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A DAD who "came out" as gay after leaving his morbidly obese wife is fighting to stop her taking their two boys to New Zealand to live.
The bitter custody battle unfolded at a two-day hearing in Brisbane's Federal Magistrates Court this week, and included claims by the dad that the mother had a "co-dependent relationship" with their elder son - "even to the point of joint comfort eating".
The court also heard claims the father's new partner had walked in on his younger son in the shower during a weekend visit. Both claims were denied.
Lawyers for the mother, who has had lap band surgery, have accused the dad of being on a "gay crusade" with no interest in the best interests of his two boys, aged 8 and 10.
Federal Magistrate Susan Purdon-Sully has to decide whether to grant custody to the mother or father.
The mum's proposal is to relocate to her hometown of Christchurch with the boys and allow them four contact visits a year with their father, during school holidays.
But the dad, who wants the boys to grow up in his same-sex household, with the mum having equal shared parental responsibility, says his ex-wife's family is "homophobic" and "racist" and will imprint those values on the children.
He has told the court he does not want to see the boys until they are 17 or 18 if they relocate because he wants the conflict between their parents to end.
The court was told the mother's parents were elders in the Presbyterian church for 40 years.
"Part of my concern is that the children have had pedophilia associated with the word gay," the father told Ms Purdon-Sully.
"This whole thing is about (her) family feeling they are morally superior.
"I represent two things that family cannot stand - being gay and being in a mixed race relationship."
The court was told the marriage ended in March last year after almost a decade when the dad moved in with his current partner and allegedly refused to give his address to his former wife for seven months.
He said he left after being "punched" in the face by her. She described it as a "slap".
The mother told the court she suffered undiagnosed depression after the birth of the children, because she had no family support in Australia.
Ms Purdon-Sully has reserved her decision.
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