Major Australian firm drops equal marriage support after alleged Catholic Church threats
Australian telecommunications company, Telstra, has removed its support for same-sex marriage.
Business Insider reports that The Catholic Church have allegedly pressured the company to drop same-sex marriage support.
Michael Digges, the business manager for the Archdiocese of Sydney, reportedly sent a letter to companies that supported same-sex marriage and were featured in an Australian Marriage Equality advertisement last year.
Telstra currently has contracts with Catholic schools all over Australia and, in Digges’ letter, he implied that the Church would withdraw all of its contracts from the company.
A spokesman for Telstra said: “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 changes to the institution of marriage.”
“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.”
Despite issuing this statement Telstra have previously won awards for their LGBT inclusion and also had programmes, such as Spectrum, that celebrated LGBT lifestyles.
Proud to be recognised as a Top 20 Employer in the @PrideDiversity Australian Workplace Equality Index. pic.twitter.com/V3miKtaOXQ
— Telstra Careers (@telstracareers) May 20, 2015
The Business Insider reports that if the Catholic Church was to leave Telstra there would be nowhere to go as both Vodafone and Optus are supporters of LGBT rights. Optus is also one of the major sponsors for this years Sydney Mardi Gras.
Telstra’s website has yet to be updated and states that Telstra’s employee and customer diversity include “gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity and cultural identity.”
It’s website states that, “We’re all individuals, but we’re also One Telstra.”
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