Christian lobby complains about pro-gay marriage event on Sunrise
The Australian Christian Lobby has complained to the media regulator about Sunrise broadcasting from pro-gay marriage events.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
The Australian Christian Lobby has complained to the media regulator ACMA about Sunrise broadcasting from pro-gay marriage events in Sydney and Melbourne today.
Sunrise will broadcast today from events being staged by Australian Marriage Equality, GetUp! and marie claire:
Sydney 6am-9am, Martin Place.
Melbourne 6am-9am, Bourke St Mall.
The Christian Lobby has written to the Australian Communications and Media Authority because the Code of Practice requires news to be presented impartially.
”In our view this event, the partnering with activist organisation GetUp! and the associated advertising on its website compromise Sunrise‘s role as a current affairs program and move it to the realm of overt activism,” the complaint says.
However the normal procedure for complaints is to first consult with the broadcaster for a resolution, and always following a broadcast, not before it.
On Sunrise‘s Facebook page the Seven show states “…we’ll hear from both sides in an extended debate on same-sex marriage.”
Seven’s director of news and public affairs, Peter Meakin, also said, ”There’s no attempt to intimidate the audience into one particular viewpoint.”
Australian Marriage Equality national convener, Alex Greenwich, added, “Several newspapers including the Melbourne Age, the Hobart Mercury and the Adelaide Advertiser have all supported marriage equality without the ACL trying to censor them and I can’t see why the Sunrise program is being treated differently.
“It is the right of media outlets to editorialise for or against marriage equality as they see fit and the ACL should not be attempting to violate this right.”
Source: The Age, Australian Marriage Equality
Share
- Tagged with Sunrise
21 Responses
Gay people are asking for the same right to stuff up marriages just as straight people can & do. We want divorce too. Also the dilema of throwing a perfect wedding for example whose family members don’t get along, which mad Uncle is likely to go off first, can’t sit Auntie Beryl next to Gertie (not after last time) and who invited Bob Katter and Sam Newman?
Coming soon to a perfectly functional same sex realtionship until idea of marriage reared it’s ugly head. Seems only fair.
@ Secret Squirrel Well said!
Lack of tolerance and acceptance of some in Chistianity and other religious groups astounds me.
History will win out, one day we will look back upon marriage inequality in the same way we now look back upon slave trading, racial inequality and the oppression of women, with shame that it ever occured and with a universal acceptance of how wrong it was. The further in the past we leave these things the more ridiculous they will seem.
The times they are a’changin, people. Hooray!
I’ve never been a fan of Sunrise in the least but I fully support them in this instance. Good on Seven for standing up for equal rights for all. As someone said same sex marriage will eventually be legal & these fascist hate mongers will have to suck it up.
Wow. I am a religious person but i believe everyone is equal regardless of race, colour, sexuality, sex etc. Its pathetic it really is. This group is a joke, yes they have the right to have their view but to try and stop equal rights and equality for all is crazy talk. Sunrise is a fantastic supporter of this and i would love to see my friends who are in this situation marry. They are just like you and me except like the same sex. Plus Sunrise does show both sides of the equation so its not as if its one way traffic. Yes they support it but they do have both sides present. This is just crazy if you ask me.
To summarise:
1. The ACL thinks Sunrise is a current affairs program.
2. They want to prevent news media from editorialising on issues when that view doesn’t coincide with theirs.
3. (From 2) They want to censor one side of the debate.
4. They want to skip the first steps of registering a complaint about broadcasting content and go straight to the ACMA.
5. They want to complain about something before it has finished airing.
Frankly, I’m sick of being told by fascists what to think and how to act with regard to personal matters. Why is it any more proper for Christians and Conservatives to tell me how to behave than it is for me to tell them? I think we can imagine how they would react if they were being told that they could only marry someone of the same sex and that heterosexuality was a sin or something to be ashamed of.
As Kenny has intimated, some of these so-called Christians behave in a most un-Christian-like manner. No tolerance for other views whatsoever; in fact they want to suppress those other views.
Look! What’s that over there Christian Lobby people?!! A remote control! Oh it has a red button to turn off the tv so you don’t have to watch the show and hear about it! Or you can put on another channel. Thank God her created someone to invent to Remote Control!
@Ashton – But that’s the point, these are not “Christians”. If they were they would not be so intollerant towards people who may not be of the same sexual persuasion as some of their flock, and I say “some”.
As the Bible says -“You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Leonard Matlovich served for 12 years in the US Air Force, received exemplary ratings, won a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After revealing his homosexual orientation, he was dishonorably discharged. His tombstone reads: “Here lies a man who was given a medal for killing two men, and a dishonorable discharge for loving one.”
@Russell – “Why are Christians trying to stop equal rights and marriage equality for Australians?”
But that’s the point, the ACL are not “Christians”.
Don’t want gay marriage? Don’t have one.
Sunrise is not a current affairs or news program. I’m pretty sure it runs in Light Entertainment at the Logies, if that’s any good measure!
I can’t say what I think of the actions of the ACL because it wouldn’t be published here. Good on you Sunrise highlighting this massive injustice on your show. It might not happen this year, or even next, but one day there will be marriage equality for all, and the religious nuts will have to accept it.
There’s never been anything “Christian” about the ACL.
I support gay marriage. Most of Australia is behind gay marriage anyway. But at the same time, I support neutrality in broadcasting. GetUp! is just a front for the Greens party. Certainly when overt political activism is involved, care needs to be taken to get both sides of the debate.
Might also be problematic for ACL that Sunrise is actually a Light Entertainment show, with News segments and the latter would surely be balanced.
I have been anti-sunrise for a long time now, but I absolutely love that they are doing this in support of marriage equality.
The ACL are nothing but trouble makers, and I hope sunrise gets a massive boost in ratings from this.
P.S. ‘Cos that seems to be their weird logic. Just to be clearer.
So if someone reported an interracial marriage does that mean they would have to seek comment from the Klu Klux Klan to be impartial?
When will these Christians ever figure out their religion should not come first over human rights
Did the ACL have an issue with Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight showing the ‘TV Marriage’ of 40 same sex couples a few months ago?
I would hope that Mel, Kochy, Meakin, Sunrise and Seven all support marriage equality for all Australians.
Why are Christians trying to stop equal rights and marriage equality for Australians?
I don’t get it.
If you think marriage is ‘under threat’ lobby to have divorce banned.