Liberal MP Tim Wilson has blamed his colleagues' unwillingness to act on same-sex marriage for the \"national silliness\"that has erupted over tennis legend Margaret Court's boycott of Qantas. <\/p>\n
He was responding tocalls forMelbourne's Margaret Court Arena to be renamed after Court, a staunch Christian, vowed not to fly with the national carrier because its gay chief executive, Alan Joyce, is a prominent backer of marriage equality. <\/p>\n
Mr Wilson - who is himself gay and one of several Liberal MPs pushing for a free vote on same-sex marriage - was opposed to banishing Court's name from the stadium, describing the ideaas an example of \"ridiculous behaviour\" by activists. <\/p>\n
\"What we're seeing now is a dehumanising ofpeople if you disagree with them,\" he told Sky News on Tuesday night. \"It isn't justaboutcensoring and silencing, it's actually about questioning the legitimacy of your place in society.\" <\/p>\n
But in a rebuke of his colleagues' intransigence on the issue, Mr Wilson said the frustration with Court partly reflected a frustration with the Federal Parliament for failing to legalise same-sex marriage despite enormous public support. <\/p>\n
\"I think a lot of what's happening at the moment is people are expressing their frustration in other ways because the issue isn't being resolved,\" Mr Wilson said. <\/p>\n
\"Frankly, the discussion around marriage for same-sex couples has descended into a kind of national silliness where people are just taking more and more extreme and absurd positions because they're not actually debating the issue. <\/p>\n
\"They're not actually debating resolution of the issue becausethe Parliament won't deal with it. So I think we've got to be mindful that that is part of the reason why we're seeing this type of ridiculous behaviour.\" <\/p>\n
That type of hysteria would continue \"if we keep not dealing with it and finding a sensible way through\", Mr Wilson said. <\/p>\n
Such a route would involve protections for people who disagreed with same-sex marriage to ensure they would not face \"persecution\", he said. <\/p>\n
The Coalition tried to legislate for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage last year, but it was blocked in the Senate by Labor, the Greens and parts of the crossbench. <\/p>\n
Since, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has refused to countenance a free vote on the issue, despite calls from a handful of Liberal MPs. <\/p>\n
The Court controversy flourished with contributions from tennis stars Casey Dellacqua, who told Court \"enough is enough\", andSam Stosur, who hinted at a player boycott of Margaret Court Arena at next year's Australian Open. <\/p>\n
On Monday, Court said she was the victim of \"bullying\" because of her belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman. <\/p>\n
\"I have nothing against gay people, we have them in our church and Ihelp them,\" she told Sky News. <\/p>\n
\"[But] God made man for woman and woman for man ... and go multiply the earth. Well you know that two men can't multiply the earth andtwo women can't. <\/p>\n
\"I have nothing against people with their life, if they want to lead a life like that. But this is a Judaeo-Christian nation and Ibelieve we should protect marriage because we have natural laws - when a policeman says stop we stop.\" <\/p>\n
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Liberal MP Tim Wilson blames colleagues for 'national silliness' over Margaret Court comments - The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Liberal MP Tim Wilson has blamed his colleagues' unwillingness to act on same-sex marriage for the \"national silliness\"that has erupted over tennis legend Margaret Court's boycott of Qantas. He was responding tocalls forMelbourne's Margaret Court Arena to be renamed after Court, a staunch Christian, vowed not to fly with the national carrier because its gay chief executive, Alan Joyce, is a prominent backer of marriage equality. Mr Wilson - who is himself gay and one of several Liberal MPs pushing for a free vote on same-sex marriage - was opposed to banishing Court's name from the stadium, describing the ideaas an example of \"ridiculous behaviour\" by activists Continue reading