Shelton's comments came after he signed the Cape Town Declaration, a new global pledge to defend marriage between a man and a woman, alongside several prominent conservative activists in South Africa.

Australia's delegation to the signing in Cape Town on December 10 included Shelton, David van Gend from the Australian Marriage Forum and Tio Faulkner from Marriage Alliance.

Several prominent people who have signed the declaration are from countries that have already legalised marriage equality, including the United States, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Argentina. Others are from countries with draconian anti-gay laws in place.

One signatory is Theresa Okafor, a Nigerian activist who was a proponent of a 2014 law that made it a crime for people in same-sex relationships to live together or show any public display of affection. The bill also criminalised participation in gay clubs or societies, which is now punishable by a 10-year prison sentence in Nigeria.

Others include Russian politician Viktor Zubarev, a member of Putin’s United Russia party that brought in an anti-gay propaganda law in 2014, and Andrea Minichiello Williams from the UK's Christian Concern group, who has previously urged opponents of LGBT rights to continue speaking out about a link between homosexuality and pedophilia.

Shelton said he does not support criminalising gay sex or prohibiting gay people from meeting in public, forming groups or talking about their identity.

“The reality is, the world is a complex place,” he said. “There are traditions and cultures in many, many countries, not all of which I agree with.



“But does that mean these people shouldn’t be allowed to participate in a debate about whether marriage should be redefined? Does that mean they shouldn’t be allowed to push back on Western cultural imperialism that ties things like foreign aid to changing the definition of marriage? I think they have every right to speak up.

"We certainly believe in freedom for people to live their lives, and for there to be no discrimination, just as there is no discrimination under Australian law," he said.

Asked if it troubled him to be signing a document alongside far-right conservative activists, Shelton said: "It does to some degree, because obviously I don't support [those] things you've mentioned."

Under Australian federal law, same-sex de facto couples have the same rights as heterosexual de facto couples, bar being able to marry. This principle, however, does not translate neatly to Australia's states. Each jurisdiction has its own laws regarding relationship recognition, parenting and anti-discrimination. There are examples of gay couples not having their relationship recognised – particularly in times of tragedy.

Shelton stressed it was a small number of countries that had legalised marriage equality, but also criticised his own side of the debate as being “slow off the mark” with a global response.

“We’ve been very slow off the mark, and that’s why people are starting to coalesce – we’re 30 years behind,” he said. “This didn’t just happen overnight, this is the result of 30 years of concerted effort by activists who want to reshape society.”

Shelton said he does not believe the declaration, or the new International Organisation for the Family, will translate to extra boots on the ground in the Australian marriage debate.



"It’s been really helpful for me to be exposed to people from all around the world who share the same concern and desire to see [heterosexual] marriage upheld," he said. "There’s great synergy and collaboration and encouragement that comes from that. But when it comes to campaigning here locally, that’ll be up to our groups."

Other Australian signatories to the declaration include Warwick Marsh from the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation and Babette Francis from the Endeavour Forum.