Been There Done That

12 Oct 2018

Be nice, work hard and keep your head down.

Activism, Community, Diversity, History, Homophobia, Nature

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Be nice, work hard and keep your head down.

This week, Gordon tells of his recent viewing of a family-friendly comedy movie – “Crazy Rich Asians” and how it presents the usual family crisis when preparing for a wedding, but with cultural differences from the Singaporean Chinese family. From recent press reports, we learn that many rich Singaporeans are in favour of GLBTIQ equality and rights, and are contributing their money to support the activists.

We compare the way two gay icons lived their lives by being discrete and non-controversial. The two icons both with birthdays this month are Ian Thorpe – our recent gold-medal winning Olympic swimming sensation. The other is the pop singer Cliff Richards – for over 50 years he has presented a clean image, only blemished by a recent unsubstantiated attack on his ‘niceness’.

At this time, we remember the horrific hate crime committed in 1998 on Mathew Shepard – killed at the age of 22 years for ‘being gay’. And we also remember that at this time in October 1944, when 800 innocent gypsy children were murdered in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz.
In contrast, Switzerland has just outlawed expressions of homophobia and transphobia, including terms of imprisonment for breaches of this new law. We trust that the world is becoming more considerate and enlightened.

We chat about the innocent creatures in our Melbourne city zoo, and express our gratitude for the efforts in preserving species and respecting the dignity and living conditions of captive animals in open zoos.

Listen to these stories, opinions and more – presented with some merriment (where appropriate) by Chris, Gordon & Phil.

Show #825 – First broadcast on 9 October 2018