Mark Latham has mocked TV star Hamish Macdonald after The Project host described the shame and confusion he felt as a gay student at an elite private boys’ school.
The NSW One Nation leader downplayed Macdonald’s experiences at Scots College in Sydney’s eastern suburbs by describing him as ‘dripping with privilege’.
Latham claimed that homosexuals were “massively over-represented” in the media and that it was “the biggest scam in the history of politics” for gays to be viewed as disadvantaged.
Macdonald attended Scots College from grades 6 to 12 as a rural boarder and while becoming school prefect he was also reviled as a ‘p****er’.
Mark Latham has mocked TV star Hamish Macdonald after The Project host described his embarrassment and confusion as a gay student at an elite private boys’ school. Macdonald is pictured with long-term partner Jacob Fitzroy, an executive at accounting firm Deloitte
On April 20, Macdonald wrote an op-ed for Nine Newspapers in which he revealed that he endured “verbal, psychological and sometimes physical torment” at the Presbyterian school.
The 41-year-old ABC radio host wrote that he was surprised and disappointed by the Presbyterian Church’s proposed ban on gay and sexually active students from holding leadership positions.
The following night, Macdonald appeared on Network Ten’s The Project to discuss what it was like to be a gay teenager at Scots College before telling anyone he was gay.
“When I think back to my time in school, I wonder what difference it would have made to know I wasn’t alone,” the former Q+A host told viewers.
“A consequence of being schooled in an environment where being gay is completely misconceived is that you are left with a deep sense of shame that takes a lifetime to shake off.
“Today I live a happy, fulfilling and productive life. I love my partner and am loved in return and I take great pride in the work I do.
“In fact, I’m still surprised by the extent to which the dark, disruptive shadows of my time at school can unexpectedly creep over me and cast a shadow over my work or personal life.”
NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham downplayed Hamish Macdonald’s experiences at Scots College in Sydney’s eastern suburbs by describing him as ‘dripping with privilege’
Mr Latham referred to Macdonald’s comments, without naming him, when interviewed by broadcaster Chris Smith on TNT radio on Thursday afternoon.
“The greatest fraud in the history of our politics is the idea that because you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, you are somehow automatically disadvantaged in life,” he said.
“There’s an ABC journalist who writes in the Herald, who studied at Scots College,” Mr. Latham continued.
He then said Macdonald was paid well for his broadcasting roles and was ‘dripping with privileges’.
“(He says) I am the underprivileged person, I am the vulnerable person(s), I am the person who needs special government protection because someone said something to him when he was in school.
‘It’s Scots College. Most of the people I have represented in public life for decades never dreamed they would have the money to go to Scots College one day.
‘This is the biggest deception in the history of politics that gays in particular – who are massively over-represented in parliament and the media these days – are being disadvantaged in one way or another.
Macdonald (pictured at Scots College) wrote an op-ed for Nine Newspapers in which he revealed he endured ‘verbal, psychological and sometimes physical torment’ at school
“What they say is we are dripping with money and media and political access and opportunity in life, but because someone might say something about our sexuality, the real vulnerable are us, much more than a kid growing up in Claymore in a public housing estate in Campbelltown.”
Mr Latham said politics should be about helping the underprivileged rather than ‘the nonsense about the LGBT alphabet they try to impose on us as a way of distracting from the fact that these are hugely privileged people’.
“The gay community has a higher level of income, education and life opportunities,” he told Smith.
“I mean, they’re all over politics and the media. And to have this as a new form of disadvantage in society is just complete and absolute BS.”
Mr Latham’s attack on Macdonald came after he was asked to explain an abusive tweet he posted last month about gay MP Alex Greenwich.
Mr Greenwich had called Mr Latham a ‘disgusting human being’ for attending a rally on March 21 where Christians clashed with LGBTQI activists.
‘Awful?’ Mr Latham responded on Twitter. “How does that compare to sticking your dick in a dude’s ass and covering him in shit?”
Mr Latham, who has refused to apologize for the tweet, went even further when speaking to Smith.
“I speak for many straight men, Chris, when I say the idea of having anal sex with another man would make you throw up,” he said. “That’s what makes us straight.”
The 41-year-old ABC host wrote that he was surprised and disappointed by the Presbyterian Church’s proposed ban on gay and sexually active students from holding leadership positions.
When Smith asked Mr. Latham if he would use the same foul language in the tweet when he had time again, he said, “Well, it’s code for anal sex between dudes.”
“I can tell you, Chris, if someone put a gun to my head and told me to have anal sex with a dude, I’d throw up. I would puke all over him. And I speak for straight men and this is what makes us straight.”
The Australian Law Reform Commission is reviewing religious schools and their exemption from the federal anti-discrimination law.
The Presbyterian Church states that sexually active students “would not be able to provide proper Christian leadership in a Christian school that requires a model of Christian living.”
Dr. Scots College principal Ian Lambert told parents in an email that there was no specific ban on gay students taking leadership positions at Bellevue Hill school.
Macdonald co-hosts The Project on Fridays and Mondays and reports for the show from around the country. He can also be heard on ABC’s Radio National.
The Walkley Award winner has a long-standing relationship with Jacob Fitzroy, an executive at the accounting firm Deloitte. Daily Mail Australia attempted to contact Macdonald through ABC and Network Ten.
One Nation founder and federal leader Pauline Hanson has publicly called on Mr Lathan to apologize for his tweet about Mr Greenwich, but told Chris Smith she had not contacted him.
The party will have three representatives – Mr Latham, Rod Roberts and former Labor MP Tania Mihailuk – in the upper house when parliament resumes after elections in March.
Dr. Scots College principal Ian Lambert told parents in an email that there was no specific ban on gay students holding leadership positions at Bellevue Hill school (above)
