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The godson of former prime minister Kevin Rudd has allegedly been assaulted in Brisbane by a man who was tearing down rainbow flags put up in support of same-sex marriage.
Mr Rudd tweeted a photo of his godson Sean with a noticeable gash on his forehead, saying he had been punched in the suburb of Bulimba.
"So many warnings to Turnbull about what the postal vote cld unleash. Now my godson Sean has been punched standing up for #MarriageEquality," Mr Rudd tweeted.
Queensland Police have confirmed an incident occurred at 9:00am on Tuesday at the bus stop near the Oxford Street roundabout where a 19-year-old male was confronted by an abusive man yelling profanities.
The 19-year-old was punched in the head, suffering a cut to his forehead.
Bulimba 4 Marriage Equality — a group of Brisbane-based supporters of same-sex marriage — said on its Facebook page that its flags had been ripped down from a roundabout on Oxford Street.
It said the perpetrator — described as Caucasian with grey hair, a stubbly grey beard and about 185cm tall — punched Sean in an unprovoked attack.
The group's co-founder Sinead Cunningham said she had organised the "rainbow roundabout", and now feels "horrible" that the flags she put up had led to Sean, who is not a member of the group, being assaulted.
"He was essentially assaulted because the man during his rampage around the roundabout has made eye contact with Sean who was just sitting, minding his own business, waiting for his bus to go into work," Ms Cunningham told the ABC, adding she did not see the assault first-hand.
"He went up to Sean and punched him, split his head.
"I think the sad part for me is that no-one at the bus stop — I understand people might not want to jump in, it's potentially dangerous — but a bit of forethought to pull out your phones, video, take a picture, because at this point we have descriptions, but that's about it. We don't have a clue who this gentleman is.
"The scary thing too is kids come to the roundabout and support every Saturday.
"[The attacker is] clearly unstable, aggressive and violent. Who's to say he isn't going to come back?"
Ms Cunningham said Sean had been "very modest" about the incident.
"The only contact I've had with Sean, he basically said 'I'm not a hero, my actions are probably idiotic. I don't want the attention, I don't think I'm a hero'," she said.
"He's very modest about it, he's lovely. He's also said 'I don't want any attention from this to cause or incite any more violence'.
"I said to him 'of course you don't want to be labelled a hero, but I can tell you from everybody in the LGBTI community, we appreciate that there is support out there, because there definitely is a lot of hate'.
"Even at the roundabout it's usually 98 per cent positive and beautiful, but every week, there will be people who flip us a bird. I've been screamed at, but we definitely have support in that area."
The postal vote has been criticised for exposing children to hatred, with Labor senator Penny Wong labelling it as a damaging and expensive stunt to avoid having Parliament make a decision.
Ms Cunningham said her group and like-minded supporters were 100 per cent against a postal vote.
"I don't think anyone in the LGBTI community actually wanted it this way. I was heartbroken that the courts didn't dismiss [the postal vote]," she said.
"It was allowing a platform for absolute hatred. It's disgusting."
The postal survey will return results on November 15.
Topics: assault, crime, gays-and-lesbians, government-and-politics, federal-government, family-and-children, marriage, bulimba-4171, brisbane-4000, qld, australia
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