 Topic: Aussie stars still hide
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aManOnaJourney
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| Posted: 28 March 2009 at 11:39pm | IP Logged
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It's still not OK for Aussie stars to be gay
By Myles Wearring NEWS.com.au March 6, 2009
WE may be living in a post-Will & Grace 21st century but Aussie celebrities are still being advised to stay in the closet.
Olympic gold medal-winner Mathew Mitcham has revealed he thought twice about coming out after being advised it would damage his chances of getting sponsorship - and many believe it did.
One celebrity talent manager, who did not wish to be named, told news.com.au he advised clients not to discuss their sexuality, even if everyone knew they were gay, because homophobia was still rampant amongst the gatekeepers of the Aussie media, particularly in television.
Another agent, showbiz veteran Harry M Miller, said he couldn’t see why stars should discuss their sexuality at all - because it’s nobody’s business.
News.com.au had a hard time getting anyone from Australia’s handful of openly gay celebrities to speak about their experiences publicly. Apart from sports star Mitcham, who was happy to talk, everyone else was said to be "too busy".
We invited TV star Tim Campbell and his boyfriend, singer Anthony Callea, as well as MTV presenter Ruby Rose to comment. We requested an interview with musician Missy Higgins, who last year came out as bisexual, and man-of-the-moment Sam Sparro, but he had left the country.
Miller, whose clients include Stuart Diver, Deborah Hutton and Collette Dinnigan, said he would never try to persuade a client not to come out if they wanted to, but didn’t see why they should.
“There are a lot of people who are still very homophobic, but my view is I don’t think it matters a rat’s arse whether somebody outs themselves or doesn’t,” Miller said.
Miller said his most famous gay client was Graham Kennedy, who never hid his sexuality but never spoke about it publicly either.
He said he knew of stars who were told to stay in the closet, “but that was a fair while ago”. “Society’s changed, we live in a different world now," he said. "I think it’s a mixture of outrageousness and stupidity from management to advise anybody to declare themselves gay or straight because I don’t think it matters and I don’t think it’s anybody’s business."
It did matter to diver Mitcham. The 21-year-old, who was the only openly gay male athlete at the Beijing Olympics, said he came out because he wanted to be true to himself and the Australian public.
“I wanted to go into the Olympics with people knowing exactly who I was and exactly who they were going to support,” he said. “I would have felt like I was lying by omission. It would have felt a bit deceitful to hide such a huge aspect of my life and my personality and who I am.”
He said it was “really humbling and touching” to now be seen as a role model to younger gays and lesbians, particularly as he struggled to come to terms with his own sexuality as a teenager and used “to flick a rubber band on my wrist every time I thought about boys”.
This weekend he’s leading the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.
However friends and colleagues advised him not to come out as his diving career began to take off.
“I did have one or two people try to dissuade me because they thought it would be much easier for me if they didn’t know I was gay,” he said. “They thought being gay would affect my sponsorship.”
When other Beijing medal-winners, such as Stephanie Rice and Libby Tricket, quickly got sponsorship deals and Mitcham didn’t, there was intense media speculation they wouldn’t touch him because he was openly gay. Mitcham looked genuinely saddened when discussing the matter.
“I’d like to think Australia is progressive enough for that not to be an issue,” Mitcham said. “I would like to think that, and so I will, I will be positive about that.”
He finally got a sponsor February 2009 when Telstra signed him up as the face of the company. He’s also been named as a men’s health ambassador for the Rudd Government.
"I’m happy," Mitcham said. "I had nothing but positive experiences and nothing but positive things came my way afterwards."
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,28383,25143109- 5013560,00.html
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