The wedding row

IN the ordinary course of events the story of a person confirming they are gay would not be page one news.

IN the ordinary course of events the story of a person confirming they are gay would not be page one news.

But when that person happens to be the sister of Opposition leader Tony Abbott, one of the country's most vocal opponents of gay marriage, it is news.

Especially when the sister, Christine Forster, has publicly taken a stance that is diametrically opposed to her brother's political platform, posing with her partner holding a poster which says: "I love her!! Marry Me??"

Kate Legge's story raises many interesting issues but at its heart it reveals Abbott's very human response to his sister's situation and shows that in politics, as elsewhere in life, nothing is simple.