GAY TRUTH

Australia: Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s playing of the suicide card is a dangerous and disappointing attempt to use emotional blackmail to silence debate, according to the Australian Christian Lobby. “No one wants to see anyone come to harm and in 10 years of debate there has never been any targeting of people by those of us who support preserving the definition of marriage,” ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton said. Regrettably there are feral social media trolls on both sides but this is not a reason not to have a public conversation. Changing the definition of marriage in law is the biggest social policy change of our generation and all Australians must be free to participate without intimidation. The idea that the Australian people can’t be trusted to have a respectful and civil public debate about something which has enormous consequences is quite frankly insulting. The power of Mr Shorten’s suggestion to vulnerable people is irresponsible. Malcolm Turnbull too...

The high stakes game of politics over same-sex marriage is now dangerous and unpredictable with the main question being: will the champions of change kill off the Coalition’s plebiscite, thereby denying the main hope of reform in this parliament? That would be a strange and self-defeating step. The tactical and moral issue is immense — it is whether the advocates of same-sex marriage put the means before the end and are so fiercely opposed to a plebiscite that they reject the mandate Malcolm Turnbull won at the election. If parliament votes against the plebiscite bill the pivotal question becomes the assumption on which it acts. Does it act on the honest, upfront admission that, more likely than not, it means same-sex marriage will be delayed for another three years? Former High Court judge Michael Kirby is prepared to accept this price. Indeed, he wrote on this page it is better “that nothing at all were done by the federal parliament on same-sex marriage than that a plebiscite was...

Heterosexual politicians calling for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage don’t understand the fear and animosity faced by LGBTI Australians, the senior Labor frontbencher Penny Wong has argued. Wong raised the fact that LGBTI Australians face abuse online, that they are still victims of assault and fear holding hands in public, to demonstrate their opposition to a gay marriage vote by Australians. Homosexuality was an offence that resulted in a jail term; and Wong a committed lesbians wonders why ordinary people respond negatively to homosexual sin being displayed in public. Prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said a plebiscite would be conducted in a civil and respectful way. Australian Labor has stepped up its attack on the government’s plan for a plebiscite on the issue, Shorten describing it on Sunday as “a taxpayer-funded platform for homophobia”. Shorten a former union leaders who pushed his way into a mine rescue and took credit has no moral argument for changing traditional ma...

The world paused to mourn   the terrorist attack in Orlando   this week, but some LGBT activists are complaining that politicians have used the tragedy to promote the wrong political agenda. LGBT leaders say the mass shooting at the gay nightclub, which killed 49 people, should have been used to pressure communities to add LGBT people to civil rights legislation – a proposal that, for instance, would require public accommodations to allow members of one biological sex to use the intimate facilities of the opposite sex. Following the weekend tragedy, Donald Trump gave a major speech on Monday about his proposal to temporarily halt all Muslim immigration into the United States. President Obama and Democrats have highlighted tighter gun control measures. Congressman Jim Himes, D-CT, refused to take part in a Congressional moment of silence to honor the victims of the shooting, instead saying lawmakers needed to pass legislation to curb "gun violence." But so far, the...