This out politician had an incredible put-down for an opponent
An out politician is getting a lot of attention for an epic comeback in Parliament.
Australian Senator Penny Wong, the first openly gay woman to sit in Parliament, was repeatedly interrupted during a speech by conservative opponent and persistent heckler Ian Macdonald.
Responding to an interruption Ms Wong, the leader of the Opposition in the Senate, clapped back: “Senator Macdonald really does have an unhealthy obsession with me, but I digress.”
After Macdonald challenged his apparent obsession, she quipped: “You’re not my type either mate, don’t worry about it.”
Wong’s put-down has gone viral online.
“You’re not my type either mate, don’t worry about it.”
Senator Penny Wong is the hero we need. pic.twitter.com/EK1p9i9dtf
— Ryan James (@RyanJL) June 21, 2017
The Labor politician is a strong voice for equality, and has previously slammed “fundamentalists” for blocking equal marriage..
She said recently: “At the centre of the opposition to equality of marriage rights for gay and lesbian members of the community is the conflation of religious concepts of marriage with secular concepts of marriage.
“Religious attitudes to marriage continue to impact on much of the political debate that has delayed the recognition of the marriage equality rights of the gay and lesbian community.
“The problem in all of this, of course, is the application of religious belief to the framing of law in a secular society. And in societies where church and state are constitutionally separate.”
“At the centre of the opposition to equality of marriage rights for gay and lesbian members of the community is the conflation of religious concepts of marriage with secular concepts of marriage,” she said.
“Religious attitudes to marriage continue to impact on much of the political debate that has delayed the recognition of the marriage equality rights of the gay and lesbian community.
“The problem in all of this, of course, is the application of religious belief to the framing of law in a secular society. And in societies where church and state are constitutionally separate.”
Elsewhere in Australian politics this week, the governing Liberal Party invited homophobic tennis star Margaret Court to fundraiser.
Attorney General George Brandis defended her “minority points of view”.
Court has likened gay people to Hitler, claimed that homosexuality is an ungodly “lust for the flesh”, that LGBT tendencies in young people were “all the devil”, and that older lesbian tennis stars have ‘converted’ younger players.
