Ignorance Benefits None

Brian, Brian, Brian – how I pity you.

A recent story on Pinknews (which you can read here) has caused mixed feelings in me. At first I was purely angry at Brian Sewell – the art critic mentioned in the story – but gradually I also began to pity him. This poor, poor man has such a twisted, self-hatred that seeing happy LGBT... people on television has caused him to feel so much shame that he feels the need to take it out on the writers of British Soaps.

But I am still angry. So, I’d like to take this opportunity to educate any people who share this – apparently bisexual – man’s views.

According to Pinknews, Sewell wrote (in the Daily Mail – big surprise), that the wide range of LGBT characters in soaps make “sane” viewers feel their noses are being “rubbed in it”. I’m sorry, are you saying that those people who have no problem with LGBT... characters are insane? Because that itself, is insane. The people you are describing as sane are those who have a form of prejudice towards people. If prejudice is sane then I think I’m happy to take the label of insanity.

Also, the “wide range of LGBT characters” are representing the public. You don’t hear people complaining about the large amount of hetero-normative characters do you? No and that’s because they are typical of everyday life, as are LGBT people.

Just to clarify, people are not having their noses “rubbed” in anything, they are being shown storylines that are realistic and relevant to the 21^st Century – that’s where we are now, in case you missed it.

The 79 year old also wrote; “There’s too much, not only of Gay men – who are estimated to make up just six per cent of the population, but who dominate the storylines in the soap – but also of lesbians, bisexuals, the trans-gender community, cross-dressers and everyone else with some sexual quirk or fetish.” Okay, let’s start with a summary of this. Basically he has just said “minorities don’t deserve their own storylines” and, “not being hetero-normative means you have a fetish”.

Now, something to educate people, the stories and characters are kept representative. In EastEnders there is one Gay couple; in Emmerdale there is one main Gay character (now), and Coronation Street is the most inclusive as they have, one Transgender character, one Gay-male couple and one teenage Lesbian couple – not exactly an unfamiliar sight in Manchester. Yes, these characters are given big storylines and this is because – now hold on to your hat – LGBT people have lives too and events that happen in an LGBT person’s life are just as valid for storylines as those that take place in a heterosexual/hetero-normative person’s life.

Sewell wrote about Coronation Street, “Is it true that the lives of heterosexual Mancunians are haplessly intertwined with transvestites, transsexuals, teenage lesbians and a horde of homosexuals across the age range? Is Manchester now the Sodom of the North?”

As I previously stated, there is one Transgender person, one same-sex male couple and one Lesbian couple on Coronation Street. Manchester is a diverse city with a variety of people and has a very varied population. It is not uncommon to see two same-sex couples and a transgender individual in one town in a city that has held World Pride. I mean come on! I live in a rural town with about 5 churches in it and even here we have two same-sex male couples and a few lesbians – so if our conservative little shit-hole can do it then a town in Manchester surely can.

Sewell continued his flowing stream of nonsensical bullshit by stating that the BBC spreads “sexual propaganda” to “pre-pubescent children” by showing these couples. He then asked whether Gay relationships were suitable for pre-watershed television, “The dear old egalitarian BBC protested that its policy is to portray Gay and hetero- sexual relationships in exactly the same way, both equally suitable for pre-watershed viewing. But are they equally suitable?”

I expect this from extremely-religious and/or very conservative straight people but from a bisexual art critic?! Same-sex relationships are no more or less suitable for pre-watershed TV than heterosexual relationships are. At the end of the day saying that same-sex couples (male or female) are inappropriate is just promoting the idea that we are bad, shameful and society’s dirty little secret. Letting people believe that we are different and therefore we’re bad. ENOUGH!!!!! I don’t accept this view from the conservative bashers of various holy scriptures – why would I accept it from a bisexual person involved in the liberal arts? Seriously, this view is about as old as the Popes who push/have pushed it (combined).

 I doubt you’ll ever see this Brian, but just in case – grow up already! You’ve labelled yourself bisexual now you need to accept it and allow yourself to get with that man that you’ve had your eye on for ages but haven’t had the guts to make a move on because of the crippling hatred you’ve had towards yourself. It’s not enough to place the label on yourself, you have to accept the fact that it is you; you don’t go around saying that your attraction to men is a “disability” and an “affliction”.

I can’t get over the fact that this argument came from a self-proclaimed bisexual. A person who is attracted to members of the same sex, saying that same-sex relationships are inappropriate for TV and that LGBT people shouldn’t have storylines in Soaps, just doesn’t fit in my head. As far as I’m concerned it is an unfathomable concept. I know there are homophobic homosexuals out there, even I went through a stage of that but I never said that other people shouldn’t show their love and they shouldn’t be represented on TV. I don’t have the right to say that and neither does anyone else.

The fact of the matter is, as long as people exist they will be represented on TV. Whether they are disabled, Gay, teachers, immigrants, paedophiles, murderers, what ever – as long as they are around you’ll see them. And keeping children “innocent” about the existence of LGBT people is pointless because they know about straight people from day one – with fairytales promoting the hetero-normative lifestyle and saying that the main aim of any female is to get kissed by a hot guy. Any kids going around thinking “I’m not like that” is not benefiting from being kept ignorant of LGBT people are they?

Even straight kids who are kept oblivious are not better off – they’re going to find out about LGBT people eventually and if they know about it from early on then the presence of LGBT people will not be such a big deal later on. Also, if they know about LGBT people then they are less likely to bully kids who come out later on – which makes life easier for everyone.

And to quote the great Paul O’Grady, “Get over yourselves papers! There are gay people in the world! There are gay people on telly! In fact if you got rid of all the gay people there'd be no TV!”