relationships

Former Bachelor star Tiffany writes: "I'm so new to the LGBTIQ community."

Arguably the most famous couple to come out of the Bachelor franchise, contestants-turned-couple Megan Marx and Tiffany Scanlon, are using their social media following to speak up about life as part of Australia’s LGBTIQ community.

While Megan penned a post slamming the Australian government’s stance on same-sex marriage, Tiffany opened up about her new life under the LGBTIQ ‘label’.

“I’m so new to the whole LGBTIQ community that I feel somewhat unqualified to throw my voice into an arena that I’m only now beginning to understand and where many have spent years fighting,” she wrote on Instagram.

I couldn’t have said better what Megan wrote in her post yesterday if i tried. She’s extremely clever, it’s one of the many things I love about her. I’m so new to the whole LGBTIQ community that I feel somewhat unqualified to throw my voice into an arena that I’m only now beginning to understand and where many have spent years fighting. I’m a bit more timid and a bit more of a softie than Megs but I do feel compelled to say something after the response to her post. I was totally blown away reading all the comments and it really gave me a sense of responsibility to do more with the voice I have been given. So here it is: I’m really struggling with the idea that I am even part of a new community now. Communities are meant to be places to bring people together and yet it feels strangely like segregation. I’m actually wondering how many more letters will be added to the LGBTIQ label before it’s accepted that love has NO LABEL and we are all part of the same community regardless of gender, sexuality, religion or race. If we remove such labels then when we look at something like marriage it becomes purely about 2 humans who love each other, making a promise to love each other for ever. That’s what I recon anyway.

A photo posted by Tiffany Scanlon (@tiffany_janes) on

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Tiffany said she was inspired by the response to Megan’s impassioned post to “do more with the voice that I have been given.”

“I’m really struggling with the idea that I am even part of a new community now. Communities are meant to be places to bring people together and yet it feels strangely like segregation.

“I’m actually wondering how many more letters will be added to the LGBTIQ label before it’s accepted that love has NO LABEL and we are all part of the same community regardless of gender, sexuality, religion or race,” she wrote.

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The former Bachelor star explained that marriage should be “purely about two humans who love each other, making a promise to love each other for ever”.

In her post yesterday, Megan said she had shied away from speaking out about her same-sex relationship with Tiffany so allow it to “pleasantly and without force try to help normalise same-sex relationships and desires”.

“Unfortunately, the more stories I hear and people I talk to, the more vividly I see the social, political and mental oppression the Australian government has inflicted on sexual minorities with a law created by privileged white men, a very long time ago,” she wrote.

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“Our beautiful country has become an embarrassment to me, as I believe it has allowed religious sentiments to be involved where they should not be – in politics.

“Good on you Aus, for supporting programs that help young people deal with mental health issues arising from being part of sexual minorities, but maybe ceasing social and political oppression would reduce mental health struggles in the first place.”

The couple clarified that their respective posts do not mean they want to get married any time soon – they simply want the voices of their community to be heard.

Other high-profile names added their support to the couple, with Kylie Minogue writing “#loveislove” on Tiffany’s post.