Advocate confronts MP over marriage equality

Queensland federal Liberal MP Teresa Gambaro (pictured) was confronted over her opposition to marriage equality by an LGBTI rights advocate at a community question and answer session on Saturday.

Phil Browne took Gambaro to task over her ‘no’ vote against marriage equality legislation that federal Parliament voted down in September.

Leading up to the meeting the member for Brisbane held in New Farm, Browne had relentlessly campaigned against Gambaro’s stance despite a 2011 survey of her electorate showing that 73 percent of voters supported same-sex marriage.

“These politicians are forever recorded as being on the wrong side of history – not only for voting against equal marriage rights for all citizens under civil law, but also because they failed to speak out in support of their gay constituents and their families and friends,” Browne said.

Browne took the “constituent meeting session” as his chance to confront Gambaro about her opposition after having numerous requests for a meeting denied by her office. When questioned about this, Gambaro said that she had already met with Browne twice before, despite Browne claims that they had only met once, over a year ago.

In regards to her position on marriage equality despite the results of her electoral survey in 2011, she told Browne she had concerns that the survey did not accurately represent the views of the entire electorate, given the number of respondents to the survey was less than one percent of the entire electorate.

Browne accused the MP of breaking a promise made in her maiden speech to Parliament where she dedicated herself to representing the voters in her electorate. Gambaro defended her actions by stating she had to represent all voters.

“As a federal member I have a duty to represent the views of all my constituents,” Gambaro said.

“I get accused of being homophobic because I didn’t support marriage equality.

“I am very supportive of measures that remove discrimination against same sex couples in Commonwealth law including superannuation and social security legislation which started under the Howard Government. I am supportive of civil unions and reject any aspersion that I am homophobic or anti-gay.”

Browne said he was not labelling Gambaro as homophobic but that she was treating him as an “inferior second-class citizen with lesser legal recognition”.

In a statement to the Star Observer, Gambaro said she respected an individual’s right to have their own view and for that view to be different from her own. She also indicated that she believed same-sex marriage would one day be legal but said changes had to be incremental.

“The best approach began with the removal of legal discrimination for same-sex couples, progressed to civil unions before an overwhelming consensus in the community is reached in relation to same sex marriage,” she said.

Labor launched its campaign to take back the seat of Brisbane on Sunday. Former Queensland state MPs Kate Jones and Murray Watt are managing the campaign to elect former teacher Fiona McNamara to the seat, which the ALP lost in the 2010 federal election.

Gambaro’s social views have garnered criticism before. As the Coalition’s citizenship spokeswoman, she came under fire in January for saying that immigrants should be taught to wear deodorant and wait patiently in queues as part of a program to help acclimate them with local culture.