Australian stand-up comedian and actor Jim Jefferies told TMZ he wishes his home country would follow in America’s footsteps on gay marriage.
Related: Australian Organizers Take Over Antigay Politician’s Website
“Not for my benefit, but just for Australia not looking so backwards on the subject,” Jefferies said. “When America, and Ireland, and New Zealand achieve this goal and Australia still hasn’t done it, it’s kind of embarrassing.”
He goes on to call Australia “the gayest place on earth,” adding, “You go to Sydney and it’s like super gay. Biggest gay Mardi Gras in the world and they don’t have gay marriage.”
After saying he thinks “it should all be equal,” he floats a whole new concept.
“I’d actually prefer it if they banned heterosexual marriage,” he said.
Jefferies’ new stand-up special, “Freedumb” is currently available on Netflix. On it he discusses his reluctance to marry his girlfriend, the mother of his son.
Related: Christian Activist Accuses Gays Of Stealing Marriage, Rainbows
He added that he believes the country will eventually pass same-sex marriage with a referendum “probably in the next couple of years.”
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Xzamilio
Jim Jeffries is hands down one of my most favorite comedians. Alcoholocaust is a great fucking standup routine, and he has always been an outspoken supporter of gay rights so this doesn’t shock me in the least. And he looks great now that he isn’t drinking anymore.
Brian
Having a Mardi Gras does not mean a country is progressive. It just means that you have a Mardi Gras.
Australians have a very sectioned-off mentality. Everything is compartmentalized and not necessarily open – minded.
Dave Downunder
@Brian: Don’t start having opinions about something you know nothing about. When was the last time you were in Australia, if ever. Even without marriage equality Australia is still one of the easiest places in the world to be gay. Gay immigrants from many countries come here to be who they are and free of persecution or because they can’t come out to their families at home. It has long been a safe haven for many and the greater community accepts gays easily aside from the minority religious bigots that you get in every country. As for being compartmentalised, I don’t know where you get that from but then very little of what you say here is based on any real knowledge or facts.
silveroracle
Jim Jeffries is my kind of man.
Dave Downunder
@silveroracle: Come on down Silveroracle. There are plenty of furry daddy lovers down here.
broadshoulder
Jim Jefferies gets my goat. Did you see him on American radio damning the British as racist……while still living there
Why should we pay attention to this heterosexual man preaching gay issues??
Invert
I wouldn’t be surprised if Australia has the highest population of gay men per capita. I don’t think we’re going to get marriage equality here though. The Liberal Party (not liberal in the same sense as the word is used anywhere else in the world- in Australia the political party that calls itself “The Liberal Party” is the Conservative party) has too many powerful right wing crazy religious backbenchers that want to do things like prevent marriage equality, weaken our racial vilification laws, privatise our universal health care system, privatise public assets like electricity stations- the list goes on- and they are pretty consistently voted into power by about 50% of the population.
That’s 50% of the population that supports their policies and the current poll figures being thrown around by marriage equality supporters is supposedly 70% of the population going to vote “yes” for marriage equality? Does not compute. The planned plebiscite will kill marriage equality for another couple of decades. The yes vote will not win.
Helen Barton
@Dave Downunder: When he says compartmentalised, maybe he means that we’ve put all the bigots in Queensland. You know, like George Christianson.