Ross Cameron is a conservative former Australian MP for Parramatta who earned a slew of dubious headlines this week after a homophobic speech he gave to Sydney’s right-wing Q Society surfaced.
He’s also currently employed by Sky as the host of a political show, and he found himself at the mercy of a colleague who wasn’t willing to let him off the hook about the speech.
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Not that the speech is defensible in any way. In it, he referred to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper as the “Sydney Morning Homosexual” and then claims the Liberal Party is “basically a gay club.”
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“I don’t mind that they are gay,” he adds. “I just wish, like Hadrian, they would build a wall. ”
To give a sense of exactly what kind of event this was, a ring-wing cartoonist made the following “joke”:
“I can’t stand Muslims… [but] they are not all bad, they do chuck pillow-biters off buildings.”
That’s why his colleague, television host Janine Perrett, went after him on live television.
After prodding Cameron to explain his speech, he said, “I gave a very pro-gay speech in which I said that gays have been associated with the creative class since the beginning of history.”
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“But it was derogatory,” Perrett said. “Wasn’t it? You weren’t giving them a good rap.”
“I’ll accept it was a gag but I don’t regard it as anti-gay,” Cameron responded. “I would say that I didn’t make a single, if you go through my remarks, I don’t see a single sentence of my remarks that is critical of gays.”
“What I object to is the Sydney Morning Herald taking the view that the vast sweep of Australians are homophobic, racist, rednecks.”
When Perrett asked whether he’ll issue an apology, Cameron said the media took his remarks “out of context.”
Then he added, “If the reporting of these comments has caused someone to feel a greater sense of isolation over their attraction, then I very sincerely apologize.”
“That was the worst apology I have ever heard,” Perrett shot back. “So if they weren’t reported, then you wouldn’t apologize?”
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“I don’t accept… if you read my speech, it was in defense of dissent,” Cameron said.
“You knew this was going to come out publicly,” Perrett said. “You can’t just use the Donald Trump ‘locker room talk’ defense.”
“I regard that as one of the strengths of the argument,” Cameron said.
Watch:
h/t: Pink News
davidkohl
Not only a homophobe but, of course, also a bully, who when faced with a strong opponent, tries to oil his way out of it. Since the successs of the right wing votes in the UK and other European countries, as well as the Presidency of the USA where the ‘winner’ did not win a majority of the votes cast, the bigots have been riding high. Trump et al have opened Pandoras Box and released the slime balls. We really must continue to take a stand against the right wing racists, sexists and homophobes – challenge them constantly. Never give in to their distorted, disgusting beliefs and behaviour.
Snicky
We must never accept any bigotry
Joseph
That is a long awaited trailer?? Your life must be terribly boring
Heywood Jablowme
“I just wish, like Hadrian, they would build a wall.” Emperor Hadrian (gay hero) did indeed build a wall against the Scottish barbarians, but it really didn’t work all that well. Neither did the Great Wall of China which Trump often refers to (and he thinks it was 13 thousand miles long when he means 13 hundred miles, but that’s a whole ‘nother problem).
Anyway, I didn’t realize Australia of all places needed a wall. I’m pretty sure it’s surrounded by water.
davidkohl
I would have been happier if you had not used the term ‘Scottish Barbarians’. The word ‘barbarian’ is pejorative and extremely subjective. The people who resisted Hadrian were proud Scottish nationalists who did not take kindly to outsiders trying to conquer them. Thank you 🙂
jason_evans
Hadrian might have had homosexual tendencies but he did not identify as gay. The gay identity is a Left Wing political invention of the last 60 years.
Heywood Jablowme
Frustra es homo! Nugas garris! Nihil nequius est te!
ChutneyGray
Tell that to Oscar Wilde, who was born in 1854 and died in 1900. Do the math. That’s 117 years ago. Mr Wilde was imprisoned under British law for the crime of being a homosexual. But then, right wingers were never really strong on facts, were they.
teeohpee
Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas would disagree
jimontp
You might benefit your woefully pedantic education and obsession with whether or not historic figures from 2000 years ago “identified as gay,” by reading one of the great history/novels of the 20th Century. The Memoirs of Hadrian by Margrite Younencour. When Hadrian’s young lover died while accompanying the Emperor in Egypt, Hadrain went into profound mourning, had the beloved Antinous declared a God, and had thousands of statues of the beautiful Antinous erected throughout the Roman Empire and has his face put on Roman coins.
And you think Hadrian only had homosexual tendencies and did not identify as gay? Read the book. Of course the term gay wasn’t used in those days, but the whole f-cking Roman Empire knew that Harrian LOVED a man.
Just STOP with this whole “left wing political invention” BS!
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704116004575522281643976468
maxdadmark
Home schooled, or developmentally delayed? The only excuses I can think of for your ridiculously uniformed remark.
gayjim1969
You just refuse to accept anything that doesn’t fit into your worldview, don’t you: no matter how much proof there is to the contrary. Oh, yes! That’s the short definition of “conservative.” Sorry!
jimontp
“I can’t stand Muslims… [but] they are not all bad, they do chuck pillow-biters off buildings.”
Hateful, disgusting politician. I can’t understand why he isn’t charged with inciting hate crimes or even murder. I lived in Australia for more than 2 years, and they had a long history of “poofter ( or as they said) poofta bashing. But I really thought they had progressed beyond wanting to throw gays off of buildings to kill them. Apparently not.
Jack Meoff
It was actually not the former politician who made that comment but rather a newspaper cartoonist. It doesn’t make the comment any less reprehensible though. As for your comment about your time in Australia I would be interested to know in which decade that was. You have made an assumption based on one report of one incident that our country has not moved on when really this is one person representing a small minority of Australians who hold views similar to his own. The reason people like Cameron & Pickering make such explosive comments is because they know they are in the minority and they are trying to strengthen their argument with bravado. Both of these men were widely condemned in local media.
gayjim1969
The cartoonist’s “joke” about Muslims “chuck[ing]” gays “off buildings” was in reference to countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Yemen–not in Australia. I say that if he and other members of the Christian Taliban love it so much, they should move there and leave peace-loving people alone.
Daniel-Reader
So if his descendants are thrown off buildings by other human beings who dislike them, he would find that joke-worthy material for others? How horrifying.
Daniel-Reader
So does that mean everyone should violate the human rights of the people they dislike? Where does that get politicians who violate the human rights of millions of people exactly? How is that a winning proposition for any government official or religious leader on the planet ever in the history of the Earth? And never less so than in a modern society with the technology that exists? Notice these follow-up questions are never asked, but you know lots of people are wondering about them?
jason_evans
Oscar Wilde was convicted of sodomy, not homosexuality. I’ll check but I’m pretty sure about that.
gayjim1969
Wilde’s writings showed that he was not just a person who had an inability to refrain from traveling down the Hershey Trail: he had an affectional disposition toward men throughout his life. He wasn’t a straight man who liked to make it with guys on the DL–he had a lifelong homosexual orientation. Today, we call that “gay.” It is immaterial what he was convicted for; you’re arguing semantics in order to try to claim you’re “technically” right. It’s childish, just like Trump.
Heywood Jablowme
So… will Mike Pence give me a pass because I’m into homosexual oral sex and I tend not to like anal sex so much? Probably not!
lazlicious
Damn! That old lady has quite a snout on her. The guy on the other hand would make a great daddy.
Georgeiv2
What a prat … perhaps its because I am English but he sounds a tad gay to me I bet that if he knew he would be upset !!!!!
gayjim1969
I’m sure he’s a closet case–probably brought up in a strict, religious household and never had the guts to break free. That kind of hate is hiding something: I’ve seen it way too often.
Sluggo2007
He’s a classic closet case.