A Tongan language Bible A Tongan church leader has today said that their churches' love and support for gays amongst their flock is expressed by encouraging them to become heterosexual and produce babies. The Kainga Tonga o Aotearoa group, representing Tongan Christian churches, had told the select committee conducting hearings into Louisa Wall's marriage equality bill that same-sex marriage is not according to the Bible and that allowing it would fracture Tongan society by contravening its families' values. Asked by committee member Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi how the churches treat their gay parishioners a spokesperson for the group said gays are welcomed into the churches. "We do not hate homosexuals," he said. "We teach them Christian love and if the time is right they can change... By that we hope they will come to be heterosexual, that they will get married and have children." The group claimed that allowing same-sex marriage will "rip away the very last vestige of the dignity" of marriage and referred to marriage as the "last bastion" of Christianity in New Zealand. Asked by committee member Kevin Hague why they had not distanced their organisation from hateful slogans displayed at their controversial anti-marriage equality rally in October the group said that those displaying the message were "extremists" and had been spoken to about the unacceptability of voicing such sentiment at the rally.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News
First published: Wednesday, 23rd January 2013 - 12:43am