Former Aussie P.M.: Marriage Equality Fight Is a Boon to Conservatives

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has addressed the U.S. anti-LGBT group Alliance Defending Freedom as his country votes on marriage equality, saying even a 40 percent vote against same-sex marriage would be a "moral victory" and that the campaign has mobilized the conservative movement.

"Given the starting point, just to get 40 percent would be a moral victory for marriage," Abbott told the group at a Wednesday event in New York City, reports HuffPost Australia. "But my instinct is that shy 'no' voters mean that this result could still swing either way." These shy voters may have been reluctant to say publicly that they oppose marriage equality, he said.

The postal poll, which closes next Tuesday, is nonbinding but will be considered by Parliament when it votes on the issue. The results of the mail-in survey will be announced November 15. LGBT activists had urged Parliament to vote without taking a public survey, which they warned could lead to a surge in anti-LGBT rhetoric.

Whichever way the poll ends up, opponents of marriage equality will form the "nucleus of an organization" to represent conservative interests in Australia, Abbott told the ADF audience."Win, lose, or draw, though, starting from scratch two months ago, the campaign for marriage in my country has mobilized thousands of new activists and created a network that could be deployed to defend western civilization more broadly and the Judeo-Christian ethic against all that's been undermining it,'' he said at the event, according to The Guardian.

"So far, the campaign to defend marriage in Australia has raised over $6 million from more than 20,000 separate donors, and fielded more than 5,000 volunteers to door-knock and phone-canvass."

The ADF, a legal group, has represented a variety of anti-LGBT clients, including the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, who refused to provide a cake for a same-sex wedding and was found to have violated Colorado's antidiscrimination law by doing so. He has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear his case this term. And earlier this year, it controversially hosted a private speech by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.