Last night, at a forum at the Sydney Opera House, a young boy got a huge round of applause and cheers when he asked former Prime Minister Julia Gillard:
"How come you didn't let gay people get married?"
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP…
Gillard laughed, saying, "It's a politician in the making there I think."
She then said:
"I do understand that the position I took on gay marriage perplexed many people, given who I am and so many of my beliefs. I've actually had lots of conversations with many of my old friends about this – some of them have got a different view than me…But I'm a lot older than you, and when I went to university and started forming my political views of the world, we weren't talking about gay marriage. As feminists, we were critiquing marriage….I'm conscious that these views are dated and that the way people interpret marriage now is different…I think marriage in our society could play its traditional role, and we could come up with other institutions which value partnerships, value love, value lifetime commitment…I have a valuable lifetime commitment and haven't felt the need at any point to make that into a marriage.”
Gillard then added that there needs to be a conscience vote on the issue.
(h/t samesame)
