just us having a casual read of the newspaper in the morning
Well well well, what a time we’ve been having over here at the new improved ACL! It would appear that we’ve underestimated the depth and intensity of the internet’s love of cats and distaste for religious bigotry.
Like a newborn kitten unable to climb into the litter tray, the internet has shit itself, and these are the results. To be updated as it goes!
First out of the blocks was News Ltd., with a surprisingly positive (it is Murdoch-owned, after all) article syndicated on several of its sites
Cat Ladies Snatch Australian Christian Lobby’s Domain Name
It’s also here. And here in an updated version.
Cat Lovers Pounce on Australian Christian Lobby’s Web Address
Fairfax is now in on the action, with the Australian Financial Review:
Feminist “Cat” Group Launches Protest Christian Lobby Website
Whoops, almost forgot The Australian!
Gawker Media has jumped on this excellent, cat-filled bandwagon, with LifeHacker asking some very relevant questions about domain name protection.
How Many Domain Names Should You Protect?
Triple J Radio interviewed Grandmaster Hilary on Tom and Alex’s breakfast show this morning, and I’m sure there will be a podcast up soon on their site.
ABC Newcastle has an interview with Grandmaster Hilary up here, and The Wire has one with Grandmaster Genevieve here.
LGBT/Queer-oriented sites are also enjoying the new ACL:
Tech-based blogs seem to be among the most amused:
Kotaku – please note, this one currently attributes Genevieve’s quotes to Jessica, and incorrectly refers to Jessica as a lesbian.
We’ve also been mentioned by:
We’ll be updating this post if there are any more articles, but at the moment we’d just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed our site and shared it with friends or their cat. Rest assured, we are purring loudly.
Media enquiries and offers of waving a laser beam at a wall can be directed to australiancatladies@gmail.com or to @AusCatLadies on twitter.
I found it here – http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/04/28/this-is-what-happens-when-the-australian-christian-lobby-fails-to-register-the-most-obvious-domain-name/
Truly excellent. I’m a middle aged, straight, single, cat-loving (torty) Australian male but I know you won’t hold that against me 🙂
I know I’ll see a whole lot more sense here than on ACL.
What a purrfectly good idea!
Oh, we’re all going to Hell now.
But hell is supposed to be warm, which means it will attract all the cats.
Good work ACL..I hope your catpaign reaches new and dizzy heights.
“Catpaign” – I am totally stealing that! 🙂
It was mentioned in the comments on Manboobz and Hoyden about Town, as well, amid much delight! Well done, Australian Cat Ladies, well done! ::clap clap clap:: ::purr purr purr::
NIce work! Heard you on Triple J this morning.
*respect* from a dog-loving Christian sister (yes, really). Bring on the slippery-slope!
Good to see some comments from Christians who believe in equality. Religion/s & the law don’t mix. The special privileges given to Christianity over other religions (and no religion) is getting boring. It creates an unjust society.
Andrew thanks, fully agree. Religion and law should never mix. That’s the problem with the ‘other’ ACL who spuriously claim two things: 1 a voice for values (whatever the hell they are) 2 to represent Australian Christians. There are so many of us fighting to dispel this myth but because it makes sensational headlines when they come out with something anti-homo (sic) or anti-Muslim, they get the press, whether negative or positive. NOT wanting to gay-bash doesn’t make fun reading, I’m afraid 😦
Why are you so worried about what a small group of self-professed Christians have to say? Why are you so appalled by them expressing an opinion different to your own? Why is your intolerance of their beliefs acceptable while their intolerance is appalling? How is hijacking their domain name and teasing them justifiable? Where is your across-the-board response against all “anti-gay” religious bigotry, or are you just taking shots at the fish swimming in the nearest barrel?
And if, as I suspect your reply is “they did it first” then you need to consider whether it is advancing your cause to behave in the same way as the people you are criticising.
The community accepts the “rights” of gay people by a big margin. You threaten to undermine this goodwill by constantly demanding more and denigrating the beliefs of other people. You would be far better served in a situation like this to do as the Christians should have – turned the other cheek. You may have even got a few of them to listen to your arguments.
People are worried at seeing a small group of bigots with a disproportionate amount of influence with political parties exercise that influence to deny other people full equality under the law. You think that’s something that should be ignored, when it is a basic injustice? But then, given your scare quotes around the word rights, my guess is you don’t really think LGBT people actually have the same rights as cis heterosexual people. Pity, really, it’s not a very Christian stance.
Stupidity invites mocking.
So does anyone who puts “rights” in quotes. What rights are gays demanding that straights don’t have? Check your privilege.
Voltara, if a tiny minority of obsessive anti-gay bigots have the audacity to call themselves the ‘Australian Christian Lobby’ in the first place; then so do a peace-loving group of cat lovers. If you think that this site “behaves the same way” as the other ACL, then you haven’t spent enough time reading the bile that they publish on their facebook page. Get some perspective.
People may believe whatever they wish and I dont care. it is, however a problem when they start writing evil legislation about my gay friends that I take an interest in what those beliefs may be. That is the issue at hand. Its not what the homosexuality obsessed christian lobby THINKS that folks dont like, its their meddling in other peoples lives that they DO that raises my contempt.
Awesome work guys! I heard about it from Pedestrian.tv Has made my afternoon.
Keep up the good works.
Jon
http://omgbee.com
Oh my Catness…….What a delight to wake up to this morning.
Lurrrve the site!
I am not al all surprised at supportive coverage in the Murdoch press – after all, its general political stance could best be described as ‘libertarian’. I can’t see the average Murdoch journalist having much time for those dinosaurs in the *other* ACL
Welp, I can safely say that this has made my day…
And week…
Possibly year…
Great work guys!!! Love it love it 🙂
I love what you have done with the place, so free and fresh.
Comments section: Beta males flagellating themselves for the crime of being male. “Waah I’m male please don’t hold it against me.”
You’re obviously pretty alpha…if I whinge a little bit more would you hold ‘it’ against me?
You sound awesome.
I’m not Australian or a cat, please don’t hold it against me
Completely fabulous! I love it.
Well done. The word ‘christian’ is used pretty loosely in the .au site anyway.
Quite sure Jesus would like this one more 🙂
Um, where are the bleeding cats?! This is misrepresentation?!!! Where are the cat photos?! My heart is breaking without cat photos!! Guess I’ll have to go back to Cheezburger…
One small paw forward for cats … one giant leap forward for the human race .
Mew used kitty litter rain down on narrow minded bigots everywhere
What a wonderful site!
Freaking awesome, love it.
Nicely done! The Pastafarians on Google Plus are impressed with your style 🙂
I think it’s a bit low taking someone else’s name and using it as your own, thinking it’s funny or edgy, when it’s just kinda lame. That kind of undermines your “values” too. It’s not even that funny.
What’s funnier is http://AustralianCatLadies.org redirecting to http://acl.org.au. Why on earth didn’t you pounce on AustralianCatLadies.org? You have AustralianCatLadies.com but now the .org, given you’re an organisation. At least secure the .org.au.
I also see someone has pounced on the facebook page for Australian Cat Ladies – http://facebook.com/AustralianCatLadies so not sure why yous didn’t pounce on that. That Australian Cat Ladies facebook page is more important than your actual website here.
oh no!!!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!! what will we do!!!!! Meooow purrrr meow mraaargh no tummy rubs 4 u
might give u a scratch behind the ear though if you ask nicely
Luv cats 4eva
To “CATMAN” above. I have no issues with these ladies using the domain name AustralianChristianLobby.com, even if it is tongue in cheek. Noone else was using that domain before, so it’s not like they stole the domain.
Hopefully there’ll be no nasty solicitor’s letters from the ACL about infringing on a trademark or brand, given they would no doubt have their name trademarked. I’d bet wheels are in motion with their IP solicitor and these ladies will be receiving a cease and desist letter pretty soon. This stuff can get real messy really quick.
But the makers of this website should have secured the facebook page that you have linked to, as as great twitter is, I think facebook is way better, especially for groups and whatnot. Hopefully the lovely ladies here can appeal to the better side of whoever has registered that facebook page, but not holding my breath there. IMO it was probably setup by someone at the ACL, in retribution for using AustralianChristianLobby.com.
It’s also a bit low that someone registered AustralianCatLadies.org and has redirected that over to acl.org.au. So much for turning the other cheek!!! I guess they understand the “Golden rule” as doing unto others as they do unto others!!!
But good luck with the site. The boss of our house (stella the cat) says meow too. 🙂
Anything that knocks Christians down a peg has my vote – you are my new heroes
As a proud gay man (wasn’t always like that) I do admire what you’re doing here. I just hope you don’t lose that domain through the legal system, as that will make us look weak and you can bet the media will make a beat up of that too. I can just see the headlines now – “Gay lobby group forced to hand back domain to Christian lobby group”. You’ve essentially given the ACL a free kick here, by using their name, and this could come back to bite you.
You might think it’s clever and funny to use that domain name now, but it won’t look so clever when you have to defend that domain’s use through the legal system. You either fight that, and it will cost you big $$ or you hand the domain over to the ACL and look weak. I’m worried that you’re backing yourself into a no win situation, that will hurt others in the process.
So please be careful using someone else’s name for your purposes. It’s just not worth it in the long run. There’s a lot more on the line here than what you’re doing.
I wouldn’t sweat it Barry. Australian Courts have no Juristiction over .org domains. That juristiction belongs to the americans (as much as it irritates me, its possibly fortunate in this case), and US courts are *heavily* into free speech and would be reluctant to strike down an act of protest.
And if they do, who cares, this is just a stunt, a bloody good one I’ll add, but its a stunt. At the end, even if they get their stupid domain back, *shrug* whatever, the 15 minutes of media exposure was worth it.
Its not about the domain name, its about the message. Well the message and cats, of course.
It’s getting viral in Germany 🙂 Well done!
As a cat sitter (servant) I am impressed with the launch of your site and to see that you continue the fine christian values of fred et al
You have been “sideswiped” now! A brief mention down the bottom of that day’s sideswipes labelled
Tech: An Australian Christian Lobby forgot to renew their domain name…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sideswipe/news/article.cfm?c_id=702&objectid=10880480
I just love a good bad kitty story (is that an oxymoron or am I just pushing it? or pushing something else that rhymes??)
QK