STAR OBSERVER
JESS JONES
Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt has slammed Labor’s proposed new gay rights watchdog, calling it a ‘gay gestapo’.
Labor has pledged $1.4 million to establish an LGBTI commissioner to act as a champion for the community’s rights, News.com.au reported last year.
The election promise this week caught the eye of Bolt, who took to his blog to criticise Labor’s plan.
“Labor will pay a gay gestapo to hound you,” he wrote.
“I don’t think anyone is allowed to resist.”
Dr Dvir Abramovich of the Anti-Defamation Commission condemned Bolt’s comments comparing the commissioner to the Nazi police.
“It is time that commentators stop taking the easy way out by belittling and exploiting the Holocaust,” he said.
“There are many ways that we can have a robust and vigorous debate about same-sex marriage and equality, but insulting comparisons to the Gestapo have no place in our society.
“Invoking painful analogies to the Holocaust to criticise a political action adds nothing to the debate since it bears no historical relevance to the issues of the day and only fuels the demonisation of the LGBTI community.”
Dr Abramovich said the comparison was particularly hurtful given the role of the Nazi Gestapo in killing gay people.
“As the Nazi state’s secret police, the ruthless Gestapo was part of ‘The Final Solution’, responsible for arrests, deportations and mass murder, including homosexuals,” he said.
“To suggest that this proposed appointment is in any way similar to this notoriously evil organisation cheapens the extermination of millions.
“We therefore urge Andrew Bolt to retract his hurtful remarks and to refrain from employing such equations in the future. No discussion, as passionate as it may be, can justify making inappropriate and misguided Nazi analogies.”