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Rainbow Report Tonight

August 28th 2008 05:31

Finally back from holidays and the usual mad scramble to put a show together - and so much to talk about with . . .

Senator Louise Pratt
Pippa Grange of the AFL Players Association
Corey Irlam of the Australian Coalition for Equality
Tim Wilson from the Institute of Public Affairs

Richard Watts of MCV

We can’t go past Matthew Mitchams gold medal in the Olympics, so as he’s a Queensland boy, naturally, we’ll be talking to Ian Clachair of Pride Queensland about that, and about the renegade Catholic parish that’s in hot water with the Vatican for blessing same-sex couples – among other things.

Of course even confirmed Olympicphobes like Kaye Sera have noted Matthew Mitchams epic triumph in the diving, and his even greater triumph is acknowledging, hugging and kissing his partner Lachlan on Seven’s evening News – an event Nine news referred to in passing as ‘getting a hug from a friend’.

In the US, the NBC network didn’t even mention he was gay, but they’ve now apologized for that ‘unintentional’ omission.

Prompted by this touching display, today the Herald Sun ran another piece by Rob Mitchell, who listeners will know as a regular guest on the Rainbow Report, in which Rob urged the AFL to get with the program and start tackling homophobia in their sport.

It’s the latest in a series the paper has run on the issue, with comment from Nathan Burke, Kevin Sheedy, and most recently Jason Akermanis. There’s speculation the AFL is doing a John the Baptist, paving the way for an AFL player to come out – and the last couple of days the internet has been buzzing with rumours that the Footy Show has negotiated a big payout to an AFL player to come out on the show tonight.

The Rainbow Report has already interviewed representatives of the VCFL, the VFL and the AFL: we wanted to talk to a coach or a player, but so far no luck. However tonight we will be speaking with Pippa Grange, General Manager of People, Psychology and culture at the AFL Players Association, for her take on the issue.

Leaving football aside, Corey Irlam from the Australian Coalition for Equality joins us to report on the progress of the Family Law Amendment Bill: the report of the Senate Inquiry forced by the Opposition was tabled in parlaiemtn today, and he unamended bill passed the lower house.

Staying with politics, the newly elected Senator from WA, Lousie Pratt made her maiden speech in parliament yesterday, and in it she called for the legalization of gay marriage. She joins us on the line tonight.
And rounding out the panel tonight, Tim Wilson of the Institute of Public Affairs – bit of a comedown from needling Penny Wong on live television but hey, I hear he enjoys slumming – and the one and only Richard Watts, Editor of MCV – who coincidentally had their own AFL scoop this week, too.

That’s tonight on the Rainbow Report, Joy 94.9, streaming live www.joy.org.au - call 03 9699 2949, email onair@joy.org.au or text on 0427 JOY 949.
And join in the show by emailing onair@joy.org.au between 7-8pm AEST tonight!

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Posted By: Doug Pollard - Category: gay rights, gay marriage, equality, Melbourne, gay politics, Australian politics, discrimination, sport

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Akermanis on gays in the AFL (LINK)

August 20th 2008 08:22

Jason Akermanis

'Aka' is always outspoken, and often in trouble for it, and he's the one who has broken the AFL players silence on the issue of gays in Australian Rules Football.

Outwardly it's the issue the AFL don't want to touch. On my radio show a senior AFL official said, in effect, that if a player came out, then the anti-vilification rules would of course apply, but to date no one has, and until they do, the AFL can't do anything.

That's nonsense, of course, but the hierarchy is for some reason terrified of taking a pro-active stance and making it safe for a player to come out.

Aka explains why that might not be the best approach. He describes the way players regularly call one another 'poofters' (and other jibes with the same meaning) when they're on the pitch.

This is the first time I can recollect anyone from the AFL admitting publicly that this sort of homophobic sledging goes on.

The AFL says they can't stop that until a player complains he's been vilified on the grounds of his sexual orientation - which is nonsense. The AFL has made it plain that racist language is unacceptable. They could make it equally plain in a second that homophobic language and behaviour is taboo, too.

But that would be tantamount to admitting there are gay players in the sport - something Aka (and simple common sense) confirms.

Clearly the issue is boiling up inside the sport, with comments in the press from coach Kevin Sheedy, former captain (and now club director Nathan Burke), and now veteran player Jason Akermanis.

But Aka is the first to point a possible way forward. Assured of the support and shelter of the hierarchy, the first gay player to come out could reap a fortune in endorsements, as well as easing at one move the horrible burden of insult and vilification from other players at all levels.

It will take big shoulders to carry all that. But there's no shortage of them in the sport!

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Posted By: Doug Pollard - Category: gay rights, equality, Melbourne, Victoria, gay politics, discrimination, sport, popular culture

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Pigs worth more than Queers

August 4th 2008 03:22

Neil Mitchell's priority

On 3AW talkback shock-jock Neil Mitchell heavily downplayed the seriousness of Jeff Kennetts remarks comparing bisexuals to paedophiles, making it sound as though the gay community had overreacted.

And took no calls on the issue, preferring nice safe chats with piglovers and pigfarmers about animal welfare and cruelty.

Mitchell interviewed ALSO Chief Executive Lyn Morgain about the ad the gay community placed in the Age at the weekend.

His questioning was fairly hostile.

He tried to imply that despite the mass of organizations that had put their names to the ad, they only represented a small number of people. He wanted to know how many individuals those groups represented.

He also questioned the right of arts groups like the Queer Film Festival and Midsumma to buy into the ad.

He tried to mount an attack on the basis that these groups could be using public money to pay for the ad. He appeared not to understand that grant funding is usually quarantined for specific purposes and so could not be used for political purposes.

Then he insisted that Jeff hadn’t been given enough chance to respond. When did you call Jeff? Friday afternoon? Far too late – the ad would have been booked then.

He brushed aside the information that Richard Watts of MCV (and numerous others, including myself, James Campbell [the Sunday Herald Sun journalist who broke the story] and Neil Mitchell himself) had been unable to get a response, because “they’re journalists, that’s different.”

Lyn fought back, pointing out that Jeff was not a victim, and the community concern was for the young people at risk.

Mitchell wrapped up the interview saying it would have been better to have contacted Jeff first, what Jeff said was “silly and badly worded – not taken out of context, badly worded” – but it would have been fairer to handle it differently and give Jeff a chance to respond.

Well, Jeff had many many chances to withdraw his remarks and apologise in the course of the week, and refused to do so. He’s been asked numerous times to permit the release of the verbatim transcript of the interview to prove he was taken out of context, and he hasn’t, probably because he knows that would show that he has been accurately reported. That leaves James Campbell looking like he really did distort what Kennett said – and I have now spoken to two people to whom Campbell has read what he says is the full transcript, and based on that I would have to say Kennett was fairly and accurately reported.

And finally, Neil Mitchell – making the excuse that he didn’t have the original text in front of him (such sloppy preparation, Neil?) – made no mention of the key fact: that Kennett clearly stated that the risk of having a bisexual in the change rooms was the same as the risk of having a paedophile in the sacristy.

Mitchell merely mumbled something about Kennett having been interpreted as saying that any gay man was predatory and going to force himself on people. That would have been bad enough, but that’s not what Jeff said. Jeff said it was as if you had a paedophile at the club.

Either Mitchell was woefully unprepared, or willfully distorting the facts and thereby belittling the cause of the community anger.

It is also telling that he took no calls on the issue, but went back to taking calls about cruelty (or not) of docking piglets tails and teeth in pigfarming. I guess pigs are worth more than poufs in Mitchelland.

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Posted By: Doug Pollard - Category: gay rights, equality, Melbourne, Victoria, gay politics, discrimination, sport, radio

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Kennett now equates bisexual footy trainers with pedophile priests (LINK)

August 2nd 2008 21:00

Dark Night Priest

Well, I was going to lay off Jeff Kennett, but the man just keeps chewing on that foot in his mouth. In the Herald Sun today he continues to make a link between bisexuality and pedophilia. Such a link does not exist, and such a slur is incredibly damaging

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