UK MP defends Wong
An openly lesbian British Labour Party MP has weighed in to defend Senator Penny Wong from criticism, despite being misinformed about the level of recognition given to same-sex couples in Australia.
Labour Member for Wallasey, Angela Eagle, told the UK’s DIVA magazine that Wong shouldn’t be expected to contradict her party’s policy, especially in the run-up to a federal election.
“People need to give her credit for the work that’s already been done,” Eagle said. “She needs to be given credit for what she’s done on civil partnerships.”
Australia, unlike the UK, does not have civil partnerships, introduced by the Labour Government in 2005.
[poll id=”37″]
Speaking of Wong’s performance on the ABC’s Q&A program last week, Eagle recalled meeting Wong some years ago.
“She seemed as dedicated to [gay and lesbian] legal rights as I was when I met her a few years ago and her record proves that,” Eagle said.
Eagle married her partner Maria Exall in a civil partnership in 2008. Were she to holiday in Australia that relationship would not be recognised at a federal level — only in the ACT.
All state relationship registry schemes refuse to recognise civil unions and same-sex marriages from other countries as registered relationships for the purpose of Australian law.
Meanwhile, Senator Wong is refusing to field any more questions on the subject of marriage equality.
Last week a media advisor for Wong told Sydney Star Observer not to bother directing questions on the issue to the senator. She also refused to answer questions on the subject from journalists in Perth while announcing two environmental projects.
Wong’s support for her party’s position opposing same-sex marriage resulted in a record-breaking 140 comments on the Sydney Star Observer website, with 80 percent of readers saying they would not vote Labor over the issue in an online poll.
However, if the reaction to Community Action Against Homophobia’s egg-throwing protest in Taylor Square on Thursday is anything to judge from, supporters of same-sex marriage are saving most of their anger for the prime minister and the Opposition leader.
Of the nearly 40 eggs bought by passers-by to throw at their choice of politicians, most went for the Liberal leader, but the PM rated a close second — with Wong coming in third.
She’s trapped to the party that supported her and thrust her into the limelight. She’s a good gal.
Why try to be the same as hetero’s in everything? We are different.
Rory- I could not agree more. The message from Penny Wong is homophobic. It is a message of exclusion from an important institution in society based on your sexual orientation.
Penny Wong did not choose her Party over the community; she imposed her personal views over the Party.
The cost of exclusion, including not even having us in the Federal Equal Opportunity Act is huge to the community. Homophobia kills and destroys more people’s lives then the road toll.
Allowing people to participate in the entire community cost the government not a cent, and delivers huge Social Capital to all of Australia. The cost of homophobia is in the billions of dollars. It is time we measured politicians not by their sexuality, but by the homophobia they create through support of bad policy.
How amusing that the only lesbian in the whole world who wants to defend Penny Wong is in the antipodes, and is under the false impression that she has achieved more than she actually has.
Anyone who perpetuates the idea that only different-sex couples can get married is contributing to homophobia. When it’s a high-profile government minister, that contribution is magnified.
The problem with Penny Wong was she told a lie to all of Australia. She argued Same-Sex Marriage did not happen in history and we should respect history and the culture. Penny Wong says she is a practicing Christian and attends the Pilgrim Church in Adelaide on a regular basis.
History I argue tells a different story of Marriage. The community and governments did accept Same-Sex Marriages. I and others get very cross when people try to deny history to engineer a social change in favour of their own personal religious views. Penny has said she supports the Internet Censorship. I hope she does not seek to deny the history and culture of Same-Sex Marriage in addition to her comments.
Various types of same-sex marriages have existed, ranging from informal, unsanctioned relationships to highly ritualized unions.
In the southern Chinese province of Fujian, through the Ming dynasty period, females would bind themselves in contracts to younger females in elaborate ceremonies. Males also entered similar arrangements. This type of arrangement was also similar in ancient European history.
An example of egalitarian male domestic partnership from the early Zhou Dynasty period of China is recorded in the story of Pan Zhang & Wang Zhongxian. While the relationship was clearly approved by the wider community, and was compared to heterosexual marriage, it did not involve a religious ceremony binding the couple.
While homosexuality was technically illegal from late Roman times, it was only from about the 14th century that antihomosexual feelings swept western Europe. Yet same sex Marriages continued to take place.
At St. John Lateran in Rome (traditionally the Pope’s parish church) in 1578 a many as 13 couples were “married” at Mass with the apparent cooperation of the local clergy, “taking communion together, using the same nuptial Scripture, after which they slept and ate together”, according to a contemporary report.
For further reading http://www.gaychristian101.com/Gay-Marriage.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage