Re: Australian Politics Chatter Thread
malcom turnbull on gay marriage.
New opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull had to concede in a radio interview this morning that a newsreader who held a high profile ‘illegal gay wedding’ with his partner of 16 years in 2005 wasn’t entitled to the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples.
The interview on 2DayFM’s Kyle and Jackie O show this morning covered a wide range of topics, from David Beckham’s penis to Facebook and gay marriage.
Every time newsreader Geoff Field has a high-ranking pollie on the show, from Kevin Rudd to Turnbull, he grills them on gay marriage. “I promise you, every single politician who comes on will get it from me,” Geoff told Same Same today. Having ‘married’ his partner Jason in 2005 in an ‘illegal gay wedding’, he’s well within reason to demand why his partnership is not being recognised.
“Why you are against gay marriage yet you are a great supporter of gay rights?” asked Geoff. “Why are Jason and I still second class citizens and any other gay or lesbian in this city because we can’t get married?”
“I believe marriage is a permanent union between a man and a woman and I know that’s the wrong answer for Geoff but that doesn’t mean your relationship is second class, it just isn’t marriage,” said Turnbull.
“You will change your mind eventually,” replied Geoff. “Well we’ll see,” said Turnbull. “I have to tell you though, I think that marriage is a special institution, I think it’s fundamental and I think it’s a permanent union between a man and a woman. I know you don’t like to hear that Geoff but the reality is your relationship is one that should not be discriminated against in any legal way but I do believe marriage has a special status in our society and our culture and it is between a man and a woman.”
It sounds like he’s reading from the same hymn book as Kevin Rudd, virtually repeating word for word the same argument that “it is because I say it is.”
From there, the topics went a little downhill, with Kyle Sandilands mishearing a question from Turnbull as though he was asking if David Beckham was circumcised (he’s not, according to Sandliands) and Turnbull admitting that “there are lots of good looking guys. I haven’t fancied them. There’s a difference between being good looking and fanciable.”
And there’s a difference between saying you support gay rights and actually supporting them, Malcolm.
http://www.samesame.com.au/news/local/3061/Turnbull_Gay_Relationships_Just_Arent_Marriage