Archbishop Mark Coleridge, the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, says gay couples do not qualify for marriage, just as siblings are not allowed to wed, and parents are forbidden from marrying their own children.

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Appearing on the ABC program News Breakfast, the senior Catholic leader said the love between gay couples was like the love between friends, and shared his concern that marriage equality could lead to incestuous marriages and people marrying children.

Archbishop Coleridge said people voting in the government’s postal survey on marriage should consider the love held between between same-sex couples to not be the same as the love of married heterosexual couples.

“It is love, and it is valuable, but it’s not, and it can’t be, the kind of love that we call marriage.” Archbishop Colvin said.

“My point is that there is only one form of love that is marriage, and that is between a man and a woman.”

The Archbishop said every human being is equal, but society has always discriminated when it came to deciding who was allowed to marry.

“Parents can’t marry their children. Children can’t marry their parents, siblings can’t marry each other.” the Archbishop said.

Challenged on his assertions by host Michael Rowland, Archbishop Coleridge said people pushing for same-sex marriage equality might not be calling for the recognition of incestuous relationships right now

“It’s not exactly the same, but I wouldn’t presume immediately that they might want to, sibling marrying sibling has always been ruled out, people underage have always been disqualified from marrying, but so too people of the same sex.”

Archbishop Coleridge said gay people were equal were but “not the same”, and therefore they did not qualify for marriage.

Janine Middleton, the co-chair of Australian Marriage Equality called on the Archbishop to be more respectful.

“What we would want people to remember is that when they speak, words can inflict real damage, and there’s a need to be respectful in the choice of words we use.”

Despite the Archbishop’s comments several polls have shown that Catholics across Australia are in favour of changing the marriage laws and allowing same sex couples to wed.

The Catholic Archbishop is not the only religious voice claiming that marriage equality will lead down ‘a slippery slope.’

A Tasmanian video blogger has posted a slickly produced video suggesting that same-sex marriage will lead to the legalisation of bestiality and pedophilia.

“If marriage equality is legalised how soon will it be before people can marry animals, or even children?” Preacher Matt Long asks in his video. “How soon will pedophiles be given freedom to walk our streets?”

OIP Staff