Australian treasurer Peter Costello to gay marriage activists (paraphrased): "Shut up and
just be grateful we don't criminalise gay sex":
Mr Costello said: "I think we do recognise the rights of gay and lesbian people in Australia." "We do not criminalise conduct or behaviour."
"I thought that was appalling. It was offensive. I found it suggesting that we were lucky that we weren't being thrown in jail," Ms Stricker said outside the Sydney Institute meeting. Prof Phelps, also offended by the comment, said it would be like saying to Mr Costello at the Sydney mardi gras: "You are really lucky that we don't lock you up because you are heterosexual." "That's as offensive as his comment to people who are in a committed same sex relationship," she said.
I wonder whether not criminalising homosexuality is a policy issue which will become negotiable as those outer-suburban evangelical megachurches grow in political influence, and the government starts looking for minorities to bully to retain their favour.
Ah, Peter's just getting warmed up for when he gets the top job. You have to practice that sort of bigotry before you can carry it off with conviction. His comments a few days ago that migrants displaying "unaustralian" values should lose their citizenship was particularly fascinating. Assuming we're not leaving the decision to revoke citizenship up to arbitrary judgements, he seemed to be suggesting that we need legislation to codify what "being Australian" is, in order to be able to properly identify those who offend against it. Come to think of it, I might fire his office off an email, and see if they're begun drafting the bill...