A Sikh community leader has told the Australian Senate that marriage equality “will destroy the whole human race”.
Bawa Singh Jagdev, the secretary of the National Sikh Council of Australia, also suggested that gay men should refer to their relationships as “homo unions”.
“What the proponents of the bill are proposing and supporting is against the law of nature,” he wrote in a submission to the Senate inquiry into the government’s draft marriage equality bill.
“God created humans on this planet to propagate the human race and not to destroy it. This bill will destroy the whole human race.”
Although he was not against same-sex relationships, he wrote in his submission that they shouldn’t interfere with the current definition of marriage.
“Give it a different name, such as homo union and recognise the relationship,” he said.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Mr Jagdev reiterated his comments that same-sex marriage would destroy the human race.
“If a gay person marries another gay person, they won’t produce anything. Suppose they adopt a kid and he becomes gay. How will the population increase?” he said.
“After a few years, or centuries, there won’t be anybody left. There won’t be any woman or man. It will be finished.”
He told BuzzFeed News he believes children raised by same-sex parents would be more likely to become gay, as they would look to their parents and imitate them.
“The thing is, whichever family you are brought up, the kid will pick up the same characteristics and habits of others,” he said.
“He wouldn’t know whether he has to do the sex with the man or the woman. He wouldn’t know. Whereas a normal child, born to a married man and a woman, he or she knows it.”
Terri Butler, Labor’s shadow equality minister, said Mr Jagdev’s comments were “inappropriate and disrespectful”.
“They are out of step with modern values and community standards. They’re a good reminder of why Labor did not support the plebiscite,” she said.
“If we had, this sort of language could have been amplified through a publicly funded ‘no case’.”
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