Australian Family Association

The Australian Family Association (AFA) is a national activist group in Australia. It advocates the importance of the traditional family and heterosexual marriage. Item 1 on its stated list of objectives is: "to cultivate within society an appreciation that the integrity and well being of the family is essential to the stability, morale, security and prosperity of the Australian nation". It also lobbies on issues which it believes are related to its central purpose, such as homosexuality, censorship, abortion, cloning, pornography and drugs.

Related Topics:
Australia - Marriage - Homosexuality - Censorship - Abortion - Cloning - Pornography - Drugs

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Many liberal commentators have criticised the association for its condemnation of family types which do not fit the nuclear model, and for opposing moves to give equal access to government services for families headed by same-sex couples.

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Political affairs website, Crikey.com, revealed that the association's literature compares homosexuals to animals and equates homosexuality with alcoholism and violent tendencies.

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An AFA article by Roslyn and David Philips claims that "studies repeatedly show that violence is disproportionately associated with the homosexual lifestyle," before using the murder of designer Gianni Versace as evidence that "homosexuals and bisexuals are disproportionately involved in murder." And according to the Philips, homosexuals are also more likely than heterosexuals to engage in sado-masochism and sexual abuse, as well as being more "accident prone."

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The AFA has promoted work by American researcher, Dr Richard Wilkins, which suggests that victimless crimes such as homosexuality should be recriminalised in Australia. He claims that "monkeys in zoos and overpopulated rats exhibit homosexual behaviour." But, he argues, "other animals eat their young and kill their mates. We still have laws against homicide."

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Such statements have lead many to suggest that the AFA is a highly prejudiced organisation, attempting to enforce a fundamentalist Judeo-Christian perspective on the mostly secular nation. Others have claimed that the association's literature is based on research which is not peer-reviewed.

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Despite such criticisms, the association still wields great influence among politicians and the mainstream media.

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