New Deputy PM says he’s put his anti-gay views behind him
MICHAEL McCormack, who once penned a shocking homophobic tirade against gay people in a newspaper article, became Australia’s new Deputy Prime Minister yesterday.
Mr McCormack was elected as Nationals leader yesterday morning, defeating George Christensen in a party room vote after David Gillespie withdrew from the race.
The Member for Riverina replaces Barnaby Joyce, who on Friday announced he was resigning as leader of the Nationals.
Pressure had been mounting on Mr Joyce ever since it was revealed he had an affair with his staffer Vikki Campion, who is now his partner.
The election of Mr McCormack has raised eyebrows, particularly because of the former newspaper editor’s 1993 column demonising gay people and describing homosexuality as “sordid”.
He was editor of Wagga Wagga’s The Daily Advertiser and in his column he also described gay people as “unnatural” and blamed same-sex attracted people for the AIDS epidemic.
“A week never goes by anymore that homosexuals and their sordid behaviour don’t become further entrenched in society,” Mr McCormack wrote in his vile From the editor’s desk column.
“Unfortunately gays are here and, if the disease their unnatural acts helped spread doesn’t wipe out humanity, they’re here to stay.
“How can these people call for rights when they’re responsible for the greatest medical dilemma known to man – AIDS.”
The Veterans’ Affairs Minister has apologised throughout his career for the shocking column, and insists he no longer holds those views. He also voted in favour of same-sex marriage.
During the gay marriage debate last August, he said: “I have grown and learnt not only to tolerate but to accept all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, or any other trait or feature which makes each of us different and unique.”
Sydney City councillor Christine Forster – a vocal campaigner for gay marriage, and the sister of former PM Tony Abbott – acknowledged the editorial was written a long time ago
“He’s said he doesn’t hold those views anymore and you’ve got to take that at face value,” she said.