WATCH: Proud dad challengesGillard

www.samesame.com.au

About the Author

Matt Akersten

view my other 2269 articles

Tue 12th Jun, 2012 in Local News

37
4
2816

This is the moment Vietnam veteran and proud father to a gay son Geoff Thomas addressed Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the hot topic she’d rather went away.

Thomas had previously asked opposition leader Tony Abbott about legalising gay marriage back in August 2010, but was unimpressed with the answer he got. See that clip here.

On last night’s live Q&A show on the ABC, the marriage equality supporter’s sensible but passionate question to the PM prompted the biggest round of applause heard on the hour-long program.

“Prime Minister, my name is Geoff Thomas,” he began, as his son Nathan looked on from the seat beside him. “I’m a Vietnam veteran, I’m a plumbing contractor and the proud father of a gay son.

“Almost two years ago I asked Tony Abbott whether he’d be prepared to treat gay and lesbian Australians with the dignity and respect that he would accord all other Australians. Now, over that period, he hasn’t changed his view but I believe that you have. The country now knows you stand side by side and as one with Tony Abbott and the extremist group the Australian Christian Lobby on this issue.

“Could you please explain to me that in a country that prides itself on freedom, equality and tolerance, how it is that denying same-sex couples the right to marry is in any way, in any sense, fair, just or consistent with the way Australians think today?”

Following the lengthy applause, Gillard thanked Thomas for his question, but provided her usual disappointing response.

“I can hear the passion in your voice, and the concern for your son, and so to hear from you is an important part of this evening,” she noted.

Explaining her opposition to marriage equality, Gillard referenced her own de facto status. “I think people in this room and beyond this room, know a bit about my personal life… I think that you can have a relationship of love and commitment and trust and understanding that doesn’t need a marriage certificate associated with it.”

Watch the marriage equality question answered by the Prime Minister on the clip below.

After the live show, Geoff and Nathan were invited backstage for a drink, where they got their photo taken with the Prime Minister.

Comments

www.samesame.com.au

arrow left

Add Another | View all the comments in forum »

28060

megawatts said on the 12th Jun, 2012

"I think that you can have a relationship of love and commitment and trust and understanding that doesn't need a marriage certificate associated with it."
Excuse me, Julia Gillard, but you are the representative of this country. You are supposed to take into account what your constituents - the whole of Australia - think, and apply these opinions into the law-making process. You are not paid an exorbitant amount of money to flout your own opinions and ignore everyone else's when it comes to this country's laws!
*mad*

mark_

mark_ said on the 12th Jun, 2012

somebody called 'joshgnosis' tweets at 0.55 'oh it's this guy again!'.

I wonder how many times he's been on QnA?

Norry-May Wellby is on frequently

Bar Wench

Bar Wench said on the 12th Jun, 2012

It was always going to come up- it's one of Q&A's pet projects. Not that that's a bad thing.

Her response was as predictable as the question itself.

How annoying are those tweets?! There were times last night when I felt like I was watching a German propaganda film!

GinGin

GinGin said on the 12th Jun, 2012

May be they needed Penny Wong to ask the PM the Question re Gay Marriage like she did a few weeks back to Joe Hockey .......

crazzymikey

crazzymikey said on the 13th Jun, 2012

I can actually see the emotion in julias eyes here. I find it hard to believe these are her beliefs. I really believe she is a puppet for faceless men and has to say what they want her to say. she must be one cold bitch though to be able to do this

Anthony Mahera

Anthony Mahera said on the 13th Jun, 2012

Julia is an ex union lawyer, nuff said.

Anthony Mahera

Anthony Mahera said on the 13th Jun, 2012

And I don't have respect for people who stab their community in the back and then all off a sudden change their mind cause of the back lash. Right Penny!!!! :/ I haven't forgotten what you said about gay marriage, like the rest of the community apparently has.....

Wonderland

Wonderland said on the 13th Jun, 2012

The man didn't ask her what she thought about relationships, his question was a totally different one.

Do politicians always give crappy answers coz they think people are too dumb to understand the answer or cos we're not important enough and therefore have no right to the truth or are they too dumb themselves to give a decent answer to a fair and decent question?

Martina

Martina said on the 13th Jun, 2012

Geoff Thomas spoke eloquently, with fact-based, rational argument on behalf of his and his family's right. What a hero. Thanks Geoff

GinGin

GinGin said on the 13th Jun, 2012

Maybe she should of been asked did you ever say ( l will not support Gay Marriage under the government l lead ) we know the rest ....

Nathan Sydney said on the 13th Jun, 2012

Very proud of my dad. Very disappointed with our PM.

She has made a decision not to marry and Gay and Lesbian Australians should also get to make that same decision. Her answer was weak and a little patronising IMHO.

Dion

Dion said on the 13th Jun, 2012

I really don't understand what hetrosexual people are concerned about gay people wanting to marry and call it marriage. It's about marrying the person you love because you love that person. I don't believe in the procreation theory of marriage as I know married hetrosexual couples that don't have, because they don't want to have children. So for the bible thumpers, does that invalidate those hetro marriages.
What it boils down to from my observations is a former fanatical PM that decided he needed to defne marriage as between a man and woman to push his own wheelbarrow, and a current government who do not have the courage to do what is right.

trina2004

trina2004 said on the 14th Jun, 2012

Please!
She didn't stab anyone in the back. She simply said that she supported Labor policy. Any other reply would have been deliberately undermining her own party in public, something only scum like Rudd would do.

In private she fought for marriage equality, it was well known.

LostInAus

LostInAus said on the 14th Jun, 2012

%u201CI think people in this room and beyond this room, know a bit about my personal life%u2026 I think that you can have a relationship of love and commitment and trust and understanding that doesn%u2019t need a marriage certificate associated with it.%u201D

I which case maybe Julia should put forward a bill to annul all marriages and stop all Australians from getting married. No?

Anthony Mahera

Anthony Mahera said on the 14th Jun, 2012

@trina2004 Gee, she doesn't have balls after all.

munty

munty said on the 14th Jun, 2012

I wouldn't believe a word that this woman says whether it be related to same sex marriage or any other matter. She has one interest only and that is staying in power as long as she can and screw anybody else.

mark_

mark_ said on the 14th Jun, 2012

Wong.

Please!
She didn't stab anyone in the back. She simply said that she supported Labor policy. Any other reply would have been deliberately undermining her own party in public, something only scum like Rudd would do.

In private she fought for marriage equality, it was well known.

Well known to whom?

Bar Wench

Bar Wench said on the 14th Jun, 2012

something only scum like Rudd would do..

Sing it girl!!!

DavoJimbo said on the 14th Jun, 2012

Anthony, I agree with you. We must never forget that Penny Wong and Julia Gillard are FIRST AND FOREMOST career politicians and will say and do what we allow them to say or do - they are in the end, our employees, and as such can be fired. I think Wong realized the slippery slope she was on POLITICALLY, and only then did she reconcile her personal beliefs with her political ones.

Some of us will remember , others will choose to forget.

Tom F

Tom F said on the 14th Jun, 2012

Oh Julia, it's not the same at all. You have the benefit of the legal benefits of a recognised de facto relationship.

Wonderland

Wonderland said on the 14th Jun, 2012

Very proud of my dad. Very disappointed with our PM.

She has made a decision not to marry and Gay and Lesbian Australians should also get to make that same decision. Her answer was weak and a little patronising IMHO.

That was you and your dad in the video! I didn't realise!

What did your dad think of the PM's sorry excuse for an answer?

trina2004

trina2004 said on the 14th Jun, 2012

Wong.

Well known to whom?

Anyone who followed politics, attended Labor conferences or Rainbow Labor conferences.

mark_

mark_ said on the 14th Jun, 2012

^
I follow politics but I assumed only middle-aged diehards could be bothered to be an ALP member

http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/01/31/why-bother-to-be-an-alp-member/
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3323734.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3441788.htm
'Vanishing membership spells crisis for ALP. AM News, Spring 1991, pp 22 - 24.

Nathan Sydney said on the 14th Jun, 2012

Wonderland - yes it was my dad.

He thought the answer was lame and that Gillard has let down all GLBTI Australians and their families.

WE understand that she previously supported gay marriage when Rudd was PM but that she did some deals top get his job and her price was not to support gay marriage.

So we are all sure she privately supports us but she sold us out and that is hugely disappointing.

Like others on this thread I was very angry with Penny Wong re her stance on gay marriage. But in the Labor party you can be thrown out of caucus for going against the party line. But I have been told that Penny has fought hard internally in the ALP to change the party platform. I think now we should be cutting her some slack because she has done so much for us even when she couldnt publicly acknowledge it.

Keep fighting everyone

Wonderland

Wonderland said on the 14th Jun, 2012

Sadly enough the population have to depend on sole of the nastiest of the human species to have important changes made to their lives.
Shouldn't politicians serve the public? No time, they're too busy working on their own career.

DavoJimbo said on the 15th Jun, 2012

"But I have been told that Penny has fought hard internally in the ALP to change the party platform. "

I love this...honestly....faceless men and woman telling us that "secretly, in the back rooms, under cover of darkness" ?
I don't need faceless people telling me that they know that she publicly fucked us over while privately, in the dark, dank, secret back rooms was spreading the gospel....what a load of bullshit...

No, I don't know what she did behind the scenes, nor do I really give a shit, because I saw and I heard with my very own eyes what the "out in the light of day" Wong said and didn't do until she was faced with a huge backlash. Do not attempt to re-write history when the ink is not yet dry. We should be forcing Wong and others in the party to get rid of Julia, not praising them for getting her to agree to a conscious vote. Gillard is our enemy. just as Tony Abbott is our enemy.

grrrrr I hate hypocrites

mark_

mark_ said on the 15th Jun, 2012

^
Me too.

There hasn't been a decent honest pollie in the ALP for fifteen years. The last ALP regime in NSW was corrupt :mad: … and federal ALP isn't much better.

enzyme said on the 15th Jun, 2012

But why do you hold that view Julia? She has never really answered that question apart from saying we need to respect tradition. No Julia we do not need to respect an outdated tradition which hurts people. If this is the case then perhaps we should bring back the ability for people to trade their daughters for cattle. Her view may be her view but her view is destructive and in alignment with the ACL in which case fuck you Julia you weak pathetic women.

Anthony Mahera

Anthony Mahera said on the 15th Jun, 2012

@mark_ I couldn't believe my ears when I herd Bob Carr was going to federal. Talk about corrupt bastards!!! I really dislike that incompetent prick.

trina2004

trina2004 said on the 15th Jun, 2012

"But I have been told that Penny has fought hard internally in the ALP to change the party platform. "

I love this...honestly....faceless men and woman telling us that "secretly, in the back rooms, under cover of darkness" ?
I don't need faceless people telling me that they know that she publicly fucked us over while privately, in the dark, dank, secret back rooms was spreading the gospel....what a load of bullshit...

No, I don't know what she did behind the scenes, nor do I really give a shit, because I saw and I heard with my very own eyes what the "out in the light of day" Wong said and didn't do until she was faced with a huge backlash. Do not attempt to re-write history when the ink is not yet dry. We should be forcing Wong and others in the party to get rid of Julia, not praising them for getting her to agree to a conscious vote. Gillard is our enemy. just as Tony Abbott is our enemy.
grrrrr I hate hypocrites

I hate people who have no fucking clue how politics works.

You think Penny could have made a bigger difference as an independent senator?
How was it secretly? It wasn't a secret to anyone who follows politics, as apposed to people who couldn't give two shits until they come up against something that effects them personally.

Great strategy. I know whining has often lead to change.

ammonite

ammonite said on the 15th Jun, 2012

BUT DON'T WE ALL?!

I still can't get clarification on this.

Goldberry said on the 15th Jun, 2012

I'm really tired of being told by women, whether it be Julia Gillard, or Margaret Court, what I can and can't do. I thought that was verbotten by the bible. Anyhow, Gillard is a scumbug hypocrite who I wouldn't piss on if she was on fire. Where does she get to tell us how to live, based on what pleases her in her life? Fuck off Gillard. And Wong is lacking in balls, which surprises me, I could have sworn her voice is deep enough to justify a 'tache quite frankly.

Goldberry said on the 15th Jun, 2012

And we've been told 'whining' never leads to change. Well, we better tell Magda, Alex Greenwich etc to shut the hell up then, lest it be construed as whining. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, Harvey Milk, they all enjoyed a good old fashioned wine (I mean whine) in their time too! I'm tired of people whining about whining, quite frankly....

Bar Wench

Bar Wench said on the 16th Jun, 2012

mark_

mark_ said on the 16th Jun, 2012

I hate people who have no fucking clue how politics works.

You think Penny could have made a bigger difference as an independent senator?
How was it secretly? It wasn't a secret to anyone who follows politics, as apposed to people who couldn't give two shits until they come up against something that effects them personally. ….

Here are the posts when she went 'political' during the Marriage Equality Bill.

http://www.samesame.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=221419#post221419

Coltvoice said on the 24th Jun, 2012

Well Julia......mmmm....That's nice thats your view. But how about sticking it right up your who knows where. Take it to referendum and let's see how long the opposition to same-sex marriage lasts......why not just do it! then if its get's stopped only then is there another conversation to be had! I actually really wanted to vote for you when I heard about a female PM.

Now I am so glad I missed out registering and I don't have to feel the shame that I might of put your bigoted views into office!

art1e

art1e said on the 16th Jul, 2012

Because her relationship has no marriage certificate associated with it doesn't mean everyone else wants to be like that....shes not meant to make decisions on what she believes or any religious people but what is best for the country & its what australia wants....