11 August
A Family First candidate in Western Australia has angered the gay community, having said the minority were a ‘diseased group’.
Family First candidate for Hasluck Jim McCourt expressed his views at a community forum held at Woodlupine Family Centre on August 9 for residents to meet their potential representative members.
McCourt’s comments came the day after a gay slur from Family First’s Queensland senate candidate Wendy Francis, who posted twitter comments that compared legitimising gay marriage to ‘legalising child abuse’.
After arriving late to the meeting, McCourt also went on to say that marriage should be between a man and a woman and should stay the same.
According to the Australian Electoral Commission, McCourt was still practicing as a pastor.
The crowd of 60 local residents were allegedly shocked by these views – also unsupported by the five attending candidates for the east-Perth seat.
Independent candidate Dot Henry spoke at the meeting and said for a man who is a preacher, McCourt doesn’t seem to understand that there are different concepts of family.
‘He said (homosexuality) was not good because it was not in line with his religion (but) times have changed and people have different values,’ Henry said.
‘They talk about family first but families accept them (homosexuals) so why doesn’t he?’
Henry said she personally found the comments frustrating while the other candidates and community members ‘weren’t very happy’.
‘He’s not very choice with his words, he lost a lot of people there,’ Henry said.
Greens candidate for Hasluck, Glenice Smith said McCourt’s comments left her ‘shocked and caused some internal emotional uproar’.
‘The reaction from all in the room was only of disgust and shock,’ Smith said.
‘There is no place for these broad and derogatory comments in this current society.’
Hasluck resident Alan Matthews organised the Forestfield event on Monday night and said the meeting was for local residents to meet their local candidates, not to debate.
‘I think he is very firm in his views but there wasn’t much support for them,’ Matthews said.
Rod Swift from the Australian Coalition of Equality (ACE) said anti-gay policies as an election tool were dead.
‘Up until this election, it was okay for groups like Family First and other anti-gay groups to spout what they like at community forums and not be challenged or questioned,’ Swift said.
‘What changed this time though, was that people were more switched on and more accepting of LGBTI relationships and are now questioning back and asking them to justify their anti-gay hate.
‘The good part of this particular election is all the examples of anti-gay hate have bubbled to the surface … not because someone thought it was a really great idea but because they’ve been sprung trying to spread their hate in small groups of people at small community forums,’ Swift said.
The ACE spokesperson said he found it encouraging to see good-hearted Australians standing up to ‘radical candidates’ like those from Family First and asking them to not only explain but justify their rationale.
OUTinPerth spoke to Jim McCourt about his comments who said there was a lot of research suggesting gays were more prone to disease.
‘I don’t hate gay people; I just see there is blindness in the community with what they are doing,’ McCourt said.
‘They are the most demanding people in Australia.
‘I’m interested in family life, I realise there are many places where this doesn’t happen but the ideal form to raise a child is with a mother and father.’
‘I’m not homophobic – a phobia means you’re scared of something,’ McCourt said, adding he was not afraid of the gay community.
Benn Dorrington
