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Loading ...Australian MP opposes same-sex adoption
08.06.2009 4:00pm EDT
(Australia) Dorothy Pratt, an Australian Member of Parliament and independent, said that homosexuality was not a normal part of life after disagreeing with plans to legalize gay adoption reports the Pink News.
“I must say I was very pleased there was no allowance in this bill for homosexual couples to adopt a child,” she said.Pratt, an MP for the Nanango district of Queensland, expressed her opposition to gay adoption and said that she believes a child should be raised by one mother and one father so it can have “a balanced view.”
“I feel very strongly about that particular thought that . . . I’m not saying they aren’t loving people, I’m not saying they wouldn’t be fabulous parents, but I am saying that in my opinion a child deserves a mother and a father if possible and that whether you regard homosexual activity as a normal part of life or not, I don’t,” she said.
Other Queensland parliament MPs, such as Christine Smith, spoke out in support for same-sex adoption.
“I acknowledge people have very strong and opposing views on the sensitive issue of same sex adoption,” said Smith. “I believe that same sex couples should be assessed by the same standards as any other couple on their suitability to adopt.”
Prior to the controversy surrounding Pratt, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced last week that he would not do away with the country’s anti-gay marriage laws.
Despite this crazy woman, Australia is still a relatively gay-friendly country especially in the capital cities and major towns. It is a case of the government still being behind the people on this social issue.
I’m an openly gay teenager and in my daily life in the typically straight suburbs of working/middle class Sydney I get no problems whatsoever. People just don’t care and if they do, they don’t tend to vocalise their disapproval anyway.
You can’t help but love Australia
In Australia, most people have no qualms with gay people. The only TRUE prejudice i have encountered comes from the provincial areas. I say true prejudice because most people when confronted with homosexuality do not actually mind.
oh and fyi budbud. Most people I know are scared of American prejudice rather than any prejudice we encounter here.
you are WAY off base!
I love Australia because of its multiculturism and acceptance.
America frightens me because of its fanaticism.
I am proud to belong to the liberal branch of the Episcopal church that is increasingly treating women and gay people as equals. My own church has been under the guidance of a pro-gay female rector and now a pro-gay interum female rector. And our church has put out a profile of itself as very diverse. And happily acknowledges that our sort of place would be a total mismatch for and of no interest to someone who is a conservative candidate looking to be rector.
Unfortunately, being a bigoted bitch (male or female) seems to be quite normal.
Religion has to a significant extent been perverted from “Love thy Neighbor as thyself”, which Jesus said was the only commandment (other then to love God) to “Love thyself, to hell with your neighbor.
Bishop Spong of Canada pointed out a few years ago that religion has become, in my transliterated words, a refuge from the confusion and complications of everyday life. It provides a rules based, frozen in a time warp, comfort zone for so many people. And that prevents any change in their mentality. Example would be I think it was not until 1962, 17 years after the horrors of the Holocaust became widely known, that the Catholic Church, in Vatican II in a mealy mouthed way, removed their official positions which denigrated Jews. And believe it or not, my very orthodox Roman Catholic friend, with whom I debate fiercely, said the his church is splitting. Prob thanks to the Pope, who is about 81 yrs old, but mentally is living in the 10th century.
There are opportunities here to capture Good catholic people to the cause, though the real barrier will be the word marriage, vs a CU or equiv. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and ingrained attitudes frozen in this time warp by the church’s super-gluing of the mind (brainwashint) will continue to be a problem. BTW, surveys say 50% of Catholics under 30 support gay MARRIAGE. I volunteer with a number of them at HRC.
KEep working at it. Don’t let the intimidation and losses get you down.
This is why so many religions are frozen, and it takes a long time to move them forward. But we are making progress. From 2003 to 2009, in 6 years, after the seminal event of the appointment of a Gay Bishop – Gene Robinson, that church, always considered moderately conservative, has become very progressive. 3 new asst. Bishops are expected to be appointed who are gay. An official “marriage ceremony” – maybe a “committment ceremony wordwise”, is being worked on at the national level, and BTW, back in 2004 I attended a gay commitment ceremony in DC. Absolutely a marriage in all but name, but unfortunately no legal value then.
Sure, the old fogies will break away, good riddance to them. The divide is very much age group related. The Evan Lutherans may well do the same thing this month, the PresbyterianUSA didn’t make it at their convention last month, but came much much closer then a few years ago.
Oh–forgot to ask. Has Dorothy Pratt reproduced yet? If not, there’s still time to request that she not, in the interests of the Australian people. If she has, her kids should be encouraged to apply for whatever compensation fund there is for children of unstable parents.
@Roberto–Let’s not forget that, like Canada and NZ, Oz’s immigration laws and internal laws on race were every bit as racist, or more so, than those in the US. Moreover, Queensland is still known for being quite possibly the most priggish state or province of all the former colonies. How bad? Queensland forbade sales of “Playboy” unless all the naughty bits were covered in black ink. That was at least into the 70s, but I do believe it may have gone into the 90s. Wherever you have that kind of obsessive censorship, you very often have societally-sanctioned violence against certain out-groups. Might be Aboriginals, might be gays, might be women, but it’s always nasty, petty, overdone, and vicious. This cow is clearly a living piece of that legacy.
Like Canada, Oz has come a long way in a short time. Unlike Canada, Oz still holds onto some very strange habits–like inviting immigrants and then all but refusing to live next to them. (”Romper Stomper” was fiction based on too many daily experiences, and do I need to mention the riots at Cronulla between Lebanese immigrants and a bunch of drunken whites?)
Every country has its dirt, but Oz is not anywhere close to as gay-friendly as some will try to convince you. Please note that the PM refuses to touch the Federal laws banning gays from marriage. What’s the reason for this–the CO output from a gay wedding party would drive away rainclouds from the VIC/NSW drought areas? There’s no reason but bigotry. If Rudd is doing this for political reasons, he deserves to be called out just as much as his predecessor did.
I wish to add an additional comment especially aimed at Budbud. In doing so I don’t wish to be hurtful However I must say that. Budbud, you are being bigoted and acting in an ignorant way yourself, when you comment with such a broad brush saying that all Aussies are like all Americans. Don’t you realize that you are just exposing your inner self? In my experience, most Americans like most Australians are open to sensible dialogue and only make up their minds after hearing from all interested parties. Roberto.
please do not judge every Australian by the comments of the freakish super religious right wing people who seem to be favorites of the headline seeking journalists. The majority of Aussies are believers in freedom of individuals to live their lives as they need according to their natural makeup. Unfortunately our present prime minister, for all the good that he is responsible for, is still beholden to these religious persons and therefore must tow the line or face the election consequences.
MP = Member of Parliament.
Certainly it’s not normal for her, but for those of us who ARE… different, it’s QUITE normal.
I don’t know whether being gay is a normal part of life, but being an Australian MP certainly isn’t a normal part of life.
Maybe this bigoted legislator should learn that the hard way.
JakeTravis: MP stands for “Member of Parliament”. It’s a common term.
I disagree — I am American living in Australia and find the place to be much more tolerant than the US. The anti-discrimination laws are very strong, they allow openly gay soldiers in the military, same-sex partners can be sponsored for immigration purposes and same-sex partners are recognized for most legal purposes. The only remaining rights are full-marriage (rather than domestic partnership) and adoption. It’s actually much, much more gay-friendly than most of the US.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but this woman’s comments are so superficially prejudiced. Not just her position of same-sex partnerships – which come in so many shades of gray, but her shallow assumption that a “mother” is automatically June Cleaver and the “father” is Ward. As I’m sure that many on this site can attest, that is so not the case as to be statistically never occurring. I know from my own experiences with my parents that if I could, I would have made my father disappear many years ago – he was an abusive and self-centered man. If my mother has been so inclined, I would have loved for her to bring home “my other mommy”, but – like me – she was too fond of dick. So to paint the picture of “mother” and “father” as an automatic perfect situation is simply ludicrous.
Apparently the writer of this article assumes that everybody in the world knows what “MP” stands for.
Yeah. This is no surprise. Australia was formed in a very similar fashion as America and no surprise, the two countries are painfully similar.
Britains religious nuts went to the U.S. and their criminals went to Australia. Both countries were just a refuse bin for a bunch of folks most Brits didn’t want to deal with any more.
This is why I have never had ANY interest in going to Australia. Statements like this are what continue to keep me from buying ANYTHING from Australia and whenever anyone I know talks about an interest in going there, I trash the place, talk it down and destroy their interest in the place.
We have enough ignorant red necks right here in America. There’s no reason to take a forever plane ride to go see a bunch of ignorant rednecks who’ve mixed a little British accent in with their country twang!