The extreme homophobia of the Australian Family Association, as revealed in Crikey yesterday, shouldn’t come as any surprise. An offshoot of the National Civic Council – its website openly identifies Bob Santamaria as its founder – the AFA has always functioned as a far-right pressure group. The mystery is why mainstream politicians and media continue to give it respectability.
Someone should ask the ALP, for example, why the AFA, unlike its parent body, is not on its list of proscribed organisations. In their quest for the votes of Christian fundamentalists, the parties should not be allowed to avoid questions about just what social views that involves signing up to.
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