A 'normal' man who just happens to be gay

[The Straight Story]

A 'normal' man who just happens to be gay

snip


The video begins with a young Australian man meeting someone on a ferry, doing his supermarket shopping with them, playing cricket on the beach, arguing with his partner over directions in the car (as you do) - and breaking into tears in a bathroom because his mum is in bed seriously ill. Oh, and at the end of the video we see him putting a ring on the finger of his boyfriend.

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The emotional truth of the video is that it presents a gay man as a lot more than the sum of his sexual preferences. It presents him as an average, "normal" person, going about his life, who just happens to be gay - but someone who doesn't want the government or a religious zealot of whatever stripe to tell him whom he can or cannot love. I raise this because Shanahan's column is littered with the words "normal" and "natural" in relation to heterosexual relationships - her implication being that gay relationships are abnormal and unnatural, as are, by extension, the people in them.

Shanahan is not Robinson Crusoe in thinking this, of course. But now that gay people don't want to lie or hide any more - and, as a result, everyone sees just how ordinary, boring and everyday we really are - it's become much harder to stereotype, slander and pigeonhole us. It's much easier to propagate negative stereotypes when you're silent and invisible, which probably explains why Shanahan is "fed up" with hearing about gay marriage - before she spends the next 800 words or so banging on about it herself.

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Civilisation has not crumbled in the 10 countries, and six states of the US, that have legalised gay marriage. It won't crumble in Queensland now that same-sex civil partnerships have been recognised. When rugby union star David Pocock announced this week that he and partner Emma Palandri would not get married until their gay friends could do the same, I was reminded of just why I love this country with every fibre of my being: it's our sense of giving a fair go.

And for the record, I'm no cappuccino-sipping gay leftie. I was actually equivocal about the issue of gay marriage until I read Shanahan's piece. And then it struck me - as a gay man, a loving parent, a proud Australian - why it's so important not to be silent.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/a-normal-man-who-just-happens-to-be-gay/story-e6frgd0x-1226212589971