As the postal survey takes place, I look around at the things I read and the things I hear, and I realise that THIS is why it took me so long to come out. It’s not so much the attitudes expressed by some members of the general public (although these are distressing) as the fact that our government is conducting an opinion poll about a matter of civil rights.
Growing up I had very little exposure to the concept of same-sex attraction. I knew no openly gay people. I was not aware of any gay students at my all-girls school (although subsequently there are, of course, many who have come out). I had these feelings but I had no idea what to do with them, no one I could see who might reciprocate them, no role models, nothing.
As a young adult I began to come across homosexuality represented in books, on television, in films… but these portrayals were rarely positive or even neutral. Often the characters were minor. Frequently they were viewed with comic derision. Almost always their sexuality was depicted as… an eccentricity, and not a desirable one. I didn’t want to identify with this marginal group.
Over the 25 years since I graduated from high school, Australian society has changed enormously in terms of its attitudes towards homosexuality. But our government’s reluctance to grant same-sex couples the right to marry, its decision to take this appalling (and expensive) poll to canvas the opinions of the nation on a matter of civil rights, reminds me exactly why it took me 38 years to be brave enough to come out.
#yes