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Rachel Cook with Iain Clacher
Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett says he will not apologise to the gay community for comments he made linking bisexuality to pedophilia.
Kennett unleashed a firestorm of anger on the weekend after he told a Melbourne newspaper that country football club Bonnie Doon was correct to sack its trainer of 22 years, Ken Campagnolo, after discovering he was bisexual.
“The club felt that once this had been pointed out and you had this gentleman there who was obviously close to young men – massaging young men – it ran an unnecessary risk, and that’s why it decided it was best that he not perform those duties again. So the club was trying to do the right thing,” Kennett told the Herald Sun.
“It’s the same if you have a pedophile there as a masseur, right?”
Kennett, who heads the national anti-depression initiative Beyondblue and is president of the Hawthorn Football Club, claimed his comments were taken out of context.
“I was trying to point out that when certain private issues become public, you do what you can to stop abuse, and to act in advance of misdemeanors,” he told MCV.
When asked if he would be making a public apology to the gay community, Kennett said: “Why would I? I haven’t offended the gay community. I was merely trying to illustrate a duty of care.”
Anne Mitchell, director of Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria, said Kennett’s comments were “disgraceful” and would fuel depression in young people.
“Most of us who are out and proud in the gay community will think ‘oh it’s this rubbish surfacing again’, but there are a hell of a lot of young GLBT people who are wondering how they will be accepted by family and friends, and when someone so prominent says this, it is very destructive,” Mitchell explained.
Media personality John Michael Howson also attacked Kennett’s comments.
“Can you imagine if you’re a young man and you reach that stage, 17, 18, and you realise you’re not quite like everybody else, and all you’ve ever heard is people talking about ‘poofters’ and ‘faggots’ and whatever?” Howson said on his 3AW radio program.
“You hear your family saying it and you hear your colleagues saying it, what sort of self-esteem do you have? You don’t think that turns into terrible depression and sometimes walking off to the barn with a bit of rope?”
The RJM Trust’s Rob Mitchell, who has been assisting Campagnolo in his legal battles, said he had assurances from Kennett on Monday afternoon that Beyond Blue “are committed to improving mental health outcomes in the GLBTI community”.
“As a result of my conversation with Mr Kennett I will be meeting with senior members of Beyond Blue [on] Friday to talk about stepping up their efforts in the GLBTI community,” Mitchell told MCV.
Following Kennett’s comments, former Essendon Coach Kevin Sheedy wrote in the Sunday Herald Sun: “The stigma attached to homosexuality has become almost non-existent, and to the first Australian Rules footballer who comes out, I say good on you.”
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