Australia: Anti-gay senator accused of having ‘obsession’ with gay people

Australian Liberal Party Senator Cory Bernardi has been described as being obsessed with gay people due to his outspoken homophobic views.

Mr Bernardi resigned from the Liberal Party’s frontbench in September 2012 after he said that allowing same-sex couples to marry could lead to sanctioning polygamy and even bestiality.

The Age reports Liberal MP Warren Entsch, a former parliamentary secretary and chief opposition whip, said he cringed when he heard Mr Bernardi’s latest comments during a TV interview on Monday designed to promote his new book on conservative politics.

Mr Bernardi warned against ”non-traditional” family arrangements such as step-families, single-parent families and same-sex parent families.

“He’s obviously got an obsession with people that are gay,” Mr Entsch said.

”It worries me. You’ve really got to watch out for those that have these obsessions. He who protests the loudest …”

Mr Entsch said he wondered what Mr Bernardi would think if a member of his family turned out to be gay. ”Would he advocate sterilisation?”

Towards the end of last year, Mr Bernardi called on former Liberal leader and current Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to resign because of his support for equal marriage.

Mr Turnbull is at odds with Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott who remains opposed to equal marriage.

In December, Mr Abbott defended his decision to challenge the Australian Capital Territory’s same-sex marriage law, resulting in 27 couples having their marriages declared invalid after the High Court unanimously ruled that the ACT’s laws were unconstitutional.

• Dec 01 2023

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