To the surprise of no-one who actually bothered reading the Terms And Conditions at GoFundMe, Israel Folau’s request for the public to pay for his right to spread homophobic cont… sorry, that should read “contract negotiations with Rugby Australia with said money to be possibly but not necessarily used for the legal costs” has been taken down.
“Today we will be closing Israel Folau’s campaign and issuing full refunds to all donors. After a routine period of evaluation, we have concluded that this campaign violates our terms of service,” GoFundMe Australia regional manager Nicola Britton said in a statement.
“As a company, we are absolutely committed to the fight for equality for LGBTIQ+ people and fostering an environment of inclusivity. While we welcome GoFundMes engaging in diverse civil debate, we do not tolerate the promotion of discrimination or exclusion.”
And that’s all well and good, but Adelaide Thunderbirds player Maria Folau circulated her husband’s GoFundMe appeal, which meant that netball could enjoy the same reasoned, well-intentioned debates which rugby has recently enjoyed. Yay?
Netball South Australia have also issued a press release in an attempt to get ahead of the matter, explaining that a) they support everyone’s right to play netball, regardless of their sexual or religious identity, and that b) they do not endorse Folau’s petition but also don’t think that Maria breached their social media policy.
Australian netball legend Liz Ellis, however, had a different – some might say “better” – take.
“Yeah nah not good enough” she wrote on Twitter. “How about this:
There is no room for homophobia in our game. Anyone who is seen to support or endorse homophobia is not welcome. As much as I love watching @MariaFolau play netball I do not want my sport endorsing the views of her husband.”
And so that should completely sort this out so there’s zero possibility of this being used as a culture war flashpoint and… yeah we were just feeling hopeful.