In a bold statement that came at a cost to Spitting Ink Tattoo Studio owner Sherlaine Badenhorst, the talented artist tattooed dozens of locals for free in support of marriage equality on Friday.
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Locals filtered into her Sanctuary Point salon for a free marriage equality-themed tattoo.
Sherlaine said three customers pulled out of bookings due to her stance on marriage equality and feared further vilification on the day, but went through with it, and had no regrets.
“I was scared at first,” she said.
“No one’s trying to smash my window so I’m happy about that.
“I lost customers, but they’re not the kind of people I wanted anyway.
“I wasn’t being too forward or pushing it in anyone’s faces, no big loss.”
The NZ citizen has lived in Australia for eight years.
“As soon as I got a text message that the plebiscite was on, when all the homophobes started popping their ugly heads out I got angry at first, because I can’t actually vote,” Sherlaine said.
“I felt useless.
“This isn’t a big community, no one’s really talking about it, so I just wanted to make a statement I guess, bring people together.”
Sanctuary Point’s Naomi Groves was pumped when she heard about the promotion, and made her way down to the salon with a bunch of friends on Friday.
“I have a lot of people in my family who are gay and bisexual, and I’d just like to shout it out to them,” she said.
