Anthony Callea Says Australia’s Same-Sex Marriage Plebiscite Is ‘Disgusting,’ ‘Insulting’


Anthony Callea has criticized the Australian government’s plans to hold a same-sex marriage plebiscite next year, according to Yahoo News. The 33-year-old “Live For Love” singer says the planned plebiscite, which is due to be held on February 11 next year, is “insulting.”

In a recent interview, Anthony Callea, who married his boyfriend, Tim Campbell, in New Zealand two years ago, shared his thoughts about the upcoming plebiscite, which would cost taxpayers at least $170 million and has already become one of the most controversial topics in Australia.

But Anthony Callea, who is a long-time advocate for same-sex marriage, admits he was disappointed by the plebiscite, saying that he finds this whole thing “disgusting.”

“I find the whole thing disgusting how much we’re spending on it, when that money could be going to so many more worthy causes.”

Anthony Callea also added that it’s “insulting” that in the year of 2016, Australia has to hold a plebiscite on a social rights issue. The singer, who rose to prominence after participating in Australian Idol, came out as gay in 2007 and that same year he started dating singer Tim Campbell, whom he married in 2014.

Anthony Callea and Campbell had to go to New Zealand to get married, because same-sex marriage is banned in Australia.

“Tim and I feel like we are ahead of our own government.”

Anthony Callea also added that he doesn’t really care whether the Australian government recognizes his marriage with Campbell or not, but they are legally married and have a marriage certificate, and that’s all that matters.

“To us and to our friends and family, we are married.”

In fact, Anthony Callea expressed the sentiment of the LGBT community in Australia, saying that it’s “a very sad situation” that the country is one of the last nations in the West to legalize same-sex marriage.

And the main reason why Anthony Callea is so eager to make same-sex marriage legal in Australia is because he feels “sorry” for younger kids in the country.

“Imagine being a teen dealing with your sexuality, and turning on the news and basically the message to them is ‘You’re not worthy enough to be recognised as an equal’. That’s sad.”

In other news, Anthony Callea has been slammed by the Australian media for allegedly having the lowest selling number one debut of all time, according to Noise11. But what the media doesn’t realize is that their methods of measuring an album’s success are outdated.

Backbone is Anthony Callea’s fifth studio album and was released on September 16. And even though the album debuted at number one in Australia, the media says the album is still a “failure.”

But the media’s logic is that Anthony Callea’s album sales did not reflect the album’s number one position. However, there are counter-arguments that the methods of counting an album’s success are outdated. The media claims it was the lowest selling No. 1 debut of all time.

And the media slamming Anthony Callea’s new album is not the first instance when charts don’t really reflect the reality of what’s going in the music industry. In the year of 2016, there are numerous options, both legal and illegal, of how to measure the success of music albums.
Downloading an album from Torrent sites should also count, just like streaming music via YouTube and other streaming services.

But nonetheless, Backbone is the first time his album debuted at No. 1 in 11 years, after his self-titled album debuted in first place in 2005. But somehow, Anthony Callea, who has just made a “failure” debut, manages to sell out most of his shows as part of the Backbone tour around Australia.

[Featured Image by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images]

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