VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine has been labelled a hypocrite by Warrnambool gay rights activist Shane Hernan.
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Mr Hernan was responding to Dr Napthine’s opposition to same-sex marriages, while supporting the equal treatment of people with less common sexual orientations.
A Warrnambool representative on the Way Out Rural Victorian Youth and Sexual Diversity Project, Mr Hernan said Dr Napthine was willing to display a rainbow emblem on the entrance to his Warrnambool electorate office that was a symbol of an alliance of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersexual and questioning or queer (GLBTIQ) people.
That alliance sought equal treatment for people with less common sexual orientations.
Mr Hernan said if Dr Napthine supported equal treatment for people with less common sexual orientations he should support gay marriage.
Mr Hernan, who is the 2013 Warrnambool Young Citizen of the Year, said he believed most people in Dr Napthine’s electorate were in favour of same-sex marriage despite it having a large Christian population.
“It is a supportive town,” Mr Hernan said of Warrnambool.
“I get more support than discrimination.”
He said he was a big fan of American television show host Ellen DeGeneres, who is in a same sex-marriage and had a friendly disagreement with Dr Napthine on the issue this week.
Mr Hernan said he liked Ms DeGeneres because she was an inspirational person.
“Her gayness is a small part, it is not defining her,” he said.