Australia’s anti-gay ex-Prime Minister to address anti-LGBT hate group
Prime Minister Tony Abbott (Stefan Postles/Getty Images)
The former Prime Minister of Australia, who is a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, will address a hate group.
Later this month Tony Abbott, who has become the defacto voice for the campaign against marriage equality in Australia, will speak at the hate group, the Alliance Defending Freedom.
He will make an appearance in the US to address the ADF to deliver a lecture, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Tony Abbott (Stefan Postles/Getty Images)
Abbott’s spokesman told the Review that he was “honoured to have been invited by the ADF” to speak at the conference.
He is expected to reiterate his position that he is strongly against same-sex marriage.
This is not the first time Abbott has addressed the ADF. He spoke in January in New York City.
In last year’s address, Abbott said that marriage was intended as “a way of dealing with human imperfection”, and as a way to “keep men more committed and less likely to abandon their wives and children.”
He added: “Not long ago, most gay activists rejected marriage as an oppressive institution. Now, they demand as their right what they recently scorned; they demand what was unimaginable in all previous times and still is in most places. They are seeking what has never been and expecting others to surrender what always has. It’s a massive ask; for me, an ask too far.”
The ADF has supported the criminalisation of gay sex, has supported the forced sterilisation of trans people in Europe and is a strong supporter of anti-LGBT religious “freedom” laws.
Abbott previously said he had been headbutted during the campaign against same-sex marriage.
Four million Australians are yet to vote in the ballot on same-sex marriage.
The country is currently holding an advisory public vote on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.
The informal postal ballot is entirely advisory and non-binding but will inform MPs in the country when the issue goes to Parliament.
Only four days remain until the recommended deadline for forms to be returned – meaning roughly four million Australians have not yet responded to the survey.
During the campaign, Abbott has become a prominent voice against equality.
Abbott has aggressively fought an aggressive campaign against same-sex marriage despite the fact that his own sister Christine Forster is gay, and waiting for the right to marry her same-sex partner.
Abbott stunned the country last month when he appeared to suggest it would be “best” for Ms Forster’s children to be raised by a straight couple.
The family feud heightened this week, when it emerged that Abbott’s daughter Frances is backing up her gay aunt over her own father.
Abbott recently stirred controversy when he visited US-based extremist lobbying ADF – despite the group allegedly pressuring countries around the world to keep sodomy laws banning gay sex.
The ex-PM pushed ahead with his plans to speak to the group, which has also opposed LGBT people in the military, same-sex adoption and equal marriage.
