Young Boy Questions Former Australian Prime Minister on Marriage Equality Stance

Julia Gillard, the former prime minister of Australia who recently lost the leadership ballot to Kevin Rudd, has begun opening up about her defeat in a series of public forums and found her opposition to marriage equality called into question by one of the youngest members in the audience at one of her latest events, held in the Sydney Opera House, reports The Huffington Post.

During a Q-and-A session, Gillard was put on the spot when a young boy asked, "How come you didn't let gay people get married?" The former prime minister laughed nervously while the boy's question drew cheers and applause from the crowd.

Gillard responded by saying that her opposition to marriage equality didn't stem from an antigay viewpoint, but rather a feminist critique of the institution of marriage.

"I'm a lot older than you and when I went to university and started forming my political views of the world, we weren't talking about gay marriage, indeed, as women, as feminists. We were critiquing marriage," Gillard said. "And if someone had said to me as a 20-year-old, 'What about you get into a white dress to symbolize virginity and you get your father to walk you down and aisle and give you away to a man who is waiting at the end of the aisle,' I would have looked with puzzlement like, 'What on earth would I do that for?'"

Watch Gillard's full response in the video below.