AUSTRALIA – Prominent South Australian Labor Party politician, Tom Kenyon has apologized for saying openly gay minister Penny Wong should not be allowed to marry her pregnant partner.
Wong’s partner, Sophie Allouache, is pregnant, and the baby is due sometime in December.
The Australian newspaper reported Kenyon, who is from Labor’s “hard Catholic right faction” and strongly opposed to same-sex marriage, had said that Sen. Wong should not be allowed to marry her partner because the baby is not biologically hers.
“I don’t want to be rude to Penny (Wong), but it’s not her baby,” Kenyon told listeners during a discussion on Australia’s ABC radio.
“Do you know what I mean? It’s not, biologically. It’s not, it’s not the biological product of two people.”
He later added, “It’s not through the relationship itself, generally, I mean, gay people can’t have kids together. In general a gay couple cannot produce children. That’s almost absolute. A gay couple cannot produce children; and most married couples do.”
Kenyon later apologized to Wong, but still reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage. “I apologize if those comments offended them in any way,” he said referring to Wong and her family, adding later:
“I’m not a supporter of gay marriage, and will be voting against it at the (Australian Labor Party) national convention.
I guess Joseph and Mary shouldn’t have been allowed to marry, either, since Mary’s child wasn’t his.