Legalise gay marriage and save lives: Mitchell
3AW talkback radio giant Neil Mitchell will team up with JOY 94.9 to open up the discussion on youth suicide, bullying and depression in the LGBT community.
In a joint broadcast, Mitchell and JOY presenter David McCarthy will go live from City Square in Melbourne on Thursday, May 3, 10am-noon.
The award-winning journalist told the Star Observer he was working with JOY because he cared greatly about the issue.
“Youth suicide is something that has concerned me for a long time. We’ve done a bit on it on radio ourselves and I know it’s been a particular issue for the gay and lesbian community,” Mitchell said.
“I hope we can change some attitudes and save some lives.”
The show will feature guest speakers and experts but Mitchell said what he wanted was listeners from both stations to call in and share their stories.
“I know from the reaction I get that we’ve got a lot of parents and grandparents who are very concerned about the issue, both with gay kids and grandkids and heterosexual kids and grandkids,” he said.
McCarthy, Saturday Magazine’s presenter, said both stations were focused on getting the conversation started.
“For us, it’s about getting some traction on the issue of youth suicide, in particular same-sex attracted youth suicide,” McCarthy said.
“Any level of suicide is unacceptable but the level that the reports show it at is completely unacceptable to us, so working with another station like 3AW to reach out into the broader community, that’s why we’re doing it.”
In 2003, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell report found same-sex attracted youth were six times more likely to attempt suicide than young heterosexual people while the 2010 Writing Themselves In 3 report found young LGBT people who had experienced abuse were up to four-and-a-half times more likely to have attempted suicide than their straight counterparts.
“We’re taking an opportunity that is all too rare to get a defining issue for our community into the mainstream,” McCarthy said.
Mitchell also said legalising gay marriage would send a positive message to LGBTI youth who were struggling with their identities.
“I’ve had the view if you legalised gay marriage, you would save lives tomorrow,” he said.
INFO: www.joy.org.au
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Can we _please_ stop calling this issue “gay marriage” and use more inclusive terms like “same-sex marriage” or, even better, “marriage equality”? Not all of the people currently prohibited from marrying their loved ones because of their sex/gender are gay – plenty of them are bisexual, queer, transgender, intersex, and genderqueer.
“Gay” is not an appropriate blanket term for the entirety of the sexuality and gender diverse community. Come on SSO, you should know this by now.
James Dominguez
President, Bisexual Alliance Victoria
I’m really happy that this is going ahead, it’s great that both stations are partnering on such an important issue.
Can both Joy and 3AW also be inclusive in their language and consider the issues facing bisexuals, trans* and intersex people as members of the LGBTIQ community?
Inclusivity means that those who identify as bisexual, trans* and/or intersex will feel that this is an issue that affects them (because it does) and that the wider community sees that too.
And if anyone feels that LGBTIQ is too much of an unpronounceable mouthful, try QUILTBAG instead.
I do not agree most of Mitchells politics, but credit to him for making a stand for Civil Rights.