Yesterday I was fortunate enough to attend a session of LGBTIQ training.
The presenter of this training, a woman from a ho
mosexual human resources advocacy organisation stressed that there are still some gay, lesbian, bisexual, inter-sex, trangender and queer people who are ‘in the closet’ for various reasons, and are not yet ‘out and proud’.
The training session gave me several things to think about. The first was that although the training could’ve been worse, we all knew there were ‘right’ answers to the questions we were being asked, and that dissenting opinions would be unwelcomed.
The second thing I thought of was XYZ.
Whilst most homosexual people are ‘out and proud’ in Australia in 2015, several of our contributors at your XYZ remain in the closet and write under pseudonymous. Whilst Australia has become quite accepting of gay and lesbians in the life and leadership of our nation, those who question or challenge the prevailing progressive culture and media are not.
Surely this is an indictment on the state of freedom of speech in our nation, a value that we at XYZ not only seek to preserve, but advocate for.
There is much work that needs to be done. Perhaps you yourself are one who is forced to live a life ‘in the closet’, at work, at home, or elsewhere, because you, like us, have your own thoughts, and do not simply accept what we are told we much by the chattering classes.
We look forward to the time that Vic Timms, Keating, Apache, and Boethius our resident philosopher can break out of the closet and be truly liberated, and accepted as the people they truly are, without the fear of discrimination or reprisal.
We look forward to that day that all of at your XYZ can be ‘out and proud’.
We look forward to that day…