Aug 10, 2010

Larissa Waters responds to Wendy Francis

I had an opportunity today to interview Larissa Waters, the Greens senate candidate for Queensland. She was speaking with Bob Brown about the Greens' proposal for a Coral Sea Marine Reserve. At the end of the conference, I asked her about comments her rival senate candidate Wendy Francis made on Twitter this week (you can see a transcript of an interview with the Family First representative here). I thought readers may be interested in reading Larissa's response:

LARISSA WATERS: Look I think if giving a child a loving home is radical, then guilty as charged. I think those remarks by Wendy Francis were quite unfortunate, and I think they don't represent the vast majority of Queenslanders who think that a child's interests are best served by having a loving home. It doesn't matter if that's a man and a woman, it's about the love and the security that can be provided to the child. I don't think Wendy Francis speaks for the vast majority of people when she expresses those homophobic views, and I expect that the numbers of support she will receive will probably be not much greater than last time, which indicates that the majority of Queenslanders don't share those views.

3 comments:

  1. Studies have proved that children will have a more balanced upbringing with one dad, one mum.

    But who has that nowadays? Half of today's kids either have one mum and no dad (or vice versa), or they have two dads AND two mums, thanks to the travesty that marriage has become.

    There is some concern that people who have "not quite the norm" sexual preferences may indoctrinate a "not quite the norm" attitude in their children. That concern has not been proven either way to be valid, or invalid.

    I think it's time someone did some impartial and thorough research, to find out for sure. If the research shows same-sex parenting is detrimental to children, ban it. If the research shows it isn't detrimental, make it legal. Then we can all shut up about it.

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  2. Many policies become an "If - then" statement.

    If a child does not have a one dad, one mum family upbringing, what is the state supposed to do?

    Orphanages? Not likely.
    Forced Adult pairings? Just as unlikely.

    What then?

    I think the most likely result is things stay as the jumble they currently are. The dream of every child being raised by two loving parents is just that - a dream.

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  3. Hi anonymous,

    You assertion that "Studies have proved that children will have a more balanced upbringing with one dad, one mum" is totally false.

    A simple search in google scholar can show you many relevant papers that disprove your statement.

    Have a look at this study for a start - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb01679.x/abstract

    What studies have actually shown is that the sex of the parent(s) does not matter. What matters is the love, attention and care the child receives.

    Look into all the research done for the Californian Proposition 8. Science backs up idea that same sex couples cause NO harm to children brought up in their care.

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