Australia: Supporters of traditional marriage now bigots and haters?
It
is not 'homophobic' to believe that marriage is between one man and one woman
and to wish to have the freedom to say this out loud, according to the Australian
Christian Lobby.
ACL
Managing Director Lyle Shelton said Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was
insulting the intelligence of millions of his fellow Australians by saying a
people's vote on redefining marriage would unleash 'homophobia'.
"It
is unbecoming of someone aspiring to lead our nation to effectively bully his
fellow Australians into silence by labelling them 'homophobes',” Mr Shelton
said.
"There
are big consequences to changing the definition of marriage that have nothing
to do with homophobia.
"We
should be allowed to debate these consequences without emotional blackmail
being used to silence debate.
"There
are legitimate ethical issues associated with deliberately denying children the
love and nurture of their biological mother or father.
"Many
Australian parents are rightly concerned about the rainbow political agenda and
its aggressive gender theory that is being imposed on school children
through the so-called Safe Schools program.
"It
is hard to understand why those advocating change are so worried about having
the debate.
“If
they are so confident of overwhelming public support, why would they fear a
people's vote which would give them the moral authority to restructure marriage
and family in Australia?
"ACL
has always engaged this debate respectfully but Mr Shorten is seeking to close
down the debate by slurring people of good will who simply want to have a say
about the most basic unit of society.
"We
do not question anyone's love. This is not the concern of public policy. But
the definition of marriage has consequences for children, free speech and
freedom of religion.
"If
Mr Shorten is prepared to label his fellow Australians 'homophobes', what will
he do to those in the future who will never agree to a State-imposed
redefinition of marriage? Will people be free to teach man-woman marriage to
children without being fined for so-called hate speech? Will there be tolerance
for those of us who will always speak up for the rights of children wherever
possible to be allowed to know the love of their biological parents?"
Mr
Shelton said July 2 was a watershed election for Australia.
"Australians
have a choice to preserve the promised people's vote on marriage or to have
rainbow ideology imposed on the nation within 100 days.
"This
is the most important election in a generation," Mr Shelton said.
