“As some of you may have guessed, I’m a practising heterosexual. Yeah, I don’t know why that would be of interest to anyone either, but I just thought I’d save Sir Michael Parkinson the trouble of asking me!”
My Facebook status last night.
I guess the trouble I have with the discussion about Thorpey’s big announcement is the idea that it’s a big announcement.
And the trouble I have with saying “Who cares?” is that it makes it sound like we’re dismissing something that would have been a difficult personal decision.
But I think that I most have a problem with the person I heard describe Ian Thorpe’s decision to reveal that he’s gay as “brave”.
Yep, good on him for coming out. But if we still regard this as brave, then that’s an indictment on us as a society. This just shows that we still have a long way to go. It should be of no more newsworthy than my pronouncement.
“Wow, Rossleigh, you’ve admitted to being straight – how brave of you!”
(Well, maybe a little bit more, given that more people have heard of him.)
But I guess that’s the difficulty. What’s the most supportive response from the public for him as individual? So what? or You’re really brave! And what implications does either have to the young teenager coming to terms with his or her own sexuality?
In a display of hypocrisy worthy of Tony Abbott, I’d like to suggest that the main issue of today shouldn’t be Thorpey’s sexuality. (Yes, so why am I writing about? Yes, yes, I know with a contradiction like this I could join Abbott’s front bench or take over Andrew Bolt’s job.)
There are more important things we should be talking about. Like the fact that Abbott said today in Parliament that unless the Carbon Tax is repealed lamb roasts could still hit $100 just as Barnaby predicted. (Actually, I think that it’s inevitable – eventually – even without the Carbon Tax)
Or even the fact that gay marriage is described as a needless distraction every time it’s brought up. (Well, just legalise it and it’d be less of a “distraction”…)
Or let’s just think about the way in which we perceive what’s important.
Stay awesome. Tell the truth. Be who you are.
Cheers.
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