Hawke supports marriage

Former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke has voiced his support for marriage equality.

At a Lifeline fundraiser in Sydney yesterday, Hawke and former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard were asked about gay marriage by event host Ray Martin.

Hawke said he was very much in favour of the law being changed to enable marriage between gay people,.

“I feel very deeply on all issues of discrimination, and in this area of sexual discrimination it just needs to be said straight-forwardly – you can be born with curly hair, you can be born with this gene-disposition towards homosexuality,” he said.

“If a person is that way and they want to have the rights of the institutions of our society, they should have them.”

Howard said he continued to oppose same-sex marriage.