Gay Rights Activists Target IBM Christian
IBM Australia, which advocates for marriage equality in favor of the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) community, is being condemned by militant gay rights activists for having a managing partner who is actively involved in a Christian organization.
The activists specifically targeted the IT giant's managing partner Mark Allaby for sitting on the board of Lachlan Macquarie Institute, an internship program for young Christians. They said his connection with the program is incompatible with IBM's expressed support for same-sex marriage.
Michael Barnett, convener of Jewish LGBTI support group Aleph Melbourne, took his frustration to Twitter. "A bad look...that IBM managing partner Mark Allaby sits on the anti-LGBT Lachlan Macquarie Institute board," he posted Thursday last week. He followed this up the next day, saying: "As an LGBT champion @IBMAustralia, why did you employ a board member of a high-profile anti-LGBT organisation?"
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Rod Swift, a Greens candidate in the 2014 state election, made a follow-up tweet by accusing IBM of hypocrisy for allowing an employee to be involved with an anti-LGBTI organization. "If you are having a bet each way @IBMDiversityANZ then you must justify to your staff and customers why your guy is on their board," he posted.
This is not the first time for Allaby to be put under fire due to his religious conviction. He was in the same spot last year when he was forced to resign from the board of Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) due to a conflict of interest with his employer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, also a pro-same-sex-marriage company.
ACL managing director Lyle Shelton deplored the aggressive tactics being employed by marriage equality activists.
"Quite frankly we are tired of this slur being used to intimidate people because of their beliefs," he said. "All Australians, including corporate Australia, should openly and forcefully condemn every instance of bullying and intimidation."
