The sum of us: Rugby league hero Steve Mortimer proud of his son's gay union

[Rex]

Just because some people don't like or approve of something it does not mean they have a "Phobia" or have a fear . Just like you have your opinion I have mine .
In regards to the PC screen saver I shared that scene was from the festive Mardi Gras in Oxford street . This is how they celebrate and parade them selves. Some guys get turned on by this . Do you bones ? If you do good luck to you .

So some people dress up for a parade and celebration - and you don't like or approve of it? Really?

What are you afraid of Bozo?

 

[HappilyManly]

King Dog supporting the Gay Mardi Gras 2016

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/co...way-to-go-but-at-least-rugby-league-is-trying

Jason King can’t dance. A former front-rower in the National Rugby League, he was captain of Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and a huge presence who thundered about the field like a Brahman bull. And watching him bop about to thumping bass beats aboard a float in Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is equal parts amusing and endearing. Because King, like rugby league, is having a go.

King and several other league luminaries are representing the game on the “Gayme On” float, a PR exercise looking to attach the NRL’s brand to the Mardi Gras, and show off the code to the 300,000 people lining the parade route, and to millions via traditional and social media. The “GAYNZ” bank with their “GayTMs” is looking to achieve the same thing.

The float’s tagline is “Pride in League” which declares that you can be proud of who you are in rugby league no matter your sexuality. And it’s a fine sentiment. It’s also largely bull****. In the 20 years since Ian Roberts famously came out to team-mates and the league-watching public, there have been exactly zero openly gay players in the National Rugby League. Not a one.

Yet the new dawn of rugby league inclusiveness starts here aboard this jaunty little float. This is the vanguard of the NRL’s attempt to position rugby league as the most cool, progressive, inclusive sporting code in the land. Rugby league, after a knuckle-dragging past, is doing its best.

“It’s about helping people’s lives, making people feel comfortable in the rugby league community,” says float organiser Paul Langmack. “Whether you’re from Dubbo, Cabramatta or play in the NRL, if you’re lesbian or transgender, you should feel comfortable.

“It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past, mate, it’s about now. We could be dead tomorrow. It’s about helping people and making people happy, looking after your mates. And if you’re involved in rugby league you’re my mate and that’s all that matters.”

But pride in league? Without a single out-n-proud gay player in the National Rugby League? Without a currently-serving NRL player, gay or straight, aboard the float? As a wise man once said: yeah-nah.

Why yeah-nah? There are openly gay people in every walk of life, even in the church. Gay people can fix your teeth, campaign in a safe Liberal seat or fight for your freedom in Iraq. They can arrest you, massage you and fix your car. But they can’t entertain you on the footy field? At least while they’re honestly being themselves?

There is a gay referee, Matt Cecchin, who came out to maybe a week of publicity. And then most everyone got on with things (as almost everyone would if there was marriage equality, another story). It made no difference to the man’s refereeing – people still screeched at him to “get ‘em onside” as they have since time immemorial. But he isn’t “Matt Cecchin, gay referee”. He’s Matt Cecchin, the ref who happens to be gay, just as he happens to have black hair. People almost forget it.

It helped Roberts that he was six-foot-five with arms like pork roasts, and could fight like a very angry bouncer. But it still took courage and maturity. Roberts was 30 when he came out. Courage? Nearby our float is the 78ers one, the original protest people who were bashed by police and risked being thrown off cliffs.Disappeared. That’s bravery. They should be awarded medals for bravery. Certainly they are honoured this time every year by their tribe.

There are no out-n-proud (male) elite-level rugby union, Australian rules footy, A-League football or cricket players, though those sports have active gay clubs. Sydney’s Convicts have a 100-odd players, three grades and huge corporate support. There’s been famous gay swimmers. Field hockey has the Bent Stix. Golf has Karrie Webb.

And rugby league has a float.

Maybe it’s enough. Maybe the beginning is the thing. The declaration of support, the symbolism of that first baby step. Maybe the NRL’s brave (or not so brave, or in fact actually quite beneficial to their brand) jaunt up Oxford Street into the night and among the teeming masses, maybe it’s enough to convince one or two or five or 50 gay rugby league players to open up and declare themselves themselves.

But I doubt it, at least for a while. There isn’t a currently-serving NRL player, gay or otherwise, on the float. Instead it’s a bunch of “Ambassadors” out for a lark on a Saturday night at no personal cost. Well-intentioned, good people, for sure. But nothing to lose. And young rugby league players won’t feel comfortable announcing their sexuality to team-mates and the world until something tangible actually happens – someone comes out. And then someone else does. And another one, until it’s no longer news. And until the code, “the game” does something tangible to attract the LGBTQI community to rugby league, the float will remain a platitude. And closeted gays in dressing sheds aren’t stupid – they’re living the reality.

According to their website, the NRL’s “welfare and education forums on homophobia have reached over 5,000 players and officials from all walks of rugby league life, but this weekend’s spectacle will be it loudest message to fans.” So there you go.

And so we wave goodbye to King and Langmack and a happy crew of nice league people aboard the NRL’s Mardi Gras float as it chugs up Oxford Street with its awkward performers, the first baby steps of a former dinosaur, creaking into the brave new world. It’s a PR exercise, in the main. And largely symbolic. But rugby league is doing its best. And at least they’re having a go.

 

[bones]

Just because some people don't like or approve of something it does not mean they have a "Phobia" or have a fear . Just like you have your opinion I have mine .
In regards to the PC screen saver I shared that scene was from the festive Mardi Gras in Oxford street . This is how they celebrate and parade them selves. Some guys get turned on by this . Do you bones ? If you do good luck to you .

To answer your question, No, that picture you posted does absolutely nothing to turn me on. But it doesn't make me hate them or even dislike them. Why would I dislike someone for having fun without causing harm to anyone else? I know this may sound strange to you, but I prefer to base my opinion of people on whether or not they are a decent person, and how they treat others, not on whether they turn me on.

 

[Ralphie]

What would you have done if one of your children ever told you they were gay?

I would have been disappointed, but I would have been accepting. I have never said anything about not tolerating, I have maintained always that how adults choose to live their lives is a matter completely for them.

 

[Ralphie]

What right do you have to APPROVE or disapprove of someone else's sexual orientation? How arrogant is that? Are you God? Self-appointed moral police?

Your business: Someone else's behaviour directly impacts on you

Not your business: Someone else's behaviour that doesn't impact you.

So explain to me how two people - irrespective of sex - loving each other adversely impacts you? Where's the harm to anyone else?

I have every right to reach a judgement about what is and what is not in accord with my moral compass. To not do so would be to utterly fail in my obligation to teach my children. Alcoholism is a classic example, are you saying I have no right to judge alcoholism (A largely genetic affliction) as a poor way for someone to live their life. I taught my kids to understand and tolerate, but to make life choices in accordance with the moral compass we have imparted to them.

As is always the case with people on such subjects, you are completely intolerant of others who have a different point of view on this subject and in the end resort to aggressive and abusive language.

 

[sheridanstand78]

I would have been disappointed, but I would have been accepting. I have never said anything about not tolerating, I have maintained always that how adults choose to live their lives is a matter completely for them.

Being gay is NOT a choice!

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Twenty one years on and no one else in the nrl top grade has come out.
Just makes you realise how brave a decision it was by Roberts.

Especially at the time , a maverick really!

 

[Rex]

I have every right to reach a judgement about what is and what is not in accord with my moral compass. To not do so would be to utterly fail in my obligation to teach my children. Alcoholism is a classic example, are you saying I have no right to judge alcoholism (A largely genetic affliction) as a poor way for someone to live their life. I taught my kids to understand and tolerate, but to make life choices in accordance with the moral compass we have imparted to them.

As is always the case with people on such subjects, you are completely intolerant of others who have a different point of view on this subject and in the end resort to aggressive and abusive language.

So you are intolerant of me questioning the validity of your moralistic attitudes about others.

I have asked you how two people quietly going about their business - loving each other - causes you or anyone else any harm. I have asked how that is any business of yours.

You have totally avoided these questions and diverted with a personal attack. Understandable, but doesn't get us any closer to the truth.

 

[Brookie Brawler]

Alcoholism is a classic example, are you saying I have no right to judge alcoholism (A largely genetic affliction) as a poor way for someone to live their life. I taught my kids to understand and tolerate, but to make life choices in accordance with the moral compass we have imparted to them.

Wait - so just to be clear, are you saying that alcoholism is a perfect analogy for homosexuality because it is a "genetic affliction" and "a poor way for someone to live their life"?

Are you saying that homosexuality, like alcoholism, is a disease that is best controlled by total abstinence?

If that's not what you are trying to say (and I hope it isn't) maybe you could clarify what you meant in the above post?

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

To answer your question, No, that picture you posted does absolutely nothing to turn me on. But it doesn't make me hate them or even dislike them. Why would I dislike someone for having fun without causing harm to anyone else? I know this may sound strange to you, but I prefer to base my opinion of people on whether or not they are a decent person, and how they treat others, not on whether they turn me on.

Quality people are just that, quality people.

Straight , Gay, Black, Yellow, purple for that matter.

It's not how a person looks or their background it's how they act.

Don't worry I've seen some people that come from money, are well educated , and come from the " right side " of town be some real dickheads.

It's how you act and treat other humans that's the real show of how a person is.

 

[Budgie]

Once more for the dummies. For most, sexuality is not a choice. I struggled with it from the beginning of adolescence when it became painfully obvious to me that I was different. I accepted it eventually but hid it from my mother because all her dreams were about my wedding, her grandchildren. Based on her assertion that she'd love me no matter what, I came out to her in my twenties and what followed was ten years of her refusing to speak to me. Over the years I've seen the same thing happen to so many of my friends and that doesn't get into the taunts, fears, etc.
Strangely, what brought my mother around was a homophobic conversation with a bunch of friends who all assumed she was on board with the 'gays are such hateful beings' line. She got defensive and came out to them as the mother of such a being.
While the trauma is behind me and I'm now just a happy big 'ol dyke, I still feel very much for the young men and women who are still the subject of so much ill feeling. Please think of them when you make your statements of hate and derision. Some of them are Manly supporters ffs!
It is pleasing how much positivity there has been in this thread. Well done kids!
Finally, I'd like you all to think about how often you've thought whether you should mention your sexually on a footy forum. And if you think that has nothing to do with it, then think about how often you talk about your wives, call someone a good sort, or assume female supporters think a guy is hot. All quite natural and enjoyable but all with a huge assumption behind it.
Sorry to be a bit of a bore in this.
Go the Might Sea Eagles!

 

[Volley]

I have every right to reach a judgement about what is and what is not in accord with my moral compass. To not do so would be to utterly fail in my obligation to teach my children. Alcoholism is a classic example, are you saying I have no right to judge alcoholism (A largely genetic affliction) as a poor way for someone to live their life. I taught my kids to understand and tolerate, but to make life choices in accordance with the moral compass we have imparted to them.

As is always the case with people on such subjects, you are completely intolerant of others who have a different point of view on this subject and in the end resort to aggressive and abusive language.

Comparing alcoholism with homosexuality shows how out of touch you really are.

 

[bob dylan]

The real cockhead wore a blue and jersey for many years.

 

[globaleagle]

I'm now just a happy big 'ol dyke,

Must admit...I did a bit of a lol at this sentence!


I dunno....I look around Canada-land who have had Gay marriage for about 12 years now.....and the place hasn't exploded yet! Its its its like it's made little difference to many people and improved the quality of life of a ton more.

It's nice living in a land that has a charter of rights and freedoms. 🙂

(not saying everyone has to get married!)

 

[Chip and Chase]

This thread reminds me of the Andrew Webster thread from last year.

 

[niccipops]

@HappilyManly thanks for that article. Jason King is an absolute legend.

Some great posts on here. Not that long ago Indigenous people couldn't swim in the same pools, drink in the same bars as white fellas, or vote. Women have been through the same thing.
Teaching future generations to respect the humanity of people and their choices is how we can make progress.

Love your work Sheldon.

 

[Captain Moondog]

And I'd like to point out that there's nothing wrong with being an alcoholic so long as you drink in the closet.

 

[bones]

And I'd like to point out that there's nothing wrong with being an alcoholic so long as you drink in the closet.

There's nothing wrong with drinking, so long as you are drinking a beverage which has been given @BOZO's approval.

 

[lsz]

I can not help but think in time we will look back at the lack of acceptance of gay marriage with the same embarrassment as the way indigenous (and women) have been treated in the past

 

[Chip and Chase]

Is the resistance to Gay marriage anything other than something based on religious beliefs ?? If it is, can someone explain to me what the logical reason for not allowing it is, because I can't figure it out.

You would think that a group of people who wish to be afforded the right to worship whatever omnipotent being they believe lives in the sky, would also respect the right of another group to marry whomever they choose.

I'm as equally perplexed about how long we have been dragging our feet on the gay marriage issue as I am about our resistance to becoming a republic.