Over the last couple weeks, controversy has been brewing over a much publicised episode of Channel Seven’s stalwart soapie ‘Home and Away’, in which two female characters, Charlie Buckton (Esther Anderson) and Joey Collins (Katie Bell), are seen kissing. When so-called ‘conservative groups’ got wind of the lesbian storyline the all too familiar cries of disgust and outrage – coupled with the tiresome accusations of moral impropriety – were splashed liberally across the domestic and international media.

However, in spite of the myriad criticisms and complaints that Seven has reportedly received since the lesbian love-plot began some six weeks ago, ‘the kiss’ was aired on last night’s episode of ‘Home and Away’. Kinda.

You see, when filming the more intimate moments between Charlie and Joey, two scenes were put to tape. The first being ‘a very gentle, loving, sensual, tender kiss’ – according to Bevan Lee, the Head of Creative Drama and Development at Seven – and the second being ‘a more lusty follow up’. Only the former made it to air.

According to an article in ‘The Australian’ newspaper, Channel Seven decided to remove the second kiss from the episode in order to appease ‘conservative lobby groups’ and prevent the further loss of ratings. The aforementioned Mr Lee, however, argues that the lustier kiss was removed purely for artistic reasons and that the article appearing in ‘The Australian’ was an ill-informed beat-up.

To be honest, I don’t think it matters why the second kiss was removed, but it does matter why we are still having this debate at all. Why such outrage over a simple kiss?

Aaah, but of course, it’s not just any kiss, it’s the most feared of all the small screen kisses – the gay kiss. Seriously, are we still living in the 1950s here? Do we still honestly believe that homosexuality is a disease?

Apparently we do. Feast your vile jellies on this completely unbiased clip from ‘Today Tonight’ that in no way seeks to defend ‘Home and Away’ based purely on the fact that the two programmes belong to the same network. More specifically, let’s focus on the drivel that spews forth from ‘youth minister’ Andrew Bynes – he’s the annoying little weed that we first see 53 seconds into the clip.

The following statement of his seems to be fairly representative of the argument employed by the conservative lobby groups – ‘I know my little kids are very impressionable, they believe what they see on TV, most of the time, and this kind of model of relationships and morality is actually undermining what me (sic.) as a parent is trying to do in my own home’. That’s right folks, we gotta protect them kids.

I’m being slightly conservative myself when I say that I only have three concerns with Mr Bynes statement. First of all, why is it that ‘Home and Away’ is able to frequently air plotlines that deal with drug use, murder and rape and no one expresses a concern about the potential effects that such themes might have on children, but yet a simple lesbian kiss – the culmination of a romantic plotline some six weeks in length – has the conservatives up in arms?

Secondly, Mr Bynes, if you have such a problem with the ‘model of relationships’ being presented to your young children by such television shows, then turn the TV off. Problem solved.

Finally, and far more importantly, isn’t it about time that we stopped teaching our kids that homosexuality is undesirable, dangerous and unnatural?

Angela Conway from Pro-Family Perspectives doesn’t seem to think so. As seen in the aforementioned clip, she would go so far as to say that ‘these kind of ways of presenting sexuality are actually quite damaging to young people’. Yep, apparently showing two women falling in love and expressing that love by way of a single kiss is not only undesirable, but damaging to the young ‘uns.

The thing that Ms Conway fails (or refuses) to see is that there actually are gay people out there. Around 10% of the population if you believe some estimates. What kind of environment are we creating when homosexuality is viewed as unnatural, abnormal and damaging? What kind of message are we sending to young homosexual men and women when the most innocuous of lesbian love-scenes is met with derision and disgust from prominent members of the community?

Is it any wonder that young men and women – on discovering that they are gay – are so scared to tell their friends and family? Is it any wonder that gay men and women feel like they are so blatantly disciminated against?

I would love to be a fly on the wall the day that one of Andrew Bynes kids comes home from school and says; ‘Dad, I think I’m gay’. The irony and hilarity of the situation would only be matched by the anger and sorrow you would feel the moment that you realise that Mr Bynes is probably one of those fuckwits that would ship his kids off to ‘Straight Camp’ in an attempt to rid them of their ‘disease’.

It’s about time we stepped out of the dark ages and had a good hard look at ourselves and the way that gay people are treated in this country. It’s time to let go of outdated and blatantly discriminatory religious dogma that alienates large portions of our society and causes unecessary anguish and distress for so many people.

I can’t think of any better way to end this discussion than by pointing you in the direction of the following article, published on the ‘Herald Sun’ website some weeks ago. It reveals that Australian actress Melissa George, of ‘Alias’ fame, is joining the cast of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ as Sadie Harris, an intern at Seattle Grace Hospital. In choosing a headline for the article authors Erin McWhirter and Darren Devlyn could have made reference to Ms George’s previous work with ‘Alias’, ‘Home and Away’ or ‘In Treatment’, or, if they were looking for a racy headline that would be sure to stir up controversy, they could have alluded to the fact that Ms George’s character has a propensity for self-mutilation. But oh no, they went one better – ‘Melissa George joins Grey’s Anatomy as lesbian’.

Sorry kids, no ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ for you tonight. But it’s all right, it’s for your own good…

Tags: children, Home & Away, homosexuality, lesbian, straight camp, Today Tonight

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 2:07 pm and is filed under media, sexuality, television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.