Penny Wong, an Australian senator and the Commonwealth Minister for Finance and Deregulation, and also a lesbian mom, gave a dignified and heartfelt answer to Representative Joe Hockey when he was asked on talk show Q & A about marriage equality. LGBT advocates are calling it “a watershed moment” in public awareness and understanding of the issue on a personal level, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Hockey trotted out an old argument against marriage equality: “We’ve got to aspire to give our children what I believe to be the very best circumstances, and that’s to have a mother and a father”—while also stating, “I don’t believe we necessarily make better parents because we’re male and female” and “I’m not saying gay parents are any lesser parents.”
Wong, who had a daughter last fall with partner Sophie Allouache, responded to these contradictory statements calmly and logically, ending with the quiet and firm assertion, “I know what my family is worth.”
(Bonus fun fact: Rep. Hockey in 2010 appeared on Network 10’s Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation game show “wearing a crown, waving a magic wand and wrapping himself in a tutu, like a giant Tinkerbell,” as Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan put it. Methinks he should have a less rigid view of gender roles.)
