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Jeff Kennett should be sacked as Chairman of national depression initiative Beyond Blue for his homophobic support for the Bonneydoon Football Club, which recently sacked a trainer upon learning he was gay.
According to Kennett, having a gay trainer around changerooms and young boys was like exposing them to a pedophile.
I was in a taxi the other day when a radio news bulletin reported on the sentencing of a Catholic priest on 18 charges of molesting a child. My driver and I found some common ground in shaking our heads at this crime. However, when my driver said all gays and lesbians should have their balls cut off (lesbians?), we lost our common ground.
Attempting in vain to get the cabbie to see reason, I tried to explain that most pedophilia took place between older men and young girls. But he would have none of it. Pedophilia, according to this bloke, was a direct result of homosexuality.
This is not an uncommon view among the underexposed and undereducated, but people like Jeff Kennett should know better.
As a long time Chairman of Beyond Blue, Kennett would presumably know that the experience of homophobia is a major determinent of depression in Australia and internalised homophobia is a major cause of suicide among young men.
I would imagine he knows this. The question is, does he care? Or is the former Victorian Premier only interested in curing straight people of depression. Like Ronald Reagan and other conservative leaders before him, is Kennett happy to leave gay and lesbian people to suffer own own fates?
While Kennett's comments are as ridiculous as someone calling on heterosexual doctors to be banned from examining women, they do highlight the problem of homophobia in professional sport.
I have always been quite dismayed that we don't have a single openly gay AFL footballer. We all know gay men play football, but it is clear that not one of them feels comfortable coming out publicly.
This is their business, of course, but I wish there were a few men of courage who would step up and provide our young gay sports lovers (yes, there are plenty) with the role models they need to feel like they have a future.
Thank heavens for Matthew Mitcham, our first openly gay Olympian, for providing an example for others to follow as he attempts to win gold for Australia in the diving at this year's Olympics.
But do you really think this would be the first gold medal won by a gay or lesbian person at the Olympics? Come on!
This web site recently received an email from a staff member at the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC) asking us to remove references to their women's Kick Like a Girl football clinics from our site, even though they were only reproductions of West Australian Women's Football League media releases.
When we replied asking for feedback as to why they wanted them removed, we received no reply.
Comments like those made recently by Jeff Kennett have given us food for thought.
As Premier of Victoria, Jeff Kennett was known for being a man of action and for speaking his mind. He has won further respect since leaving politics in his role with Beyond Blue. However, in unfairly associating homoexuality with pedophilia, he has made life that much more difficult for gay and lesbian people throughout the country and likely contributed towards the depression of many.
Jeff Kennett should step down from his role with Beyond Blue. Otherwise, he should be sacked.
Let Beyond Blue know what you think. Send them an
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.
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Newly elected Opposition Leader Colin Barnett has denied he promised to roll back key aspects of the Gallop Government's gay and lesbian law reforms during his unsuccessful campaign to become Premier in 2005, and claims he will not do so if elected this time.
The Great Gay & Lesbian Debate will return for this year’s Pride
Festival, with the event to be staged at the Astor Cinema on the
evening of Thursday 16th October, commencing at 7pm.
Connections Nightclub will join forces with Sydney's Midnight Shift and former London Trade promoter Rod Lay to present Hunk on Saturday 6th September. CNC proprietor Tim Brown hopes the event will be the first of a series of monthly events featuring top international DJs.
Pride WA has appointed a strategic planner with the financial
backing of Connections Nightclub. Appointee Trudy Turner is already
working on obtaining corporate sponsorship for the remainder of 2008 as
well as funding for next year's festival.
Berlin's mayor has led a protest against vandals
who damaged the city's new memorial to gay victims of the Nazis. Police
say someone broke a window - a key part of the memorial - allowing visitors to
peer into a gray concrete slab to see an image of a same-sex couple kissing.
More 
After
being shunned for decades due to blackmail concerns, gay and lesbian Britons are now being sought as spies by domestic spy agency MI5. Expat Aussie activist Peter Tatchell says the policy change is long overdue. More 
Singer Kate Perry is not only a non-lesbian, but a non-lesbian out of favour with her parents and GLBT commentators over her number one hit that may imply she has lesbionic tendencies. Can't a girl say she kissed a girl without all this drama? More 
The ACT Government will not support a Greens push to reinstate its original
legislation on same-sex civil unions, which would have allowed gay and
lesbian couples to celebrate their unions with legal ceremonies. Pressure from the Rudd Government saw the proposal watered down earlier
this year. More 
Cosmopolitan Tel Aviv is attracting thousands of gay tourists, while conservative, religious Jerusalem lives in fear of Pride parades. The gay tourism boom is a double-edged sword for Israel, where it seems nothing is ever easy. More 
Gay men considering adult circumcision to reduce the risk of HIV
infection may gain no benefit and instead end risking sexual dysfunction and becoming bottoms according to new Australian research reported in the 
This week’s news that a lesbian couple in California filed for divorce
just three days after their June wedding – citing irreconcilable
differences – just confirmed my complete lack of interest in the
dreaded, world shattering, election clinching “gay marriage”.
Irreconcilable differences?
So, Madge's little bro, Christopher Ciccione, has written his autobiography, and it’s called Life with My Sister Madonna.
That tells you something before you even get to the very
unflattering photo of her Madgesty on the cover, looking every one of
her nearly 50 years.
Jeff Kennett should be sacked as Chairman of national depression initiative Beyond Blue for his homophobic support for the Bonneydoon Football Club, which recently sacked a trainer upon learning he was gay. We shouldn't be surprised though - homophobia in professional sports is rife.
I often get some dykestrous teasing about my taste in Hollywood leading
actors: I love watching Johnny Depp and George Clooney and I'm a sucker
for a Jeff Bridges movie. Well fair enough, I'm a lesbian who has a
soft spot for aging pretty boys. So, sue me!
George Pell's assertion that Australia must populate or perish is at odds with the Pope's view that Catholics must find a style of life that eases the problems caused to the environment. Not that Pell is worried about the environment - his real and unmentionable concern is Christians being outnumbered by Muslims.
written by Dorothea Gale, July 30, 2008 - 7:48:25 pm CDT
I will be sending Beyond Blue an email ... and I've sent one to the AFL Players Association to ask them about their position.
Points 4 and 5 of their publicly stated AFLPA Purposes read:
To ensure a role for the players through the AFLPA in the development of policies, procedures and arrangements to be directed at player safety and welfare issues.
To establish a long term program committed to providing ongoing professional support and counseling in a wide range of matters such as personal development, financial, legal, marital, grief, etc.
I wonder if I will get a reply?
AFL Players’ Association
Sports House - Level 2
375 Albert Road
Albert Park Victoria 3206
Ph: (03) 9926 1344
Fax: (03) 9926 1350
Web: www.aflpa.com.au
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