Thursday, June 01, 2017
Australia: Christians must be penalized for criticizing homosexuality. But Muslims can even jail homosexuals and that's OK
THE marriage equality lobby group says it does not think Etihad Stadium should be renamed or boycotted, despite harsh anti-homosexuality laws in the United Arab Emirates.
It comes amid growing calls for Margaret Court Arena to be renamed after the tennis great last week sparked outrage for saying she would no longer fly with Qantas over the airline’s stance on gay marriage.
Current and former tennis champions including Martina Navratilova, Richel Hogenkamp and Casey Dellacqua have hit out at the 74-year-old Christian pastor, while Tennis Australia and the operators of Melbourne and Olympic Parks have distanced themselves from her comments.
Some on social media have accused Ms Court’s critics of double standards for not calling for Etihad Stadium in Melbourne’s Docklands to be renamed. Etihad Airways is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, where homosexuality is a crime punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.
According to Amnesty International, the death penalty could technically apply under the Islamic country’s strict penal code, but as of 2016 the human rights group was unaware of any executions carried out for consensual same-sex conduct.
Etihad has been the naming rights sponsor of the Docklands Stadium since 2009, and the contract was extended in 2012 for a further five years to 2019. The Abu Dhabi-based, government-owned airline pays an estimated $5-9 million a year, according to 2009 reports.
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3 comments:
A few million barrels of oil will buy any amount of Western ethical principles!
Anon 5:17 AM - if only the Pope had an oil reserve under the vatican.... ;-)
I can assure you that there is no persecution of bakers yet as Australian law still forbids gay marriage partially due to the fact that the gay lobby won't let the public decide. They know that if a plebiscite happened that they would lose but instead they are using social pressure to force politicians to enact it unilaterally in defiance of public opinion. Their argument is that members of the LGBTI+ would self harm if there was an open public discussion. The current government was elected on a plebiscite policy and won't back down. Given the nature of the upper house in the Australian parliament even if the pro gay Labor party win the next election there is no guarantee they can push it through.
Unfortunately only a couple of politicians are prepared to address the issue of the Islamic policy to LGBTI people. The rest have taken the ostrich approach and refuse to comment if you successfully manage to corner them. In the main criticism of Islam is forbidden in public as you are immediately labelled an Islamophobe, something I take pride in by pointing out that a phobia is an irrational fear and being wary of Islamists is quite healthy in a democracy given the current world situation.
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