A REPLY FROM A SENATOR!

Here is a reply I got from my letter to Senator Bryan Greig. Very exciting stuff!



I hardly think the accurate reflection of Australian society on TV can be called "dogma." If you have a religious objection to the segment on lesbian mums, then you really should say so.

Far from being "indoctrinated" and endangering "impressionable young minds", the honest and accurate reflection of diverse families on *our* ABC is to be welcomed.

The book that was read on the show was produced, in part, by funding from the NSW State Government Attorney General's Department, as part of it's anti-violence programming. The book is distributed in schools as a way to help educate students and minimise homophobic violence. I can only applaud that.

There are thousands of kids around Australia being raised by same-sex parents, and it's common for kindergartens, particularly in inner city areas, to have lesbian and gay parents among their clients.

The ABC has a mandate and duty to reflect Australian culture and the diversity of everyday life. In spite of you own "shock", children are not fazed by these things. Indeed, prejudice is a leaned behaviour.

I think it's great that children in same-sex households are now finding themselves reflected in their own media. It will help break down the isolation and prejudice they no doubt feel and experience from dominant culture.

It was not that long ago when blacks, Asians and disabled people were discreetly censored from Australian TV, as white bread, picket fences and English speaking culture ruled over everything.

We live in a different world. Censoring it is pointless and, in the long term, damaging.

Perhaps if you met some kids being raised in same-sex households, and talked to then, your fears would be alleviated?

As with most parents, you also assume that your own children are, or will be, heterosexual. Many parents learn in their kid's teenage years that this is not the case. I hope for them, that if they should discover as they awaken to adulthood that they are not heterosexual, then your own attitudes might be more enlightened and accepting than they seem to be now.

It was my own experience, that seeing positive images on TV about gay and lesbian people, helped greatly with my own coming out as a teenager. If this type of community education is going to start at younger ages - all the better.

Kind regards,
Brian Greig
CANBERRA