Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[Luke39]

Im.a straight white Male who just shared an opinion. I never said I dont want gay characters. I just shared my pov ThAt I don't think it matters either way. Disagree fine. But making presumptions based on stereotypes or prejudices. Oh that's what your basically saying. Is a bit much.

[Luke39]

4 minutes ago, Matt said:

I'm about to be blasted for this, but do I really care? Not particularly.

I am in the seemingly small minority that doesn't think there should be a gay character on the show. Why? Well, why does there have to be one? Because society deems it so? I don't think it's homophobic, transphobic, whatever-phobic... Just because the writers don't introduce a gay character doesn't mean they hate them... We still live in a sheltered society, and unfortunately our government's stance on issues such as the Safe Schools Coalition and same-sex marriage unfortunately still dictate the societal movements that are show on our screens...

"But Neighbours has main characters who are gay"... And Neighbours is also not on a main channel, Neighbours is vastly less popular in Australia and Neighbours is about the reality of middle class Australian life... If anyone wants to argue that Home and Away is reflecting the current reality of middle class Australia, you'd have to be fooling yourself...

I lead the Safe Schools Coalition movement at my school, I support the rights of everyone, whatever sex, race, sexuality etc. Heck, my best friend is gay, but the reality is, however homophobic this may sound, as soon as you start showing public displays of affection between two members of the same sex on Australian national television, on a platform as large as Home and Away's, you are going to receive negative criticism.

My friend doesn't like the notion of the a gay character on TV because it brings attention onto the fact that he is, in the smallest part of his persona, different from everyone else. Why should he be made to feel uncomfortable? And let's face it, I don't like seeing gay couples kissing on my screen, but I don't like seeing straight couples kissing on my screen either.

I honestly don't think the show needs to have a gay character because I don't think that Home and Away reflects today's society... Call me homophobic if that is what validates yourself and helps you sleep at night, but why should they introduce a gay character just for the sake of introducing a gay character?

Especially after HOW controversial Charlie and Joey was. In any case I agree with you.

[Wanderer101]

2 hours ago, Matt said:

I'm about to be blasted for this, but do I really care? Not particularly.

I am in the seemingly small minority that doesn't think there should be a gay character on the show. Why? Well, why does there have to be one? Because society deems it so? I don't think it's homophobic, transphobic, whatever-phobic... Just because the writers don't introduce a gay character doesn't mean they hate them... We still live in a sheltered society, and unfortunately our government's stance on issues such as the Safe Schools Coalition and same-sex marriage unfortunately still dictate the societal movements that are show on our screens...

"But Neighbours has main characters who are gay"... And Neighbours is also not on a main channel, Neighbours is vastly less popular in Australia and Neighbours is about the reality of middle class Australian life... If anyone wants to argue that Home and Away is reflecting the current reality of middle class Australia, you'd have to be fooling yourself...

I lead the Safe Schools Coalition movement at my school, I support the rights of everyone, whatever sex, race, sexuality etc. Heck, my best friend is gay, but the reality is, however homophobic this may sound, as soon as you start showing public displays of affection between two members of the same sex on Australian national television, on a platform as large as Home and Away's, you are going to receive negative criticism.

My friend doesn't like the notion of the a gay character on TV because it brings attention onto the fact that he is, in the smallest part of his persona, different from everyone else. Why should he be made to feel uncomfortable? And let's face it, I don't like seeing gay couples kissing on my screen, but I don't like seeing straight couples kissing on my screen either.

I honestly don't think the show needs to have a gay character because I don't think that Home and Away reflects today's society... Call me homophobic if that is what validates yourself and helps you sleep at night, but why should they introduce a gay character just for the sake of introducing a gay character?

Yeah it's true that it would have a negative reaction with some people, doesn't mean that it's right, and that's exactly why things should change. the question is I guess how do we help society understand homosexuality isn't some kind of evil or bad thing? I'm not entirely sure. Certainly not as bad as it used to be though. I guess time is the answer.

And I'm not going to call you homophobic, because I don't think your objection is to homosexuality itself, I don't think you're saying homosexuality is a bad thing, as far as I can tell.

[Therese K]

12 minutes ago, Matt said:

I'm about to be blasted for this, but do I really care? Not particularly.

I am in the seemingly small minority that doesn't think there should be a gay character on the show. Why? Well, why does there have to be one? Because society deems it so? I don't think it's homophobic, transphobic, whatever-phobic... Just because the writers don't introduce a gay character doesn't mean they hate them... We still live in a sheltered society, and unfortunately our government's stance on issues such as the Safe Schools Coalition and same-sex marriage unfortunately still dictate the societal movements that are show on our screens...

"But Neighbours has main characters who are gay"... And Neighbours is also not on a main channel, Neighbours is vastly less popular in Australia and Neighbours is about the reality of middle class Australian life... If anyone wants to argue that Home and Away is reflecting the current reality of middle class Australia, you'd have to be fooling yourself...

I lead the Safe Schools Coalition movement at my school, I support the rights of everyone, whatever sex, race, sexuality etc. Heck, my best friend is gay, but the reality is, however homophobic this may sound, as soon as you start showing public displays of affection between two members of the same sex on Australian national television, on a platform as large as Home and Away's, you are going to receive negative criticism.

My friend doesn't like the notion of the a gay character on TV because it brings attention onto the fact that he is, in the smallest part of his persona, different from everyone else. Why should he be made to feel uncomfortable? And let's face it, I don't like seeing gay couples kissing on my screen, but I don't like seeing straight couples kissing on my screen either.

I honestly don't think the show needs to have a gay character because I don't think that Home and Away reflects today's society... Call me homophobic if that is what validates yourself and helps you sleep at night, but why should they introduce a gay character just for the sake of introducing a gay character?

I don't know where to start with this... It's one thing to say you understand why Home and Away has no gay characters, but to literally say "I don't think they should have gay characters" is homophobic.

"Well, why does there have to be one? Because society deems it so?". Because minorities exist. Gay people exist. I'm obviously not Australian, so I don't know exactly how the situation is, but I'm pretty sure there is no censorship, homophobic government or not. They won't go to jail or pay a fine if they introduce a gay character. Home and Away could change attitudes, but if nobody stands up, and if nobody tries to change anything, nothing is going to change.

Nobody has ever said that Home and Away is "accurately reflecting the current reality of middle class Australia". TV shows thrive on drama, especially soaps, and that means that everything has to be over the top. That's not an excuse to pretend everyone in the world is straight. And HAA does actually represent a lot of other relevant modern problems and challenges, and they have taken on other controversial storylines. They've talked about abortion, racism, teacher/student relationships, cyber bullying, catfishing, teen pregnancy,  Abortion has been touched upon it does represent other relevant modern challenges, like cyber bullying, catfishing, drugs, sexual assault/rape, surrogacy, domestic violence, I could go on. What makes "being gay" the one topic they shouldn't touch? 

By the way, nobody likes being the "gay friend" in anyone's argument. "Why should he be made to feel uncomfortable?". Listen, I'm truly sorry that your friend is dealing with internalized homophobia. I mean it. But have you considered that if he saw himself accurately represented on TV, in a positive light, it could actually help him? Or it might help thousands of other lgbt people over the world, especially teens and children who are struggling? Those vulnerable teens are much more important than you not liking to see two people of the same gender kissing. (And if you don't like seeing straight people kissing, do you think Home and Away shouldn't have straight people either? No, didn't think so.)

"Why should they introduce a gay character just for the sake of introducing a gay character?" For every single reason I've mentioned above and in my other post. Because representation matters. (Did you read the Whoopi Goldberg quote?) I've heard people say that they used to be homophobic, and then they watched Glee. It sounds silly, but TV can really change the world. Studies have literally shown that "individuals who were exposed to LGBT characters on TV or in film were more likely to find themselves in favor of marriage equality" (source). And that's why it's important with gay characters on TV/Home and Away.

I'm sorry if you think this is me "blasting you", but this is a very important topic for me. I'm not interested in a fight, I just want to promote equality and fairness.

[Little bean]

There is a diversity thread here for anyone who might have missed it....

 

[Skylover]

Woah, just woah. I'm speechless. 

Think I'm gonna have to have some time to mull this over and post a proper response later.

Not sure I'll be going to Australia anytime soon now though 

[dee123]

3 hours ago, Matt said:

I'm about to be blasted for this, but do I really care? Not particularly.

I am in the seemingly small minority that doesn't think there should be a gay character on the show. Why? Well, why does there have to be one? Because society deems it so? I don't think it's homophobic, transphobic, whatever-phobic... Just because the writers don't introduce a gay character doesn't mean they hate them... We still live in a sheltered society, and unfortunately our government's stance on issues such as the Safe Schools Coalition and same-sex marriage unfortunately still dictate the societal movements that are show on our screens...

"But Neighbours has main characters who are gay"... And Neighbours is also not on a main channel, Neighbours is vastly less popular in Australia and Neighbours is about the reality of middle class Australian life... If anyone wants to argue that Home and Away is reflecting the current reality of middle class Australia, you'd have to be fooling yourself...

I lead the Safe Schools Coalition movement at my school, I support the rights of everyone, whatever sex, race, sexuality etc. Heck, my best friend is gay, but the reality is, however homophobic this may sound, as soon as you start showing public displays of affection between two members of the same sex on Australian national television, on a platform as large as Home and Away's, you are going to receive negative criticism.

My friend doesn't like the notion of the a gay character on TV because it brings attention onto the fact that he is, in the smallest part of his persona, different from everyone else. Why should he be made to feel uncomfortable? And let's face it, I don't like seeing gay couples kissing on my screen, but I don't like seeing straight couples kissing on my screen either.

I honestly don't think the show needs to have a gay character because I don't think that Home and Away reflects today's society... Call me homophobic if that is what validates yourself and helps you sleep at night, but why should they introduce a gay character just for the sake of introducing a gay character?

Wow. Really disappointing to be honest. OMG you actually trotted out the "My best friend is gay card" Hilarious... For all the wrong reasons.

[cadyctslover]

Fantastic post Therese K.

Matt, I find a lot of your posts unnecessarily provocative but this is a stand out example.

[Matt]

33 minutes ago, cadyctslover said:

Fantastic post Therese K.

Matt, I find a lot of your posts unnecessarily provocative but this is a stand out example.

Thank you - always here to impress

[Dan F]

We seem to be veering towards personal attacks here, and doing so to those who simply offer up a different opinion to your own doesn't really scream tolerance. It's also against our forum rules.

If you don't have anything to contribute to a discussion other than picking out parts of a long post to belittle someone, then please consider whether you need to post it. There's plenty of room for healthy debate without resorting to that.

In any case, as Littlebean has correctly pointed out, there's a whole thread for Diversity that they've kindly linked to.