Aussie Rugby Player's Stand for Marriage Rights

David Pocock and Emma Paladri, his unmarried wife.

David Pocock is one of the key players for Australia in the rough and tumble sport of rugby—a sport that makes American football look downright tame. Pocock considers himself a committed Christian and yet he lives with his "wife" without a marriage certificate and doesn't intend to get one until his gay friends are allowed to marry as well.

Pocock was born in Zimbabwe but his family was forced to flee what Robert Mugabe launched his racist attacks on white farmers—primarily so Mugabe could intimidates the tens of thousands of black voters who lived on the farms and were thus insulated from Mugabe's tyranny.

The Pococks fled to South Africa and it was there that David dreamed of playing for the Springboks, the South African rugby team. Instead his family moved to Brisbane, Australia and now the Aussies have the power and skill that David Pocock brings to the sport.

Pocock told the New Zealand Herald:

"Being brought up in a Christian home and still identifying as Christian, I get pretty annoyed with the Christian lobbies around the world who say gay marriage destroys families and all that kind of rubbish.

"They claim to follow someone who always stood up for the oppressed and marginalised.

"I guess it is a fear of the unknown—if you talk to someone who doesn't like gay people you can almost guarantee that they don't know too many.

"These are the prejudices that you have to challenge and break down. Emma and I decided not to get legally married until our gay friends could do the same."

Read more here.