This is the moment a young, gay man opposed to same-sex marriage was viciously heckled at a university campus rally.
Wilson Gavin, 19, was shouted down as he fronted a ‘No’ case rally at the University of Queensland in Brisbane this week on the gay marriage postal vote.
‘I support what marriage really is and I’m gay,’ he said, standing on a retaining wall next to supporters holding placards with the words, ‘You can say no.’
Wilson Gavin, 19, is a gay man opposed to same-sex marriage addressing university rally
‘I’m against same-sex marriage. You will see the effects it will have on the family, on schools, on politics, on churches.
‘These people hate us. They call us Nazis, bigots and homophobes.
‘Where’s the real hatred here? Where’s the real hatred coming from in this debate?’
The confrontation escalated when Mr Gavin said: ‘You can’t call me a homophobe.’
‘The entire way they’re going about their debate is shouting us down. They are trying to shut us down,’ he said.
A young man heckled: ‘How do you spell internalised homophobia?’
Wilson Gavin says some ‘Yes’ campaigners hate him more because he’s a gay conservative
Mr Gavin continued by saying that gay marriage legalisation will pave the way for the contentious Safe Schools gender-theory program being rolled out in every school.
‘They want to introduce radical gender theory,’ he said.
At this point, the heckling became nasty with one man shouting at him, ‘You have a mental problem.’
A young heckler (pictured far right) asked Wilson Gavin how to spell ‘internalised homophobia’
A heckler also suggested the gay teenager was turned on by conservative ex-PM Tony Abbott
Seconds later, the male heckler who had earlier interrupted returned serve by suggesting Mr Wilson was sexually attracted to a conservative, former Liberal prime minister who is campaigning against gay marriage.
‘Does Tony Abbott turn you on?,’ he said.
In an interview played on the Mark Latham’s Outsiders program after that rally, Mr Gavin said ‘Yes’ campaigners were particularly nasty to gay people opposed to changing the Marriage Act.
‘They hate me because I’m a conservative and they hate me more because I’m a gay conservative,’ he said.
‘I’m not a homophobe. I love gay men. You can’t call me a homophobe just because I’m opposed to same-sex marriage.’
Catholic students opposed to gay marriage were harassed at the University of Sydney campus
Angry scenes have erupted at university campuses as the Australian Bureau of Statistics mails out same-sex marriage postal votes to households, with citizens given until November 7 to return them.
A rally this week at the University of Sydney, urging students to vote ‘no’ in the same-sex marriage survey, turned violent after hundreds of ‘yes’ campaigners launched a counter-protest.
The ugly scenes unfolded after a stall was set up by the university’s Catholic society, with some holding signs which read: ‘It’s OK to vote ”no”.’
But the dozen or so ‘no’ campaigners were quickly outnumbered as a large crowd gathered and began shouting pro-gay marriage slogans into a megaphone, and smearing homemade hummus.