Carriageworks, was “very grossly misrepresented in its intent and content,” and Burke said he had bestiality. did not support

“To suggest that this was facilitating sex with animals is like saying that a historian dealing with the history of cannibalism is facilitating cannibalism,” he said.

Franklin’s office sent a statement to 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham late Thursday after Fordham sent him a link to the event on the FODI website. We are deeply concerned about the content of the festival and have asked the festival organizers to remove it from their programs.”

“While Minister Franklin supports independent artistic expression, creative work must meet community expectations, and The Last Taboo clearly fails to meet those expectations. No,” the statement said.

2GB is owned by Nine, the publisher of this masthead. The bureau also notes that “interspecies relationships can be complex, rich and fulfilling,” and “love for animals can inspire greater love for humans,” among others from Burke’s book. “revealed” the citation.

Longstaff said that he had read Burke’s book and offered only three ideas about bestiality. “It takes a special mind to think that loving animals requires having sex with them,” he said.