There are multiple groups in Australia lobbying against legalising same-sex marriage, but just how connected are they? A video uploaded by the Australian Christian Lobby shows volunteers leafleting with pamphlets that are clearly distributed by the group Marriage Alliance. While the Australian Christian Lobby has existed for years and director Lyle Shelton is no stranger to the media, the Marriage Alliance group launched last year, with little information about who they are, who they represent and how they are funded. BuzzFeed‘s Lane Sainty has tried to interview someone at the group for months without luck.
Marriage Alliance launched a television advertisement featuring an iceberg, with the message “there’s more to it than you think”. The iceberg image is prominent throughout the ACL video, which includes the group of people yelling “marriage” enthusiastically. We asked the ACL’s Lyle Shelton if the groups were connected (apart from sharing the same policy position), and were told “we collaborate with anyone and everyone who is passionate about preserving the current definition of marriage”. He emphasised that the groups were separate and funded separately.
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