Time for Abbott to move beyond the straight and narrow
Opinion
by Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
Mr Abbott’s comment that he is “threatened” by homosexuality harks back to a bygone era, when sexual difference was viewed as scary and dangerous.
To justify the statement, he told 60 Minutes “most people” agree with him. Well, the leader of the Opposition needs a reality check. Few people hold these views in modern Australia.
In fact today this kind of homophobia is really just the stock and trade of fringe, lunar-right groups like Family First and the ultra-conservatives. It’s shocking to hear it coming from the mouth of Australia’s alternative Prime Minister.
A majority of Australians see homosexuality as a non-issue. Rather than being threatened by it, they want to get rid of outdated discrimination. This is evidenced by strong community support (60 percent according to Galaxy) for my Equal Marriage Bill removing the barriers to same-sex marriage.
I’m at a loss to understand how somebody else’s sexual orientation impacts upon the leader of the Opposition in any way.
The only thing threatening about homosexuality is Tony Abbott’s attitude towards it. By characterising sexual difference as dangerous, he is legitimising irrational fears and prejudices. These prejudices should be named as wrong, not indulged by our political leaders.
While Mr Abbott calls himself a “liberal” he seems to spend a lot of time concerning himself with the private lives of others. He views virginity as a “gift” to be given from a woman to her husband and sees homosexuality as a threat.
It’s about time he started focussing on the issues that really matter to Australians: health, education, climate change — just to name a few. These are the issues the community expects an Opposition leader to be preoccupied with — not what they do between the sheets.
info: Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is the Greens spokeswoman on sexuality and gender identity.
I think it is high-time for the sacking of Tony Abbott!!!!!
The problem here is that people like to play dangerous politics and so we land up with the seriously idiotic,dangerous,mentally challenged(and I mean that in the nicest way possible),right wing,homophobic idiots like Tony Abbott arriving on the scene.At least with Kevin Rudd you know you won’t be sent to the gas chambers whereas with the Tony Abbott,anything is possible (just look at Iran and Uganda).The DISGRACE that Tony Abbott is,is Australia’s shame as well.The sooner he joins Pauline Hanson the better,but I would encourage you to do as much shouting as you possibly can, because he ain’t gonna go away without a big horrible fight.And let me tell you a secret he will take as many of you down with him as he can.
Tony Abbott’s comments are certainly appalling and he’s not fit to be Prime Minister, but I wonder why he feels so ‘threatened’ by homosexuality?
It is an outrage that Tony Abbott is trying to impose his own perverted Catholic Morality on us all. I would not trust him with children let alone the our Nation. The problem is Kevin Rudd has converted to the same type of filth and betrayed everyone.