Church attack on business support for Marriage Equality shows it is out of touch

StMAdvocates say a Catholic Church letter issuing ‘veiled threats’ to businesses that support marriage equality shows the Church is out of touch with public opinion and its own members.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has sent a letter targeting a number of corporations that have publicly supported marriage equality. The Archdiocese suggested Australian corporations are “overstepping their purpose” in advocating reform to the Marriage Act.

“Given research indicating 67% of Australian Catholics now support marriage equality, the letter illustrates how out of touch the Church has become,” said Deputy Director of Australian Marriage Equality, Ivan Hinton-Teoh. “In recent weeks we’ve heard of the possibility of Christians divorcing en masse, pamphlets have been distributed to children denigrating same-sex relationships and now veiled threats have been made to corporations for expressing their support for marriage equality.”

“This all shows growing desperation among opponents of marriage equality as the reform grows ever closer.”

The letter, reported by The Australian, pointedly asserts that “the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney is a significant user of goods and services” and was represented by “parishes, schools, welfare agencies and aged care services” in what was described in The Australian as a ‘veiled threat’.

The letter went on to suggest corporations have no place in “such an important matter that impacts all of Australian society now and into the future”.

“These large corporations are invested in the Australian community and well placed to reflect the shift to equality that has occurred nationally and globally,” said Mr Hinton-Teoh. “Many of these businesses are operating in countries that achieved equality many years ago and can speak from experience that there is nothing to fear.”

“Our corporate partners recognise that the continuing discrimination within the Marriage Act negatively impacts their workforce, their customers and Australia’s competitiveness.”

For more information, visit: www.australianmarriageequality.org for details.