Australia’s same-sex marriage advocates are shocked and outraged by claims made today at an anti-equality rally in Canberra where conservative American commentator, Rebecca Hagelin, said same-sex marriage will lead to marriages between paedophiles and children, and North Queensland MP, Bob Katter, said the idea of same-sex marriages “deserves to be laughed at and ridiculed”.

Australia’s same-sex marriage advocates are outraged by claims made today at an anti-equality rally in Canberra where conservative American commentator, Rebecca Hagelin, said same-sex marriage will lead to marriages between paedophiles and children, and North Queensland MP, Bob Katter, said the idea of same-sex marriages “deserves to be laughed at and ridiculed”.

Australian Marriage Equality spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said offensive rhetoric has no place in the same-sex marriage debate and called on the Australian Christian Lobby and Australian Family Association, who organised the rally, to distance themselves from the comments.

“The Australian Christian Lobby, which often complains about opponents of same-sex marriage being ridiculed and demonised, must show it is sincere about a mature debate by distancing itself from the offensive comments made today”, Mr Croome said.

“Along with other independent MPs, Bob Katter will attend a charity dinner with same-sex partners in Parliament House later this year, and they will remind him why marriage equality is about some of the most serious things in life like love, commitment and family, and is definitely no laughing matter.”

Australian Marriage Equality successfully bid for the independents’ dinner earlier this year, at the same time as Get Up! successfully bid to have three same-sex couples have dinner with Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

The comments at today’s rally were also condemned as “damaging” by Queensland psychologist, Paul Martin, who is an expert in the mental health of same-sex attracted young people.

“Prejudice and ridicule damage the mental health of young same-sex attracted people and the last thing they need to hear are these kinds of offensive comments from people who purport to represent ‘family values’.”

Meanwhile, Australian Marriage Equality today released an opinion poll conducted by Galaxy research which found that a majority of Australian Christians believe same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

AME spokesperson, Malcolm McPherson said, “Christian groups that oppose marriage equality like the Australian Christian Lobby are entitled to their view, but they do not represent the majority of Australian Christians.” “Clearly, most Australian Christians believe same-sex marriage is consistent with Christian values like justice, love, compassion and fidelity, not opposed to these values.”

Buoyed by the poll results, Australian Marriage Equality has launched a Christians 4 Equality letter-writing campaign which has the endorsement of a wide range of Christian leaders and has already seen almost 10,000 letters sent to MPs from Australian Christians since the site went live on Friday afternoon.

Christian leaders who have given their support to the campaign come from Uniting, Anglican and Baptist churches across Australia, and include Sydney minister and 2GB radio host, Rev Bill Crews.

“We want politicians to understand that marriage equality is not about ‘God v the gays’, but about principles like justice and inclusion that have support across many faith communities”, Mr McPherson said.

Reports on today’s rally can be found here:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/gay-marriage-would-lead-to-breakdown-of-society-american-conservative-tells-rally/story-fn59niix-1226116018645
And:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/gay-marriage-should-be-ridiculed-katter-20110816-1ivrb.html

Details of the Galaxy poll can be found here:
https://www.australianmarriageequality.org/a-majority-of-christians-support-marriage-equality/

The Christians 4 Equality webform and a list of clergy endorsing it, can be found here:
www.christians4equality.com.au

For more information contact Malcolm McPherson on 0409 321 233 or Rodney Croome on 0409 010 668.