Media statement August 9, 2010
Rachel Evans, the lead NSW Senate candidate for Socialist Alliance, condemned Family First’s ’ likening the legalisation of same-sex marriage to the legalisation of child abuse as “homophobic” and “incitement to more violence against lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and queer people”.
“The one thing we can to thank Wendy Francis for is her outing of her misnamed Family First party as one of the many bigoted and intolerant parties that will be contesting this election for the Senate in several states, including in Queensland and NSW.
“Some people may been under a different impression.
“The exposure of Family First, first on the Channel 7 and later on twitter*, as the unsophisticated and bigoted group that they are can also be a good thing.
“However, tolerant people have a duty to stand up to the parties promoting such an archaic prejudice.
“For decades the LGBTQI communities have had to struggle for our rights – from the most basic, such as to hold a march in the streets in 1978, to the campaign for equal marriage and adoption rights of today.
“Survey after survey has shown that gay couples are just as adept as heterosexual couples at raising children. A 2009 report to the NSW parliament on same-sex adoption confirmed this.
“There are now 10 countries supporting equal marriage rights (Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Sweden) and there is no evidence that those couples' children suffer more emotional abuse than do children of heterosexual couples.
“There is evidence, however, that children will suffer emotional abuse, however, if their parents are denied rights available to other members of society.
“Family First’s spokesperson sounds like those protagonists from the bygone apartheid era which warned that ‘mixed marriages’ would lead to children being abused.
“This bigoted nonsense has no place in a human rights-minded society, let alone in Australian parliaments.
“The Liberal Party deserve to be condemned as well: their preferences go to this ‘Bigots First’ party in the NSW Senate.”
* Read what Wendy Francis wrote on Twitter .
Media inquiries Fred Fuentes on 0412 556 527
More information on Rachel Evans and the NSW Senate team click