Bizarre ACL racist claim
The head of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has called for an openly gay South Australian politician who co-sponsored a bill to legalise same-sex marriage under state law to be dumped by his party.
On February 18, ACL managing director Jim Wallace claimed that Labor MLC Ian Hunter had labelled ‘natural marriage proponents’ racists because he had compared ALP resistance to change on same-sex marriage to resistance to changing the White Australia policy during the 1960s.
Hunter likened same-sex marriage supporters to progressive Labor politicians like former South Australian premier Don Dunstan and former prime minister Gough Whitlam who had pushed to end that policy.
“History has judged those progressive activists as right, just as I am confident that history will judge those advocating today for marriage equality to be right,” Hunter told the South Australian parliament on February 9.
“This is just the latest example of intolerance from the gay marriage lobby,” Wallace said.
“At a time when the federal Government is reaffirming the virtues of multiculturalism, Mr Hunter labels as racists those who for religious and cultural reasons affirm marriage as between a man and a woman.
“The South Australian Premier, Mike Rann, must act to distance his Government from these statements.
“Where is the evidence of tolerance and understanding of diversity which is so essential to multiculturalism?
“It is appropriate to have a debate on gay marriage but it cannot be conducted in the atmosphere of intolerant rhetoric where emotive labels are too often used to suppress debate and intimidate people into silence.”
In 2009 Wallace told a shocked audience that pedophiles were overwhelmingly gay while attempting to explain pedophilia in the church during a function in the NSW Parliament.
and in Sydney Morning Herald… “The Labor Left believes the Right ”beat up” the issue to pick a fight on gay marriage and highlight their case.
Sources said gay marriage was causing far more consternation in the party than the proposal for a price on carbon.”
http://www.smh.com.au/national/heat-on-gillard-to-tackle-the-right-after-power-stoush-20110303-1bgi4.html
Mmmmm
Jim Wallace really has a way with words, a way with politicians, and is based in Canberra right in their face. With his press statements, he’s a master of reverse psychology. We as a GLBT community have so far shown we are not equipped, and not savvy enough to match him & his power with politicians – yet. Hopefully the more we study him, and his ACL Lobby website (& the crucial timing & feverish frequency of his chess-board press releases), the more we can counter some of the extreme power he wields over both major parties- his tactics are often under the radar, but works like an iron fist. Just have a look at the media storm yesterday about ACT/NT Territory law- if you check the ACL website- the whole “media story” actually eminated from high-pressure ACL press releases- they are the puppet masters behind the whole fiasco, & wield constant pressure on maintaining a ban on all ceremonies in the A.C.T.
What if Jim Wallace’s statement read “labels as racists those who for religious and cultural reasons affirm thier support to bring back slavery”, or “labels as racists those who for religious and cultural reasons affirm re-banning women from voting”, or “labels as racists those who for religious and cultural reasons affirm the reinstatment of the law to ban Aboriginals from marrying whites”.
Calls by conservative Christians to impose their ritual of marriage onto others is a disgrace, and goes against the separation of Church and State. It is the same as calls for people of a different skin colour not to be able to marry by Church leaders. It is meddling in the private life of citizens. History will not be kind to such people.
Although the private company, The Australian Christian Lobby, is made of just three company directors, Mardi Gras has hundreds and thousands on a bad year. The ACL is clearly getting desperate in bizarre attacks on people. My local Bishop supports Same-Sex marriage, as do millions of Christians around Australia and the world. I would hardly call three people a representation of Christianity.