Gay Partner Snub: Australia PM Dismisses Charge

Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dismissed charge that he had insulted the gay partner of Australian envoy to France. Apparently, the ambassador Stephen Brady was told that he should leave his partner for 32 years, Peter Stephens in the car and welcome Mr. Abbott alone on the tarmac at a Paris airport.

When the Prime Minister was flying from Turkey to Paris in April during the time of Anzac day, he was not travelling with his wife Margie. So under conventional diplomatic etiquette the receiving person should also not be accompanied by his partner.

The ambassador had reportedly offered to quit over the episode. However, the offer was refused and the couple together had greeted the Prime Minister at the airport. The Prime Minister's Office said he had been "very happy to be met by ambassador Brady and his partner when he arrived in Paris last month".

Calling Stephen Brady as his friend, Mr Abbott while reacting to the incident remarked, "I don't normally concern myself with trivia. All I want to say is that [Mr Brady] is a fine servant of Australia, a really fine servant of Australia. He's a friend of mine, always has been and as far as I'm concerned always will be."

Member of Parliament Alan Tudge who belongs to the Prime Minister’s party has said that the media report entailed that Mr. Abbott did not want a gay person to greet him on the tarmac on his arrival in Paris. Tudge called it a disgraceful allegation which should be withdrawn as no such thing had happened. It is just that some rules and regulations need to be followed.

Meanwhile, ex-ambassador to Belgium Brendan Nelson has also come out in defence of the Prime Minister. "If the Prime Minister is visiting, normally the ambassador would go along on his or her own if the Prime Minister is unaccompanied but beyond that the story has all the hallmarks of a beat-up."

The duo—ambassador Stephen Brady and his partner Peter Stephens, hogged the limelight on being labeled as the world's first openly same-sex ambassadorial couple when Brady was appointed as an envoy to Denmark in 1999. Currently he is the ambassador to France.

The writer can be contacted at ritambanati@yahoo.com