Letters – issue 1028

WISE DOUG

The letter from Greg having a go at Doug Pollard (SSO 1026) reads like it was written straight from a Labor Party spin manual.

Greg must be the one of the few fans Kevin Rudd has left. While 85 law amendments giving us some benefits are welcome, this ‘roadshow’ trumpeting them is really a sideshow for the fact that his Labor Party still has other homophobic policies like banning same-sex marriage.

Surely in an era when even the entire AFL howls down a moron like Jason Akermanis, the Labor Party can give us all of our rights, not just some scraps off the table.

I took Greg’s advice and went to the Government’s Social Inclusion website. And I found bugger all about anything gay, lesbian, bi, transgendered or queer. But then I looked at who is in charge and found it was still run by Parliamentary Secretary Ursula Stephens, from the anti-gay Catholic ‘Shoppies’ union — a woman who last year SSO reported was guest of honour at a Christian Lobby function to celebrate the gay marriage ban. Good one, Greg.

I’ll take the word of a wise coummunity stalwart like Doug Pollard any day before I believe a political party that has sold us out to appease religious nut jobs.

Keep up the great work, Doug.

— Christo

OPPORTUNISM

Your front page shocker ‘Gay slurs led to suicide’ (SSO 1027) was a shoddy piece of opportunism. It violated the memory of young Alex by appropriating him as an honorary gay purely for our self-interest.

Alex was a kid who presumably liked girls. Nothing suggests there were misassumptions by his tormentors about his sexuality. But like so many thousands of kids he had been the victim of physical, verbal and cyber bullying.

Terms such as ‘gay’ and ‘faggot’ were indeed used in the taunting, but the notion that the taunting needed to be specifically ‘homophobic’ to drive him to his tragic death is not a reasonable assumption. The vocabulary of the schoolyard being rather limited, ‘faggot’ and ‘cocksucker’ unfortunately are fairly standard forms of abuse among young straight dudes.

Studies have indicated that gay kids are many times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight counterparts, but theses studies have not fathomed the precise reasons. Therefore the notion that the sole or principle reason is ‘homophobia’ will need to remain an article of faith for such community spokespersons who contend, for example, that boofhead TV comedy should be severely punished because of its alleged link to gay youth suicide.

I have little doubt that these same individuals will now seek to conflate the tragedy of Alex with the tragedy in our community, as grist for their mill.

This would reflect a dangerous incuriosity as to other possible factors in gay youth suicide. Consider that the ‘coming out’ of a straight kid is not normally a debut into a highly sophisticated predatory drug scene where human worth is graded entirely by sexual desirability. Orthodox gay doctrine touts this as ‘liberation’ from the much maligned ‘closet’.

— Allan

STINGERS SAY THANKS

Anyone involved in a community sporting club knows that running it takes a lot of effort from volunteers — volunteers who do it for the love of the sport and the people with whom they share their passion.

However, it’s not often you get to share and show that passion with people outside the club.

When you experience 345 of your friends and family turning up to support you, to contribute and, most importantly, having a whale of a time as they do it — the feeling is nothing short of amazing.

For all those people who came and supported us at Paddington RSL on Friday, June 18 for our first Trivia Night —a massive Stinger thank you! The club raised just under $14,000 to support its future — truly sensational.

Importantly, the night would not have been possible without the businesses and individuals who helped make it possible through their contributions of prizes and other donations.
While writing a full list would probably take up a whole page, we would particularly like to thank our main sponsor, Aussie Boys, without whose support we would never have pulled off such a massive fundraising effort.
Aussie Boys and Ken Holmes’ commitment of full team uniforms, trivia night and raffle prizes means we can focus the funds raised on other club needs such as coaching, registering a second team for this summer’s competition and, of course, the Cologne Gay Games. Thanks, Ken.

— Sydney Stingers Water Polo Club