By Jeremy Sollars
A New England Highway billboard sign promoting traditional marriage installed by a Stanthorpe church is still pending removal by landowner Queensland Rail.
As reported last week Granite Belt Baptist Church pastor Brendon Dunn was furious at a QR demand that the billboard message, on the highway south of Stanthorpe on QR land, be removed following complaints from the public.
Brendon told the Free Times QR had on Monday 18 September ordered the billboard message “supporting biblical marriage” be taken down after receiving “pressure from gay marriage activists”.
The billboard sign reads – “Jesus Christ said: God made them male and female – Mark 10:6″, and has a graphic of two wedding bands.
Brendon said a double standard was operating, given the same billboard had displayed a Bible verse from the church for the last two and a half years “without any issues”.
“Queensland Rail, on whose land the billboard stands, has allegedly received complaints about the (current) sign, and cites their policy of not permitting political or religious advertising on their property,” he said.
He told the Free Times this week billboard company Bishopp was still understood to be in the process of sending a work crew from Brisbane to remove the sign.
Queensland Rail chief executive officer Nick Easy told the Free Times the content of the pro-biblical marriage sign was “outside of our advertising policy”.
But Mr Easy’s statement seems to conflict with recent advertising on QR trains in Brisbane promoting the ‘Brisbane Pride’ festival in September.
Brendon Dunn said he had been sent photos of the ads by a QR employee who saw the Free Times story on the Stanthorpe billboard last week and said they were “disgusted at QR’s double standards”.
“He also said that if he dared to complain about it, he would probably lose his job,” Brendon said.
