Qantas ad featuring same-sex wedding. | Photo: Qantas / YouTube
A new ad by airline Qantas features a same-sex wedding, Hugh Jackman and scenes from the Sydney Mardi Gras parade.
Released today (17 August), the ad starts off with Jackman talking about the ‘Spirit of Australia’ connecting people.
He says: ‘It connects us no matter where we were born, how we look or how we live.
‘Our spirit is about standing up for what’s right, standing up for a fair go and about standing up for those who can’t,’ he says.
The video then jumps into a song that sings ‘We’re going to stand up with pride’ and ‘Stand up!’
It cuts to various scenes, including a same-sex wedding where two women place rings on each other and then kiss.
Another scene is from the Sydney Mardi Gras, where a guy throws confetti in the air and a group of marchers wave glow sticks in unison.
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Qantas and its openly gay CEO
Alan Joyce is the openly gay CEO of Qantas.
Joyce said he believes being open about being gay ‘allows him to be himself at work and demonstrates to others that it hasn’t hindered his career.’
He said in an interview in 2016: ‘‘I can say categorically that we wouldn’t have gotten through the transformation and the tough times of this business as well as we did without having that diversity in the top leadership team.
‘At the end of the day, it makes you a better business,’ he said.
During the same-sex marriage equality public debate at the end of last year, Joyce donated $1 million to the ‘yes’ campaign.
Earlier this year, he also became the co-patron of national LGBTI workplace inclusion program, Pride in Diversity.
