Turnbull stretches out on a pink limb

Malcolm Turnbull has started wooing the gay community, pledging to remove discrimination in a mail drop to the pink suburbs of Darlinghurst, Paddington and Potts Point last weekend.
The Wentworth MP told residents there were still a number of legal and financial rights not available to same-sex couples.
“That is not fair and since my election I have sought to address and overcome this discrimination,” Turnbull said.
“I pledge to continue this fight until justice is done.”
The move makes him the sole senior Government figure to publicly stand on the side of reforms, and places him at odds with Prime Minister John Howard, who reportedly scuttled gay issues from the election platform.
But Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby spokesman Ghassan Kassisieh said it was Howard who was out of touch.
“He is increasingly becoming a pariah in his own party on this issue,” Kassisieh said.
With the possibility of a Peter Costello-led Coalition after the election, the Lobby has called on the community to put pressure on the current deputy Liberal leader and treasurer.
“We simply don’t know what his position is on these issues, but doubt he’d be less supportive than Howard,” Kassisieh said.