MPs slam ‘vile’ tweets of gay campaigner
Coalition MPs have lashed the author of an essay calling for a national rollout of the Safe Schools program.
Coalition MPs have lashed the author of the latest Quarterly Essay — which calls for a national rollout of the controversial Safe Schools program — over a lewd tweet joking about “hate f. king” the homophobia out of “anti-gay MPs in parliament”.
Benjamin Law, a columnist for Fairfax’s Good Weekend magazine and an active campaigner for same-sex marriage, posted the tweet on August 30 that triggered numerous replies including comments such as “start with Hastie” — a reference to West Australian Liberal MP and former member of the SAS Andrew Hastie, who defends traditional marriage.
Law replied by posting: “(sighs heavily, unzips pants)”.
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Another user responded by posting a picture of National MP George Christensen, also a prominent defender of traditional marriage and the backbencher who led the revolt against the Safe Schools program. Law replied by posting: “(sets self on fire)”.
The Australian contacted Mr Hastie yesterday about Law’s tweet, which said: “Sometimes find myself wondering if I’d hate-f. k all the anti-gay MPs in parliament if it meant they got the homophobia out of their system.”
Mr Hastie said the comment was unacceptable. “Noting my skills acquired in my previous career I’d like to see him try. If anyone on the No campaign jokingly suggested using sex as a weapon against Yes campaigners, there’d be immediate calls for their resignation and marginalisation. Instead this guy gets a 20,000-word platform from Quarterly Essay.”
Responding to Mr Hastie, Mr Law said: “Sure, the member for Canning has decent cheekbones, but he’s a little too clean-cut for my tastes.
“It’s cute Andrew Hastie would presume to think I’m talking about him. However, it’s also telling — and worrying — that the member for Canning sees the phrase ‘anti-gay MP’ and immediately assumes I’m referring to him. If Andrew Hastie has specific reservations about the contents of my Quarterly Essay on Safe Schools, I’d welcome his thoughts over email or beers.”
Mr Christensen dismissed the off-colour tweet as “vile filth”. “It’s ironic that most supporters of Safe Schools say they support it because it’s anti-bullying and yet they engage in some of the worst online bullying you’d ever encounter, especially in their Twitter left-wing echo chamber,’’ Mr Christensen said.
Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek, who told a same-sex marriage rally in Sydney “let’s drown out the hate with love”, refrained from condemning Law’s tweet.
“The best thing we can do is let love drown out hate, that’s what drives the Yes campaign, and that’s what I saw at the enormous rally in support of marriage equality in Sydney today,’’ she said.
In his Quarterly Essay piece released today, Mr Law defends the Safe Schools program and argues for it to be rolled out nationally. “Victorian Labor MPs are right,” he says. “Safe Schools should be implemented in every school.
“By doing that, we will show we’re mature enough to acknowledge that sometimes, to our embarrassment and shame, it’s adults — not children — who are least equipped to understand, accept or process new realities about the world in which we live.”
He also attacks the government’s $122 million postal survey on same-sex marriage, saying that it had been “forced” on the population to “accommodate those who think same-sex romantic partnerships are inferior to heterosexual ones”.
Managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby and spokesman for the Coalition for Marriage, Lyle Shelton, yesterday said Mr Law’s promotion of a national rollout of Safe Schools demonstrated that advocates of same-sex marriage had a broader agenda.
“We have it now in writing,” he said. “It is the goal of gay marriage campaigners to have these radical LGBTIQ sex and gender programs rolled out nationally.
“Australia has a chance, they can say no to gay marriage, they can say no to these radical sex and gender programs.”
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