Two Australian teenagers have built a rainbow flag out of painted potatoes on the lawn of Parliament House to protest inaction on marriage equality in Canberra.
Potato Messenger, created by Dan Buttson and Will Richards, is a program designed to send potatoes with hand written messages to anyone is Australia. The boys had planned a special marriage-focused potato campaign aimed at convincing PM Tony Abbott to allow a free vote on marriage equality in Australia.
Buttson and Richards adapted their plan since former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s removal earlier this month – choosing instead to create a giant rainbow flag from colourfully painted potatoes.
“We have now gained a number of connections that enable us to have the supply and media courage to allow for the delivery of mass LGBT themed potatoes to be a big enough success for most of Australia to find out about it, thus hopefully raising more discussion for Tony Abbott to see the injustice he is causing,” the boys had said at the launch of their program.
“Our ultimate goal is to have enough attention around the delivery of LGBT potatoes for Australia to even more clearly see how absurd our government is acting and truly show how the people obviously feel.”
New PM Malcolm Turnbull has said in Parliament he does not plan to waver from Mr Abbott’s plan to gauge public opinion on marriage via plebiscite after the next election.
OIP Staff
Photo: Potatomessenger.com