Independent MP Rob Messenger accuses gay couples seeking marriage rights of 'heterophobia'

• by: Koren Helbig and Andrew MacDonald
• From: The Courier-Mail
• October 28, 2011 12:00AM

RESPECT ME: 'I will feel discriminated against if gay people try to interfere with my traditional cultural values', says Queensland MP  Rob Messenger.  Picture: Liam Kidston Source: The Courier-Mail

INDEPENDENT MP Rob Messenger has accused gay couples seeking marriage rights of "heterophobia" and said he would feel discriminated against if the controversial civil union Bill was passed.

In a speech in Parliament yesterday, the Member for Burnett said his opposition to Deputy Premier Andrew Fraser's private member's Bill did not mean he was homophobic and that homosexuals were "some of the most interesting, likeable, funny, talented, intelligent, caring, fascinating people in the world".
As the issue continued to dominate Question Time yesterday, Mr Messenger said homosexual couples should not be discriminated against, but his Christian beliefs meant he believed marriage should only occur between a man and a woman.
He called on gay people to respect his values and traditions, "just as I respect gay people's values and traditions".
"I will feel discriminated against if gay people, a minority group, try to interfere with my traditional cultural values and impose their own," he said.

"If gay people continue to attack my cultural values, knowing that it will cause myself and many others distress, then I will begin to think they are in fear of me and people who share my tolerant western Christian democratic values.
"They would then have to explain their heterophobia."
Queenslanders can now have their say on the bid to legalise same-sex unions with written submissions due by next Friday.
The committee will then present its findings to the House on November 21, ahead of a debate expected before Christmas.
In Parliament yesterday, Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney continued to accuse Mr Fraser of mounting a "desperate bid to cling to power with the support of the Greens" by introducing the Bill.
He called on the Bligh Government to rule out any policy-for-preferences deals with the Greens, which he said would give Queensland a government as "dysfunctional as the Greens-controlled Labor government in Canberra".
Mr Fraser, who insisted the Greens were more interested in claiming his Mt Coot-tha seat for themselves, promptly ruled out such a deal.
Mr Messenger also is facing suspension from Parliament for five sitting days after a Parliamentary Ethics Committee report found he had failed to ensure documents concerning a child were "tabled in a non-identifying manner" and had breached his duty to the House by referring to a matter before the District Court.