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| Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard walks from her car to a press conference at the APEC summit in Vladivostok, Russia on Friday. Gillard, Australia’s first female, unmarried and atheist leader, has endorsed a bid to bring the global gay rugby championships to Sydney in 2014, offering “strong” support despite her opposition to same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) |
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Sydney.
Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard has endorsed a bid to bring the global
gay rugby championships to Sydney in 2014, offering “strong” support despite
her opposition to same-sex marriage.
Gillard,
Australia’s first female, unmarried and atheist leader, gave the Sydney
Convicts gay rugby club’s campaign to host the seventh biennial Bingham Cup her
backing with a video message published online Tuesday.
The Bingham
Cup is named after American gay rugby player Mark Bingham, who died on United
Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed into a Pennsylvania field as part of the
Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
“Australia
is a sports-loving nation which also has an abiding commitment to diversity and
mutual respect,” Gillard said in the video, released on the anniversary of the
9/11 attacks.
“The
vibrant city of Sydney is the perfect location for the Bingham Cup, and the Sydney
Convicts, Australia’s first gay rugby union club, are the perfect hosts.”
Gillard
pointed to Sydney’s hosting of major sporting events including the 2000
Olympics, 2003 Rugby World Cup and the Gay Games in 2002, which she said had
showcased the city’s “remarkable spirit of openness and celebration.”
“I know
Bingham Cup participants would receive the same warm and generous welcome, so I
strongly endorse the Convicts bid.”
Gillard’s
support follows her cancellation last week of a speaking engagement at the
Australian Christian Lobby after the ultra-conservative group’s chief said
homosexual lifestyles were worse for health than smoking.
The prime
minister strongly opposes legalizing gay marriage, although her center-left
Labor party formally adopted a pro-gay marriage platform last year.
Marriage is
covered by federal legislation in Australia which defines it as between a man
and a woman. So while civil same-sex unions are recognized in several states,
they are not considered “married” by the national government.
Same-sex
couples have, however, the same rights as heterosexual couples in areas such as
pension schemes and medical benefits.
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