Tony Abbott says gays aren’t discriminated against anymore
Great news: former Prime Minister Tony Abbott is here to explain what it’s like to be gay to you.
In an opinion piece for听听yesterday afternoon, Abbott laid out his case for why听“same sex marriage would fundamentally change society”.
“I want a country where everyone gets a fair go and where no one is discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, religion, political opinion or sexuality,” Abbott writes, before advocating for exactly that.
“It’s a long time, thank God, since gay people have been discriminated against,” said the Member for Warringah.
“Just about everyone old enough to remember that time is invariably embarrassed at the intolerance that was once common.”
It’s become par for the course for heterosexual No supporters to straightsplain discrimination to us, and Abbott is one of the loudest and least self-aware.
He blithely insists that “marriage is the basis of family; and family is the foundation of community” while simultaneously calling for LGBTI people to be excluded from all of those things.
There’s nothing more affronting to someone like Tony Abbott than images of tens of thousands of people marching through Australia’s most populous city chanting for and equality he would do almost anything to deny.
Of course, because I’m one of the “the supporters of change”, it is I, says Tony, who has “been responsible for bullying and hate speech.”
That means you have been too. We’ve been bullying the people who insist our families and existences are lesser and not worthy of recognition in the same way a straight person’s is.
Remember: when minorities are vocal about their rights, it’s bullying. When the majority refuses them those rights, it’s just how things ought to be.
“A man is not a woman just because he wants to be, and a same-sex relationship should not be able to become a marriage just because activists demand it,” Abbott’s piece declares.
Sorry trans people; you’ll have to pack it in and go back to Tony Abbott’s idea of ‘normal’ now. Just because you want to live as your authentic self, doesn’t mean you should be allowed to.
These talking points are taken almost verbatim from the rhetoric of the Australian Christian Lobby’s Lyle Shelton.
“How can parents keep gender fluidity programmes out of schools here in Australia when gender fluidity has entered the Marriage Act?” he asks towards the end of the piece.
Two weeks ago, Lyle Shelton said , “I鈥檓 saying that if marriage is redefined in law we鈥檒l see what鈥檚 happened overseas and that is parents losing their right to choose whether their children are exposed to radical LGBTQI sex education programs.”
Today, Shelton spoke from a televised platform at the National Press Club, bullied and silenced once more, saying he doesn’t think homophobia “exists much in our country.”
I wonder where he read that?
If you ever doubted the influence of the ACL on our politicians, this should make things clearer than ever.
But it’s okay, because 听听.
We are .
Tony, , is nevertheless an expert on the matter.
Maybe the LGBTI people should just listen to Tony.
Listen to the man .
“Australians have never liked being pushed around or hoodwinked,” concludes Tony, explaining exactly why he’s no longer Prime Minister and why support for marriage equality is higher than ever.
In 2007 I was one off the leaders of the campaign to get the Howard Government to remove discrimination against same sex couples by recognising them as de facto relationships so that Commonwealth Super entitlements would flow on to a surviving partner.
Through the efforts of Malcolm Turnbull and Warren Entsch the matter went to Cabinet in August 2007. Due to
fierce opposition from Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews, John Howard deferred a decision until after the election.Labour won the election and immediately introduced legislation to amend all 65 laws discriminating against homosexuals. Abbott and his reactionary colleagues did everything they could for nearly 12 months to water down and delay the laws because such a change would shake society’s foundations.The reforms were passed in Dec. 2008.
Tony Abbott is now singing from the same hymn book which is opposition to any change in the law which gives homosexuals equal dignity, status and legal rights in society as heterosexuals.
Is Tony afraid of the next manifestation of the gay gene in the Abbott family ?
Great comment, amazing story. Tony Abbott was after all the catholic Australian PM who invented Australian knighthoods just so he could give one to Prince Phil because he’s obsessed by being accepted by the old money traditionalist conservatives of this country. He’d sell out anything, as the knighthood story went on to prove he sold out his own Prime Ministership just to impress a scary handful of dudes. The key to understanding the man is that he’s always trying to distract you from where he’s really at (he was trying not to look like a fundamentalist catholic, how better than to be a staunch Royalist?).
The obsession with opposing the gays at all costs looks a tad suss in that context.
I will not be lectured to about discrimination and homophobia by this man. Not now. Not ever.
Abbott is not the only one making this claim it seems to be the new party line for the No campaign. I don’t know what planet they are living on if they think there is no more homophobia in Australia. Look at what happened to Rudd’s godson and the Yes campaign posters that have been defaced. Classic signs of homophobia not to mention the internet trolls that are posting offensive crap about SSM online. I have been called a faggot online just recently for supporting SSM. Honestly the anti-gay religious right are so naive and in such denial it is laughable.
Well I鈥檓 nearly speechless. For fifty years I have had to put up with these people; advocating my murder, suggesting putting me in a concentration camp, wanting to castrate me, attacking me in the street, telling me I am an abomination, trying to restrict my civil rights, passing judgement with moral impunity and not least being hypocritical.
Now they howl at being called bigots.
How ironic that ‘special’ people, like Abbott, et al, have self-righteous egos which are so intense, that they are actually blinding themselves to the fact that history will just see them as a bunch of really stupid uneducated numb-nuts (…well, even *more-so* than now ????).
Jesus, shut the fuck up Abbott. Seriously, in my entire lifetime I have never known a politician that is loathed so much. Really, whilst people disliked Howard they at least respected him. Abbott is another level. Every pub test I run on the bigoted liar, everyone – without fail – hates Abbott. Yes, hates Abbott. Abbott is not misunderstood. The saving grace here is that I know of a huge ground swell of support in both the business and general community that is actively going to ensure that Abbott looses his seat at the next election. I for one will be at that farewell party. 70% within his own electorate supporting same sex marriage should give you a hint Abbott.
Yeah, it’s not discrimination to have to hear Liberal and National Party politicians like Tony Abbott on our radios and televisions saying that same sex marriages and families will be inferior to ‘traditional’ relationships. It’s not discrimination to refuse to recognise the marriages of folks from western judeo Christian nations other than our own because both members of that marriage have similar genitals, while other marriages from those countries are fully recognised. It’s not discrimination to say that bakers and florists who could never normally discriminate against customers based on their sexuality should be able to in the case of wedding cakes and flowers.
Oh wait, that’s completely wrong. It is discrimination. Tony wants different civil rights for a minority group which would put Australia at odds with the rest of the modern judeochristian world. Stop lying Tony.