Saturday, May 03, 2008

Saints ace wants gay jibes ban - full text


Russell Robinson - Herald Sun - May 03, 2008 12:00am

Former St Kilda champ Nathan Burke teams up with a farmer to press the AFL to introduce rules protecting gays and bisexual people from sexual vilification

NATHAN Burke quickly learned never to take a backward step.

Frankston’s Pines estate was tough and the kids who survived were flint-hard or could run fast.
Those who didn’t adapt, the so- called sissies and pansies, were generally ostracised.

The St Kilda champion draws on those experiences to guide him.

Such was the case when he took a telephone call from gay activist Rob Mitchell for his help.
It took less than five seconds for the former Saints skipper to agree.

Together, this duo is fighting for gay rights in Victorian sports clubs, and Burke believes they’ll have little trouble recruiting other champion athletes.

They have already seen Victorian Youth and Sports Minister James Merlino, who has promised his support.

Now they’re looking to the Australian Football League in the hope of establishing an education program, and a system of penalties and sanctions similar to its successful racial vilification measures.

“I grew up in a tough part of Frankston and’ can visualise kids who’d been branded as sissies, pansies, or who played with the girls,” Burke says.

When it came time to play football at lunchtime they’d be told to, Go back and play with the girls, you’re not playing with us.

As you grow older you start to realise the harm you were possibly causing, even though you might not have been one of the Instigators.

“The fact that you didn’t actually stand up and do something about it at the time, you still feel it, By being passive you are still culpable.”

He says that was a reason to accept Mitchell’s invitation.

“When Rob rang me and identified the problem I could’ve been passive and just wished him good luck, but that would’ve been perpetuating what did as a kid,” Burke says.

In a separate development this week, the Federal Government announced it would scrap discrimination against gays in Commonwealth laws.

More than 100 amendments will be introduced to Parliament next month in areas ranging from superannuation, taxation, social security and health care.

But in the community vilification of gay, lesbian and bisexual youth, particularly in sports clubs and rural areas, remains an alarming social problem.

Depression awareness group beyond- blue says recent studies have found gay men aged between 18-24 are 3.7 times more likely to try to commit suicide.

Most of these attempts occurred after they had identified themselves as gay, but before they had a same-sex experience and before outing themselves.

Mitchell, 44, says he chose Burke because of his football profile and his experience as a player during the controversial racial vilification times.

‘For me, it’s all part of the same thread. You’re discriminating against someone for something that can’t be changed,” says Mitchell, a farmer and computer programmer.

But is the problem so significant to warrant more rules and sanctions?

“That depends on what criterion you use,” replies Mitchell. Maybe the numbers are fewer, but let’s look at the impact because what happens to the people on the receiving end of the vilification — their risk of suicidal thought more than triples.

“So, let’s say in Victoria there are 10.000 people being vilified because of their sexual orientation.

“If you gathered them together on a football oval, would you be prepared to tell them: ‘We’re not going to look after you because there’s not enough of you being degraded?’

‘That’s the message you’re sending to them. Then there are those standing on the sidelines who get an implicit message that it’s OK to vilify people.’

Burke, who retired five years ago after 323 games and was recently appointed a St Kilda director, works for a management consultancy with expertise in cultural change.

“I dare say that among the 600-plus AFL footballers there would be a gay player . . the statistics show that would be the case,” he says.

“So, why haven’t they come out like (former rugby league champion) Ian Roberts? I don’t know,
“I’m pretty sure nowadays that at an AFL level it wouldn’t be a problem for the other players. We’ve all moved on,”

Burke says throughout his career stones circulated about certain footballers including teammates.

‘But they were rumours, There Was nothing concrete,” he says.
“You’d get players from other clubs coming up and saying things like, ‘This bloke hasn’t got a girt, and ‘The boys are really suss about him’.”

Burke recalls the AFL's initial approach to racial and religious vilification on the field and the players’ reactions.

“First of all the league had to get a policy in writing, because just to go around and tell people they shouldn’t abuse people racially would never have taken hold.

“That’s no way to change a culture. By having it in writing, that keeps the players accountable.

“Then the AFL needed some high profile champions to push the cause, such as (Bomber) Michael Long, and before him (Saint) Nicky Winmar.

‘Now they have an education program which every player goes through every year. I sat through the initial ones and there was a lot of scepticism, with questions like, ‘They call themselves wogs, so why can’t we cal] them wogs?

‘Then after every year the skepticism gradually wore off,”

Burke believes the change occurred because some players became aware of the social significance, some feared the penalties and others respected Long and others who pushed for reform.

Burke and Mitchell have had talks with senior AFL officials. Now they want to see AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou copy the racial program to protect gay and bisexual players.

They want to show him the dramatic statistics of suicides by young gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
The State Government has taken steps to counter anti-gay bias.

Alter their meeting with Merlino the pair were told in a letter of an impending manual to help sports leagues and clubs on governance.

“I anticipate there will be a chapter in the manual on the topic of combating discrimination in all Its forms . . . It would be useful to get your group’s input into the drafting of this particular chapter,” Merlino wrote,

Burke knows change is overdue.

“As a friend of mine recently said, ‘You can only whinge for so long’.”


ANYONE with personal problems can call Lifeline on 131 114; Victorian Statewide Suicide Helpline on 1300 651 251.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Keep up the great work lads, being visible is the first step of decreasing homophobia!