Telstra marriage equality backdown blamed on Catholic Church

Telstra has removed all references to its previous support of marriage equality, after a letter was received from the Catholic Church pointing out commercial considerations.

Last year a group of companies, including Telstra, had their logos shown on Australian Marriage Equality advertisements in support of the campaign for gay marriage. The Australian newspaper reported that, in response, the Catholic Church's Archdiocese of Sydney business manager Michael Digges wrote to all the corporations involved.

“You may be aware that the Catholic archdiocese of Sydney is a significant user of goods and services from many corpor­ations,” said the letter.

“Undoubtedly, many of the Catholic population of Sydney would be your employees, customers, partners and suppliers. It is therefore with grave concern that I write to you about the Marriage Equality for Australians campaign.”

Telstra has now withdrawn from taking a public stance on the matter, with its website no longer featuring any mention of marriage equality.

"Ultimately, it will be parliament who determines any changes to the institution of marriage. In view of this, Telstra has no further plans to figure prominently in the wider public debate," said a Telstra spokesperson.

AME's website still displays Telstra as a supporter. The Australian reported that the telco did not request AME to remove its logo.

"Telstra has demonstrated it places great importance on diversity and standing against discrimination, in all its forms. Our workforce reflects this diversity, including people of same-sex in a broad range of relationships," said the telco's spokesperson.

In his letter, Digges said that for companies to comment on civil issues "is indeed overstepping their purpose and is to be strongly resisted", without making comment on religious institutions doing the same.

Technology companies that have lent their support to AME include Microsoft, Optus, Vodafone, Atlassian and LinkedIn.

Update: Telstra issued a media statement saying it has no plans to be active in the debate, but "our position on the issue has not changed. We place great importance on diversity and standing against all forms of discrimination."