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Greens Preference Homophobic Fred Nile Over Gay, Indigenous Liberal

Nile has called homosexuality 'unnatural, immoral, unhealthy and sinful'.
The Greens will preference Fred Nile's party over a gay indigenous man in Sydney
Fairfax Media
The Greens will preference Fred Nile's party over a gay indigenous man in Sydney

The Greens party, built on a foundation of progressivism and a platform of policies which places LGBTI rights and anti-discrimination near the top of its list, has decided to preference notoriously homophobic Fred Nile over a gay indigenous Liberal in the seat of Sydney.

As pointed out by the Sydney Morning Herald, the Greens have told their supporters to preference Geoffrey Winters, a young Liberal candidate who is a gay Aboriginal man, at number 10 on the ballot while advising that Ula Falanga, the candidate for Fred Nile's Christian Democratic Party, at number nine in Sydney.

The Greens how-to-vote cards, published on Tuesday, tell supporters to put the current sitting member -- Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek -- at seven.

The Greens how-to-vote card in Sydney
Supplied
The Greens how-to-vote card in Sydney

Nile is a current member of the NSW state parliament, who holds notoriously homophobic, anti-LGBTI views. He is the leader of the Christian Democratic Party, which is officially known as the 'Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)'.

In the past, Nile has spoken about homosexuality and LGBTI issues in the following ways:

  • famously prays for rain before each Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras - link
  • "unnatural, immoral, unhealthy and sinful" - link
  • said a bill proposing marriage equality had "originated in the depths of hell" - link
  • tried to prevent same-sex couples from adopting children - link
  • led a protest to "cleanse" Sydney's Oxford Street precinct of LGBTI people, including signs claiming that God "hates homosexuality" - link
  • his party endorsed a video claiming that the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras "incite [young people] in all manner of lust and filth" - link
  • campaigned against the legalisation of gay sex - link
  • claimed it would be "dangerous to promote homosexuality in schools to children" - link
  • and this, below:

The Greens candidate for Sydney, Sylvie Ellsmore, told the Herald that the decision to preference Nile's party over the Liberals was a political move to hurt the Liberal Party, and said the decision would not help the CDC.

"Ultimately, putting the Liberals last was about ending the misinformation being put around by Labor that there was a deal with the Greens. We need to defeat the Liberal Government and that's the message we are sending," she said.

"There is absolutely no risk that any votes will end up with the Christian Democrats. We had a really strong debate about it and if there was any chance at all that the CDP would get any votes out of it we would not have done it."

As the Herald story circulated, 'Fred Nile' became a trending topic on Twitter as people expressed their surprise and outrage that the Greens would preference the homophobic Nile's party above a gay candidate.

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