The Rainbow Campaign

[Luc]

Me, personally will stick to Home & Away, but if the storyline of the episode involves Jack, Martha or Ric, it'll be Out of the Blue I guess.

[Luc]

I don't know whether to email this along with another letter to C7 - it's part of an anti-homophobia campaign - maybe this will tell them that teens go through everything that other homosexuals do...

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I did not have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

I am the person who is afraid of telling his loving Christian parents he loves another male.

[emmasi]

I've read that before. It's very moving. I don't know too many people, and only a few of those I've met in real life were gay (actually there's been heaps of people I've met, but not everyone stays with you). Of those few, two were lesbians who had been hospitalized after being bashed because they were gay (entirely different ages, towns, walks of life). One actually lost the hearing in one of her ears. It's terrifying what people go through just because of their sexuality. People who say it's a choice might as well bash people with blue eyes for not choosing to wear brown contact lenses

[Luc]

Whilst overseas, hell, even in Australia, I've met a few people like that - it really makes you think how homophobic the world really is

[yannick]

So many truth in there. It's awful having to say goodbye to someone just because they couldn't take it anymore.

[emmasi]

I know, I was quite scared when I met the first woman. It just never occurred to me that something like that would happen in Australia. You get your prejudice and your name calling, I knew that, but I was so naive that I thought that actual bashings and murder for nothing more than sexuality were things that happened in other countries... It's a lot different when you actually meet people who have been through it and are still struggling to deal with the trauma years later.

So, to get back on topic, I'll say again: I can't believe that anyone would want to keep that kind of hatred, ignorance, and violence going on by insinuating that homosexuals are something (yes, some thing) to be shunned and hidden away because their very existence is not appropriate in a G-rated world . I'll grant you that if it's a matter of confusion, it might be hard to explain to a kid why that character used to be a man but is now a woman but still has kids from her ex wife who call her daddy... but if it's just a matter of "Mummy, why are those two boys kissing?" "Well son, they're boyfriends and they love each other," then I don't see why that's so difficult.

[yannick]

Exactly. I knew people were bullied for being gay, but you never think about how far it goes sometimes. Being kicked out by your parents, being rejected by your family, showing up at school fearing for what's going to happen, ... When my internet friend decided he had enough and ended it all, it felt like the whole world I knew came down, and I didn't know what to think anymore. It has made coming out for me much more difficult because you always think 'what if it happens to me'.

So to come back to Home and Away, if a storyline only changes the thinking of a few people, it has already had a purpose. Gay people are not from a different planet, and I feel it's important that people realise that.

In Belgium we're quite lucky with the way gay people are portrayed in television shows. I was really happy a while ago when I read that in one of our children shows there is a gay character. They obviously don't go into much detail about it all, but just having him say my boyfriend can make such a difference.

[~Lynd~]

I don't know whether to email this along with another letter to C7 - it's part of an anti-homophobia campaign - maybe this will tell them that teens go through everything that other homosexuals do...

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I did not have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

I am the person who is afraid of telling his loving Christian parents he loves another male.

That's really touching.I have a gay friend who's tried to commit suicide twice.I think he's in a much better place now,though to be honest i wouldn't have even thought of it unless he told me.He dances around my kitchen like a girl with excitement about his latest boyfriend and we talk about the hot guys on HAA together,lol.

Unfortunately my dad is the church one.We have many fights over it to.

[Eli]

I don't know how conservative Australia is compared to the US when it comes to these things, but I'm guessing it would get less objections in Australia.

I just read this article about Luke&Noah and how AFA is starting a protest campaign against P&G and CBS showing this "storyline promoting the homosexual agenda" and showing "open-mouth homosexual kisses" aka "repulsive content" etc. Talk about sad, how does this affect them in any way? It's so sad how some people seem to think the gay community is some sort of recruiting company. Don't even get me started on the irony of the fact that most of these people are republicans, and die-hard troops-supporters, like they're not trying to recruit people to their causes.

http://perezhilton.com/2008-04-29-fight-the-bigots

If ATWT and Luke&Noah can survive in a country like that I think H&A should be fine if they decided to have a gay couple. This protest campaign seems to be a response to the fact that ATWT has started showing Noah and Luke kissing again, something that was brought on and pushed for to happen by thousands and thousands of fans.

[Luc]

Yeah, I think it would get less objections - Australia is a pretty accepting country, so I agree, if Nuke can survive in the States, then Gaden should be able to survive out here.