discovered this while listening to jon faine this morning. originally the premise seemed to be that a hotel in collingwood had, via vtac, obtained an exemtion from the equal oppertunity legislation meaning they would be able to deny entry to heterosexuals.
i have to say, my immediate reaction was one of 'hey hey hey, hold on a second. i thought it was all about equality'. then, afterwards, i kind of felt bad for thinking that, really having no experience in being a member of a minority in the community in any way, shape or form. middle class, dude-shaped & white. i mean seriously.
but when the stated objective is to prevent insults and abuse being directed at its mainly gay patrons, i wonder why that kind of behavior can't be directly delt with rather than excluding someone based on their sexual persuasion. i've got several gay male friends, and i'd like to think if they were all like 'omg dude, lets go rock it up at the peel hotel', i'd be able to come along with them and enjoy their company in a venue of their choice.
to be honest, i feel vaguely uncomfortable about having any strong opinions regarding this. i'm kind of not sure why, either.
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I know exactly what you mean.
Actually, I'm pretty sure it's not excluding all of the hetero variety - namely, if you were to appear with your homosexualising friends you'd most likely be waved in with nary a gay litmus test in sight. From what I can understand they're trying to stem the flow of pissed-up suburban hens standing around shrieking at the awesomeness of bumsex/leather chaps, and I can't say I blame them.
The Peel is almost my local. Let's make a night of it and drop by the steam joint on the way home.
edit: i can't spell
i just heard a few talkback calls from folks on the abc, and one in particular about a work friends going away thing sounded kind of ouch - said gay work friend was allowed in, straight office buddies were denied.
straight to the steam joint, i say.
Do they actually ask what your sexuality is at the door?
I can understand not wanting to be a sideshow, but really... How rude!
Yet it's perfectly okay for gay men to stand around shrieking wildly at ridiculous and overinflated impersonations of women a la the time honoured tradition of drag?
What bothers me is that it's not just straight people that can technically be refused entry, but lesbians too. This latter exclusion seems to me to have far less to do with wanting to create a 'comfortable' environment for gay men than it does about blatant misogyny and an unfortunate tendency of some people to think that women are completely superfluous to the world. How can gay women possibly make gay men feel rationally uncomfortable?
The whole thing's ridiculous, and I don't feel uncomfortable having an opinion on it just because I don't happen to be a gay man.
Did you hear Jon's follow up on Tuesday about the Greyhound? Or as he quipped, "The Gayhound"?
Conversation after show finished.
Me: Nice haircut, Jon.
Jon: Thanks.
Me: The gays'd love it.
Jon: Yeah, you think? I'd go down well at the Greyhound tonight!
Me: Probably not the wording I would have gone with.
Jon: (blank look)
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