Australia’s new Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has changed his stance on gay marriage and has now offered to MC a gay wedding for a relative.
The new leader of the National Party, who replaced Barnaby Joyce last week has now completely warmed to the idea of same-sex marriage and will attend the wedding of a gay relative soon.
Mr McCormack has come under fire in recent days over ‘homophobic’ editorials he penned in 1992 an 1993 saying homosexuality was ‘sordid’ and gay people were responsible for spreading aids.
Australia’s new Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack (pictured) has changed his stance on gay marriage. He has been married to his wife Catherine (pictured) for 31 years.
In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, his spokesperson confirmed he would now be happy to MC a gay wedding.
‘He will attend a relative’s wedding and has offered to MC it,’ she said.
Sydney lawyer Michael Tiyce , who has been waiting 20 years to marry his partner, welcomed the news.
‘While I wouldn’t want someone I didn’t know Mc’ing my future wedding to my long suffering partner, why wouldn’t we take him on his word that he’s a changed man?,’ he said.
Mr McCormack is now be happy to MC a gay wedding.
Mr McCormack, 53, has been married to wife Catherine for 31 years and plans to prioritise his family, he told the Daily Telegraph.
‘Once politics goes, I still want to have my wife and children,’ he told the publication.
‘At the end of the day, you might be Deputy Prime Minister, you might have a very important office, but you are still a husband, you are still a dad, and you still have to make time for family.’
Mr McCormack replaced Barnaby Joyce (pictured) after news broke out of his affair with Ms Campion
Tony Abbott’s sister Cr Christine Forster, who is now married to her wife Virginia, raised questions about Mr McCormack’s stance last week calling his 1993 column ‘abhorrent’.
‘If you’re in public life you have to expect to be subjected to that kind of scrutiny,’ she told AAP, while acknowledging the editorial was written a long time ago.
Mr McCormack said Australia was a different place in the 90’s and his views have changed.
‘Editorial views expressed more than 25 years ago in no way reflect how my views and community have changed since publication,’ he said.
Tony Abbott’s sister Cr Christine Forster, who is now married to her wife Virginia, raised questions about Mr McCormack’s stance last week calling his 1993 column ‘abhorrent’.
‘Australia in the early-nineties was very different to what it is now.
‘I say this not to excuse the culture which once existed but to put the quotes in context.
‘As the country and local communities have changed, so too have community views and expectations – and so too have many personal views people held, including my own.
‘As people get older and start families, and grow as members of their community it is completely reasonable their views change over time.’
Barnaby Joyce, his predecessor, earlier this week kept the option of returning to the front bench open.
But Mr McCormack was having none of it, telling the Daily Telegraph it would be ‘getting a bit too far ahead of ourselves’ for Joyce to return to the front bench.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, now a backbencher, on Sunday revealed he cannot confirm he’s the father of the baby boy he is expecting with former staffer Vikki Campion, 33.