Four bright yellow signs which offer a $1,000 reward for the name of a 'GAY tagger' who left their mark on the side of a building in Auckland's Onehunga have angered gay drivers in the area.
"$1,000 Reward. Name the GAY tagger that was responsible for this mess!" exclaim the four large signs on the graffiti-marked wall.
"The signs can clearly be seen from the road when driving near the Onehunga Mall," says one of the gay Aucklanders who informed us of the signs.
"It's another case of people using the word 'gay' to mean something horrible. We've all heard things like this, but nothing as in your face as this sign is. Aside from the blatant homophobia, I just can't believe someone would be so stupid, to spend money on signs like that. I'm sure they've had a few angry calls to that phone number."
GayNZ.com tried calling the mobile number on the sign today, but our calls went direct to voicemail and were not returned.
It's not the first time a 'tagging punishment' has raised the ire of New Zealand's LGBT communities. Back in May, a Wellington community police constable who began making teenagers wear pink vests as punishment for tagging prompted alarm from the coordinator of LGBT youth organisation Out There, who described the idea as "homophobic" and "appalling".
