Victorian gay rights lobby critical of government’s World Congress of Families involvement
NEWS of two Victorian Government officials addressing a conference organised by a hard-right, anti-gay group in Melbourne next month have been met with criticism from the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby.
Earlier this week, Premier Denis Napthine said Attorney-General Robert Clark and Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews (both pictured above) addressing the conference in late August was consistent with the state government’s tourism agenda to attract people to Melbourne.
The two senior Victorian Coalition MPs are part of a line-up for the World Congress of Families conference, a group that has backed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s so-called “gay propaganda” laws. The conference will also feature upper house Liberal MP Bernie Finn, NSW upper house Christian Democrats MP Fred Nile and Liberal Senators Cory Bernardi and Eric Abetz.
The Age reported that Napthine said it was “quite common” for the government to have a representative at a variety of events because it was all about promoting Melbourne as an international conference destination.
However, Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby co-convenor Anna Brown said this was “deeply concerning”.
“The association of two senior Coalition ministers with a conference that promotes discrimination and hatred towards LGBTI people is deeply concerning, and diminishes the Victorian Government’s good work on expunging historical gay sex convictions and the support of the Abbott Opposition to last year’s new discrimination protections for LGBTI people,” she said.
“It is utterly inconsistent for a government that believes in diversity and supports the mental health of LGBTI people to lend its support to an event that promotes the very attitudes that contribute to those poorer mental health outcomes.”
Napthine also reiterated his support for the LGBTI community, highlighting that he was the first Premier to attend the Midsumma festival earlier this year, where he made the historical gay sex convictions expungement plans, and that these will be implemented by Clark himself.
Meanwhile, a petition on Change.org organised by LGBTI advocate Ben Cooper has emerged, urging the Victorian Government to cease all involvement with World Congress of Families.
“We take the view that no member of parliament should be involved in an event and/or give it’s support to an organisation that advocates that homosexuality should be a crime and that believes homosexuals can and should be converted to heterosexual,” the petition states.
At the time of writing, it had garnered almost 2700 signatures.
funny how George Brandis has withdrawn from attendance at the ‘World Congress of Families’. He must have found out it was a forum for LGBTI bashing. Some beleive that homosexuality is an illness, should be a criminal offence and folk should be treated in order to be made heterosexual. Even this is too far for Brandis.
personally i find it offensive that george stays securely in the closet but at the same time will not support gay marriage. The ultimate hypocrite! If he would ‘come out’ he could do a lot for gay rights.
If right-wing extreme radicals controlling our government such as Attorney-General Robert Clark and Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews – as well as Catholic Cult Tony Abbott, then I call on for all of them to be completly sacked or better still a double dissolution (on the Qantas Sale Bill Senate vote that is coming up) and force an election now!
Australia has no place for extreme radicles in our parliament house!
What’s next on the Liberal party agenda – a group of terrorists controlling our government and parliament!?
The Liberal Party and Tony Abbott make me sick to the core!
I never trusted that man Tony Abbott from day one and now here we are a million days later and look at the mess he has created!
I do not understand conservatives or Torys at all really – they are really on another planet (Jupiter as an example)!
Vote 1 Australian Sex Party (ASP)!
For goodness sake the Russian Militia just shot down a plane murdering hundreds. Liberal politicians should not be using public office to support the pro Russian religious haters who support Plutins GLBTI propaganda laws. As for Napthine, he is yet to end adoption discrimination and voted to strip protections in the Equal Opportunity Act, for all those who work in government funded religious businesses, if you are part of the GLBTI community.
What is Napthine offering for the future? His party needs to kick Robert Clark out of the party. This is the same person who told parliament homosexuality is a sick disease and went on to say we molestor children more, an untruth.
The LNP deserve opposition if this is as good as they can give. Russian supporters of Plutin do not need support from the Napthine government. It is a bloody disgrace what is going on.