Telstra Pushing Gay Marriage Again

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SYDNEY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Telstra corporation is once again pushing so-called "gay marriage" after asserting last week it would cease doing so. Backlash from gay activists on social media moved Telstra to renege on its promise to remain neutral.

Monday, Telstra's chief executive Andy Penn announced,

Last week … our view had been that we would not add further to the debate on marriage equality ahead of a plebiscite or parliamentary debate. It is clear that rather than Telstra stepping back we should in fact step forward and support our view for marriage equality and so that is what we will do.

ChurchMilitant.com recently reported Telstra had signed the Australian Marriage Equality petition in favor of same-sex marriage.

But Telstra announced last week it would no longer publicly advocate for the cause after receiving a letter from Michael Digges, Sydney archdiocesan business manager, which strongly implied the archdiocese would withdraw all its contracts from Telstra if the company did not cease to publicly support so-called "marriage equality."

A Telstra spokesman last Tuesday acknowledged, "Telstra has no further plans to figure prominently in the wider public debate." The spokesman verified that the multibillion dollar corporation would be leaving the matter of marriage equality to Australian people and to parliament.

This was followed by a tweet the same day from the company affirming it had "no plans to drive further public debate" on the issue. And a source familiar with the company's decision to retreat from the issue admitted Telstra "did not want to risk its commercial relationship with the Church."

But then came the backlash on social media from those who support gay marriage. This led Penn, Telstra's CEO, to start the backpedaling by explaining,

While Telstra continues to support Australian Marriage Equality and has not changed that position, we have made a decision not to publicly participate in the debate further. This is because the proposed plebiscite process gives everyone an opportunity to contribute and out of respect, it is important we allow them to voice their own views.

As negative publicity over the company's neutrality increased from pro-homosexuals, the telecommunications company is once again publicly advocating for the cause of so-called same sex marriage.

To see Bp. Thomas Paprocki's defense of authentic marriage, watch "Bishop Thomas Paprocki's Letter in Defense of Marriage."

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