Cabbie fined and forced to apologise after gay hate rants

A Newcastle taxi driver has been ordered to apologise and pay $11,000 in compensation to Sydney man Gary Burns after a series of blog posts over a number of years that were found to be vilifying the gay community.

Burns had taken John Christopher Sunol (pictured) to the Anti-Discrimination Board for comments made on his blog between November 2010 and May 2012 which included statements claiming the Sydney Mardi Gras was an event full of “wickedness and criminality” that “poofs” use to “groom young boys for sex”.

Sunol had also referred to Burns as a “dirty and filthy minded faggot and poof” and suggested that Burns “and his poofy followers are Lui [sic] the fly and I will be the Mortein that cleans the world of this disease”.

In two separate judgements handed down by the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, Sunol was ordered to pay Burns $2,000 and $3,000 as compensation for vilification as well as $2,500 and $3,500 for harm caused by victimisation.

In total, the judgement substantiated 19 complaints of victimisation and vilification brought up by Burns.

In 2004, Burns successfully brought a vilification case against Radio 2UE and former presenter John Laws after he referred to gay men as “pillow biters”.

Sunol has been given two weeks to remove the offending statements from his blog and a month to send a signed letter of apology to Burns.

In a recent video blog posting, Sunol, who was previously found to have vilified homosexuals in 2006, has said he is now on a disability pension after he had to give up driving his taxi following a “small, slight” stroke.

To view the judgement, visit http://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/action/PJUDG?jgmtid=162023 and http://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/action/PJUDG?jgmtid=162021