Opera Australia fires singer Tamar Iveri over comments calling gays "sewage"

Opera singer Tamar Iveri has come under fire for comments posted to her Facebook which refer to homosexuals as "sewage."

From the Advocate:

According to Adam Withnall of The Independent, Iveri's Facebook status, framed as a letter to the Georgian president, was posted to the site after Orthodox Christian groups violently assaulted LGBT people holding a Pride parade in Tbilisi, Georgia. Here's the text, as reported by Withnall.

“I was quite proud of the fact how Georgian society spat at the parade… Often, in certain cases, it is necessary to break jaws in order to be appreciated as a nation in the future, and to be taken into account seriously. Please, stop vigorous attempts to bring West’s ‘faecal masses’ [or sewage] in the mentality of the people by means of propaganda.”

Iveri was apparently shocked that she was called homophobic for the statement. Later, after the post was deleted, she told reporters she had been planning to write about the protests, but her husband - whom she says has "a tough attitude towards gay people" - found her draft, altered it and posted it on her Facebook page.

However, when the comments were first found, Iveri apologized to a local LGBT organization without any mention of her husband. Only when the comments became more widely known did the "husband" angle come up.

A petition was begun to ask Opera Australia to fire her. But the organization is standing by the singer.

However, there are reports that an opera company in Brussels has cancelled a date with Iveri.

UPDATE: Opera Australia has announced that the company has released Iveri from her contract and will NOT be performing "Otello"in July and August.  Before the announcement, Quantas, a major sponsor of Opera Australia, had released a statement saying Iveri's comments  caused "deep concern" and was discussing possible steps forward with Opera Australia.