Rudd’s sister: I will not apologise
16th July 2011
KEVIN Rudd’s sister has refused to apologise for describing a movement promoting same-sex marriage as a “global gay Gestapo”.
Loree Rudd, a divorced 60-year-old nurse who lives at Nambour, said she expected people would be offended by her opposition to gay marriage.
Homosexual lobby groups and the Anti-Defamation Commission have called for the Foreign Minister’s sister to apologise for her “anti-gay remark”.
“Some of the vitriol that was aimed at my comments was exactly what I was talking about,” Ms Rudd said.
“A lot of people, in fact thousands of people, who live very quietly are probably happy to have a discussion about issues like this (gay marriage).
“But why would they, because they get shot down in flames and called all kinds of dreadful names because they gave their opinion.
“That has been the trend … people back down and say not only that they retract their words but that they actually endorse the movement.
“That was the force of the intimidation I saw.
“That’s why I use the word Gestapo … (to describe) a force that intimidates and that people are afraid to stand up against.”
Ms Rudd spoke publicly this week against gay marriage and said she would quit Labor if it backed reform to marriage laws at the party’s national conference later this year.
She said her views were “very much based on a biblical tradition and a respect for the values and the institution that has served us well for so many years”.
Ms Rudd said her opinions had not been endorsed or opposed by her brother.
Four state ALP conferences have endorsed changes to legalise same-sex marriage.
NSW Labor last week refused to back the proposal and referred the issue to the national conference.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Ms Rudd’s brother have both said they did not support plans to change the marriage act.
News articles
Loree Rudd urged to say sorry for gay slur | SMH
Loree Rudd urged to say sorry for gay slur
July 15, 2011 – 7:04PMAAP
The Anti Defamation Commission has joined calls for former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s sister to apologise over an anti-gay marriage remark.
Loree Rudd is lobbying federal MPs and threatening to quit Labor if the party backs gay marriage at its national conference in December.
She accused some Labor members of being brainwashed by a “global gay Gestapo” this week.
The ADC, Australia’s peak Jewish human rights body, said she should apologise.
“It is completely unacceptable for anyone to co-opt and trivialise the name of one of the most active and feared arms of the Nazi machinery for their own political purposes,” ADC chairman Anton Block said in a statement on Friday.
“The Gestapo was directly responsible for the murders of Jewish, Romani, homosexual and disabled people.
“To use its name in this context shows a level of ignorance and insensitivity that has no place in contemporary political discourse.
“It is highly offensive, and we call upon Ms Rudd to apologise immediately and unreservedly.”
Four state ALP conferences have endorsed changes to legalise same-sex marriage under federal law. NSW Labor last week refused to back the proposal and referred the issue to the national conference.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she does not have any plans to change the marriage act.
The coalition also opposes legislating for same-sex marriage but the Greens support it.
Rudd’s sister on mission to fight ‘gay Gestapo’ – MCV
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies responds to Loree Rudd’s “Gay Gestapo” comment
July 15, 2011
“NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Chief Executive Officer Vic Alhadeff has condemned the use of Nazi analogy to condemn the gay-marriage lobby by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd’s sister, Loree Rudd, who has slammed them as the “global gay Gestapo”.“Drawing a comparison between advocates of gay marriage and the Gestapo is insensitive and counterproductive,” Alhadeff said. “The thoughtless use of Nazi and Holocaust analogies in intelligent and informed discourse is completely inappropriate and unjustified.”Vic AlhadeffChief Executive Officer
ACL backs gay Nazi claim | Star Online
Jewish Gays denounce Loree Rudd’s Nazi inferences | J-Wire
MEDIA RELEASE: Loree Rudd must apologise for ‘Gay Gestapo’ comment / Gay Holocaust victims outraged and horrified
AUSTRALIAN MARRIAGE EQUALITY
Media ReleaseThursday July 14th 2011LOREE RUDD MUST APOLOGISE FOR ‘GAY GESTAPO’ COMMENTGAY HOLOCAUST VICTIMS OUTRAGED AND HORRIFIEDAustralia’s marriage equality advocates have asked for an apology from Loree Rudd, sister for former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, following her statement that marriage equality is being pushed by “a global gay gestapo”.Australian Marriage Equality National Convener, Alex Greenwich, said Ms Rudd’s statement has no place in mature public debate and will incite hatred against supporters of equality.“We call on those who oppose equality to condemn Ms Rudd’s outburst, and for Ms Rudd herself to withdraw her comments and apologise for them”, Mr Greenwich said.“Ms Rudd has set back her cause by comparing supporters of civil rights to an organisation that was responsible for mass murder, including the mass murder of homosexuals.”Loree Rudd’s comments were also criticised by gay Australians affected by the Holocaust.Holocaust survivor, Mr Frederick Weisinger, who lives in Sydney and who wrote a moving submission supporting marriage equality to a 2009 Senate inquiry into the issue said:“I spent three years in a concentration camp as a child, and I am horrified by this comparison between the Gestapo and ordinary citizens like me who just want to be treated equally.”“Before she makes such offensive comments, Ms Rudd should read about the horrors perpetrated by the Gestapo, particularly how it hounded, persecuted and killed homosexuals in large numbers.”Marriage equality advocate, Jackie Striker-Phelps, who is the wife of former AMA President, Kerryn Striker-Phelps, was also outraged.“During the Second World War, members of my family had their human rights taken away and were murdered at the hands of the Gestapo”, she said“To compare the work of today’s human right’s advocates to the atrocities of those monsters is a shocking indictment on anyone making these claims.”“I call them (marriage equality advocates) the global gay Gestapo: it is the lobbying movement that is brainwashing people, particularly the young in the community that this (homosexuality) is an optional extra in life,” she saidMr Greenwich added, “there is nothing ‘optional’ about being gay, it is who we are”.For more information contact Alex Greenwich on 0421 316 335.Frederick Weisinger or Jackie Stricker-Phelps can be contacted through Alex Greenwich.