Toni Lavis,

Freedom of speech is only supposed to go one way. We saw that with the Yassmin Abdel-Magied hoo-ha, and we see it in calls for prison sentences for flag burning.

It’s so easy to portray your side of politics as the champions of free speech when it’s your side of politics that are making all the offensive and ignorant remarks.

There are a number of aspects of this case that most people are ignoring:

1 Sponsors can do whatever they want, but Alan Joyce if he wants PC compliance should consider sports that more closely align with his vision for Quantas such as knitting.

2 Folau, only offered his opinion when directly asked, so this cannot be considered hate speech or harassment. If he was fired, he could sue his employers for wrongful termination.

If Folau had stated something like he believes same sex marriage is morally wrong, he would not have got into trouble I think. A view held by many Churches, which is well understood. The Bible says, he who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.

Regardless of religion or non-religion, or political views; once very aggressive comments are made they will be jumped on, and chances are the aggressive views reinforce the views of those having an alternative religion or political views.

Like all hypocritical religious bigots, the heavily tattooed Folau chooses to focus on the "abomination" of homosexuality while overlooking another abomination in Leviticus 19:28, which says,”You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.”

He also stops short of the Biblical instruction for gays that "they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them".

Perhaps he either doesn't want to publicly admit sympathy for the execution part or is just another token pew-packer who conveniently uses and hides behind religion to justify his own prejudices.

Also, why does he play sport on the Sabbath?

ShadowMinister - knitting is not a sport. Weak attempt at feminising gays - the stereotype does not hold true in many cases. Matthew Mitchum, Ian Thorpe, Ian Roberts - two are gold medal winners and one a rugby player - all in sports. There are many who do not come out because of the judgement by the likes of yourself and Falou. They pend their lives tolerating such ignorance while achieving great things.

Herenow,

Clearly, the point I was making went right over your head. my experience of playing competitive sports for decades, is that all male teams are not places for the sensitive or the politically correct. One time I was playing after recovering from an ankle injury and a teammate kindly offered me the use of his grandma's zimmer frame, I suggested that he sexually depart, and after the game, we had a couple of beers together.

If Alan Joyce who probably hasn't tackled anything bigger than a glazed doughnut is expecting sensitivity and tact from people hired for their brawn, (or alternatively silence) then choosing a hard hitting contact sport is a poor choice.