He campaigned against same-sex marriage. Now, he’s blessed his daughter’s wedding to a woman.
The head of an Australian Catholic lobby group against same-sex marriage has attended and “blessed” the wedding of his daughter and her female partner.
Peter Westmore is the president of the National Civic Council of Australia (NCC), which has actively campaigned against same sex marriage for decades.
According to The Age, Mr Westmore has previously rallied against the legalisation of gay marriage in New Zealand, and lobbied the Australian government to not recognise international same-sex marriages.
Related content: Tony Abbott’s sister is actively lobbying the PM on marriage equality.
As stated on its website, the NCC considers “the family” as one of its core values, and supports “policies which enhance intact families, rejection of lifestyles which undermine family values.”
However, on Tuesday Mr Westmore confirmed he attended his daughter Trish’s wedding to partner Christy in New Zealand last year.
“She always has my blessing in everything she does,” he said.
Well, that’s nice.
But unfortunately — and rather confusingly — Mr Westmore has since stated he still does not support marriage equality.
Fairfax Media reports he did not respond to their request to comment on the apparent hypocrisy of his actions.
The NCC is one of the religious groups opposed to the “freedom to marry” bill, scheduled for debate in Federal Parliament on Thursday.
The controversial group also made headlines recently when they sent emails to thousands of politicians supporting Tony Abbott ahead of the recent leadership spill motion.
When do you think marriage equality will be legalised in Australia?
Top Comments
A bit off topic however I have friends who have been together for over 20 years - a very intact (samesex) union - yet they're denied the choice to get married however a TV station can make/promote a show where complete strangers get married (presumably for their 15 minutes) for a social experiment!!!! i also have a brother with 4 children - no marriage. Seams to me that it is time to let people in a relationship decide if they would like to be married (or not).
I wouldn't call it hypocritical, I would call it supportive parenting. HIs daughter does something he doesn't agree with but he loves her and blesses her anyway. It doesn't mean he has changed his view on gay marriage.