Christians don't have the courage to face the "viciousness, bile and hatred spat at them" by the "heterophobic homosexual community", says NZ Herald columnist and letters editor Garth George. In a column attacking the Civil Union Bill, George uses the undercount Census figure of 10,000 same-sex couples to say that the government is passing “what is certain to be a highly unpopular law just to appease the desires of such an insignificant number of people”. “Look at poor Whakahuihui Vercoe, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in New Zealand, who gave from his heart his view of homosexuality and came under such virulent attack that he tried to back down,” opines George. "This is not a human rights issue, not a moral issue, not a religious issue: it is simply a physical issue. Marriage - as the Australians have lately laid down by law - is an institution confined to a man and a woman, initiated to ensure the continuation of the human race by the procreation of children in a structured environment. Same-sex relationships don't qualify. It's as simple as that." As gatekeeper for readers' letters at the NZ Herald, George was responsible for printing a letter from fundamentalist Stephen Taylor earlier this year, who said gay MP Tim Barnett should be put down like a rabid dog. George has written five columns attacking homosexuality in the last six months. In 2002, he said New Zealand was going to “hell in a handcart”, and suggested a link between homosexual law reform and an increase in the murder rate.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 2nd September 2004 - 12:00pm