Telstra prefers Catholic Church to gay people
By Samuel Leighton-Dore
“It’s how we connect.”
Telstra has back-peddled out of its support for same-sex marriage after succumbing to pressure from the Catholic Church.
According to The Australian, Archdiocese of Sydney business manager Michael Digges sent a letter to the corporations, including Telstra, whose logos were being used in the Australian Marriage Equality commercial last May. In that letter, Digges threatened to withdraw the church’s contracts from Telstra.
Here’s the real *gasp* moment: currently Telstra hold the contracts for every Catholic school across the country. Funny, then, that they’ve since quietly withdrawn their support for the LGBTIQ community, with the telco giant not wanting to “risk its commercial relationship with the church.”
“The government has committed to putting same-sex marriage before the Australian people in a plebiscite and, ultimately, it will be parliament who determines any change to the institution of marriage,” a Telstra spokesman said in response.
“In view of this, Telstra has no further plans to figure prominently in the wider public debate. Telstra has demonstrated it places great importance on diversity and standing against discrimination, in all its forms. Our workforce reflects this diversity.”
Interestingly, Business Insider Australia reports that, “if the Catholic Church was to leave Telstra, it’s not clear where they would go. Both Vodafone and Optus are strong supporters for LGBTI rights, with Optus even acting as one of the major sponsors for this year’s Sydney Mardi Gras.”
Righto then.
Well, I for one just became a little less motivated to pay off that $300 phone-bill-data-excess monstrosity sitting in my inbox.
