The furor around actor Rebel Wilson being potentially pressured to ‘come out’ regarding her new same-sex relationship after an approach by the Sydney Morning Herald has grown to be an international news story.

While forcing celebrities to come out had been business-as-usual for tabloid media decades ago, the suggestion that the Sydney Morning Herald actions recalled this form of publishing have almost being universally condemned.

Even conservative hosts on Sky News condemned the approach taken by the newspaper with Chris Smith, Rowan Dean and Paul Murray all voicing alarm at the actions of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Sky News did manage to find one person who had a different take. Katherine Deves, the failed Liberal candidate for Warringah, told Monday night’s edition of The Paul Murray Show that discussion about your dating life and sexuality is just part of being a celebrity.

“Unfortunately when you are a public person nothing is sacred.” Deves said.

“I have gay and lesbian people in my life, I’ve stood by them when they came out, and I hear the stories of people coming out in the seventies, and the eighties, and nineties and how harrowing it was back then.”

“Then I look at it now and its just not comparative, I really don’t think. Rebel just has to accept the fact that she’s a public person.” Deves said.

Since unsuccessfully running for parliament Deves has been a regular commentator on Sky News, returning to her campaign to stop transgender women participating in women’s sports.

Graeme Watson

The post Katherine Deves says coming out is not a big issue anymore appeared first on OUTinPerth.

Western Australian Labor MP Stuart Aubrey recently shared his coming out experience in the state’s parliament, giving his colleagues an insight into the psychological stress that many LGBTIQA+ people go through in accepting their sexuality and sharing the information with friends and family.

Aubrey, the member for the beachside seat of Scarborough, was elected at the 2021 state election replacing former Liberal leader Liza Harvey. As parliament debated a bill that will require counsellors and psychologists to abide by a strict professional code of conduct Aubrey shared his personal journey.

The McGowan government says the bill is one method that will protect people from conversion therapy and change and suppression practices in future. Previously counsellors were not required to hold any qualifications or meet significant standards of professional practice. The Health and Disability Services (Complaints)
Amendment Bill 2021 was passed by the lower house earlier this month.

Stuart Aubrey rose and shared that he was a member of the LGBTIQA+ communities and wanted to speak about how this legislation went someway towards protecting people from sexual orientation and gender conversion practices.

After acknowledging other politicians who had held the baton in pushing for law reform that improves the lives of LGBTIQA+ people, he outlined how British mathematician Alan Turning was one of his personal inspirations, before sharing his own story.

Read what Stuart Aubrey had to say.

Readers are advised that this article includes references to suicide ideation. 

It is not a story I share lightly; it is not a story that I have commonly shared with many to this level of detail, and now it will be on the public record for everyone to know.

It does not come easy to me to share it, but as a LGBTQIA+ member of this house it is important that I share my story and show leadership and strength. I ask other members to listen closely with understanding and empathy, because I aim to help others in this house understand the importance of this bill as being a step forward in banning a practice that traumatises, denigrates and discriminates against people of my community. It is a practice that causes deep and long-lasting harm to the victims.

I grew up in a loving household, a stone’s throw from the beach, in a quiet cul-de-sac in Watersun, a beachside suburb of Mandurah. I attended North Mandurah Primary School, where I was a happy, caring and intelligent student. My father taught at the high school next door.

My brother and sister were in school with me. They in fact had the distinct pleasure of being taught by Minister Templeman back when he was a teacher— an opportunity I just missed out on, or dodged, as he successfully entered politics as the member for Mandurah.

Luckily, I get to learn from him now. I was the captain of my school faction, Jarrah, and a PA technician. I was doing well in primary school, living a very vibrant and happy life. I then went on to Frederick Irwin Anglican School for secondary education.

It was in high school that I started to feel confused about my sexuality. I began to feel socially anxious around my peers. I began to retract into myself. My education began to suffer as I spent more and more time in my head, worried that my fellow students and teachers would discover my secret and I would be chastised, ostracised or discriminated against.

My constant stress and anxiety about my sexuality led me to seek an outlet to cope; that outlet was food and video games. As a 15-year-old, I weighed more than I do now at twice that age. I suppressed and denied my sexuality for years. As a result, I developed depression, anxiety and a binge eating disorder.

It is a hard thing to come to terms with at a young age—to accept that your life is going to be considerably more difficult because of a factor beyond your control, for being born a certain way. Women know this feeling all too well, as do Indigenous Australians and other members of minorities across Australia.

To survive, I focused on work. I excelled in my apprenticeship because I gave it my all. I learnt the value of hard work and merit; it became my crutch, my distraction, my escape. I felt a burning need to prove myself—a need to feel valued in the hope that if anyone discovered my sexuality, it would be overlooked because I was too valuable for my hard work.

When I was 21, my apprenticeship ended, and I was a fully qualified electrical tradesman free to work and earn a living. It was a wonderful accomplishment. But I also lost that focus, that crutch. Without that focus to distract me, I had to come to terms with my sexuality.

I began to spiral. The fear of losing friends, family and my community was more than I could bear. Dark thoughts crept into my mind that told me it would be easier if I just ended it— death had to be better than continuing to feel the constant shame, pain and anxiety.

My friends had noticed my change in behaviour. They could see I was struggling and they made efforts to help, to find out what was wrong, but I could not face them. I can vividly remember a moment that was a turning point for me.

I was on my way to a job at Garden Island when I saw a jagged sign, damaged by a car, on the side of Rockingham Road and a thought entered my mind. [OUTinPerth has omitted part of the speech here in line with mental health guidelines.]

This was the time I had moved from passive suicidal ideation, or thinking about death, to active suicidal ideation, and it scared me. It scared me straight—not quite! I reached out to those friends and told them that I needed their help and that I needed them to hold me to account and to not let me avoid the conversation.

In September 2012, I came out to five of my closest friends: Griffin Millburn-Thomas, Ben Hardman, Tyne Darch, Reece Sheridan and Mitchell Hardman. Thank you for your support and thank you for your unconditional acceptance and love.

Coming out to my friends was one of the best days of my life. A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders, but it was not long before the walls started closing in again. I still had to tell my family, my colleagues, my other friends, my extended family, my future colleagues, my future friends and my future community.

Everywhere you go as a gay man, every person you meet, every new workplace you start at and every friendship group you join, you must come out.

People say that it should not be that way and that no-one in society must come out as straight, so why should I have to come out as gay? That statement is true, but we are not there yet.

A year later, I gradually had come out to more friends, my sister and, eventually, my parents. I could not do it myself; I made my sister do it for me. Although I should not have had to come out, I will regret until the day I die not having the strength to tell my parents. I thank my sister and my mother, as well as my extended family, for their unconditional support and love for me.

I talk often about my mother. She is my rock, my champion, my protector, the source of my values and the reason why I am who I am. I never talk about my father, so much so that many people mistakenly think that my mum is a single mother.

Growing up, my family was structured like many in Australia. My father worked and earned the money and my mother stayed at home to raise the kids. Although I am grateful every day for having the quality time with and nurturing of my mother growing up, I would like to see more opportunity for mothers to re-enter the workforce and not be relegated to a stay-at-home role. I would see equality.

The reason people never hear of my father is that he is not part of my life and has not been for many years because of my sexuality, and I will not speak of him further.

I am grateful every day that I was born and grew up in Australia. The LGBTQIA+ community across the world faces far worse and far more persecution than I or my community will ever experience here in Australia.

My life has not been easy because of my sexuality, but it is far from the worst that people of my community experience across the world. I cannot give blood because of my sexuality, but the blood of others is shed because of the same sexuality.

I am stared at for holding hands with, kissing or showing affection to another man in public. The hands of others are cut off or they are castrated or killed for doing the same in private. I am grateful for the fact that I can live free from the fear of death for my sexuality, but I cannot live free from judgement for my sexuality.

I have had to protect my identity and privacy in the past when working on the remote mine sites of Western Australia. It is easy to dismiss as prejudice the attitudes of many of these people who make the odd homophobic comment. In some cases it is, but for many it is not prejudice; it is fear and misunderstanding.

Having learnt this after a time, I began to carry myself in a different way. I do not hide my sexuality anymore, but I do not let it define me or let others define me because of it. The worst thing about stereotypes is that if you let them, they have a way of defining who you are and what you stand for before you enter a room.

Mark Latham, a member of the Parliament of New South Wales, said in reference to LGBTQIA+ members of Parliament across the country,
and I quote —

“These MPs are driven more by sexuality than party ideology. Gays have higher incomes and education levels and stronger political and media access than the rest of society, yet the MPs persist with a precious persecution complex overriding more important and valid equity issues.”

In response to that man, whom I have never met and who has never met me but feels he can pass judgement on my integrity and what drives me, I say: I am who I am today because I worked incredibly hard, despite the challenges I have experienced in life because of my sexuality, and I am driven by more than just self-interest, sexuality or faith— or, in my case, lack of faith.

I do not define myself by my sexuality, race, age or sex. I am a sum of my parts and you do not define me. I am a proud tradesman, a highly qualified electrical technician, a mine worker, a FIFO worker, a mines rescue paramedic, a safety and health representative, and a hardworking contributor to the Western Australian economy.

I am a proud surfer, a surf lifesaver, a volunteer, a swimmer, a scuba diver, a hiker, a cyclist and an explorer of this great state and this great nation.

I am a proud son, a brother, an uncle, a grandson, a friend, a best friend, a boyfriend and, one day, a husband to a very lucky man! I am my core values of courage, loyalty, equity, honesty, integrity, quality, leadership and altruism.

I am my life’s mission to experience life to its fullest; to serve and protect Australia, its interests and its people; and to always grow to be the best I can be to contribute to a positive impact on Australia, humanity and the world in the time that I have on this planet.

I am a proud gay man. I am an atheist. I am a Mandurah boy who grew up to be a Scarborough man and the member for Scarborough. I am a proud Western Australian and a proud Australian.

I define who I am, and I will not be boxed in by those who peddle hate and discrimination to hide their fear and insecurity in a world that is moving beyond a place that advantages one group to the detriment of others in society.

I will always fight for my community in Scarborough and for equity for all, and I will always fight for a fairer and better future for all Western Australians. You do not define me. You do not define us.

To anyone who experiences discrimination for your sexuality, sex, race, creed, disability, faith or lack of faith, you define who you are. You determine your future and if you respect the basic human rights of others and follow the rule of law, you have the right to live your life free from persecution and prejudice.

I stand here as a member of the Western Australian government defending not just your right to equity, but everyone’s.

I hold the baton, along with my colleagues and allies in the Labor Party. I am standing my ground and I will advance the protection of the vulnerable, the marginalised and the oppressed. I will fight for true equity in our society forever and always. It is the Australian way. It is the Labor way. It is my way.

Do you need some support?

If you are struggling with anxiety or depression, support and counselling are available from:

QLife: 1800 184 527 / qlife.org.au (Webchat 3pm – midnight)
QLife are a counselling and referral service for LGBTQIA+ people.

DISCHARGED: info@discharged.org.au / discharged.org.au
Discharged is a trans-led support service with peer support groups for trans and gender diverse folks.

Lifeline: 13 11 14 / lifeline.org.au

Beyondblue: 1300 22 4636 / www.beyondblue.org.au

You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.

The post WA MP Stuart Aubrey shares his coming out experience appeared first on OUTinPerth.

Everyone comes out in their own way, in their own time. ABC Podcast Innies + Outies brings you fascinating stories from diverse LGBTQIA+ Australians about coming out or staying in.

Hosted by Walkley Award-winning journalist Mon Schafter, the ABC is proud to launch this new podcast on National Coming Out Day, Monday 11 October 2021.

“As a proud queer Australian, I’m so excited to share these incredible rich human stories and to provide a platform for LGBTQIA+ voices,” says Mon.

“Even though we live in a country that has marriage equality, coming out can still be the hardest or scariest experience of your life.”

Each episode of Innies + Outies is packed with life lessons for queer Australians and the people who love them.

Exploring a range of topics like coming out in high school, queer comedians who turn their trauma into jokes, and LGBTQIA+ folks who choose not to come out, Innies + Outies shares first person stories, as well as the perspectives of parents, partners, friends, colleagues and teammates who’ve been on these journeys too.

“Some of the chats I’ve had with folks while recording this podcast have left me in tears, while others have cracked me up,” Mon shares.

“Particularly some of the surprising things that parents have said. They’re often more clued in than you think.”

Guests include multi-award-winning comedian Rhys Nicholson, the first openly gay Indigenous parliamentarian Chansey Paech, and everyday Australians with incredible stories.

You’ll meet a teacher who helped launch the first student pride group in a region that voted overwhelmingly against marriage equality, a trans doctor working on the frontline of COVID, and a sawmill worker from regional Australia who affirmed her true gender after more than two decades at the same company.

“Innies + Outies is a first for the ABC and I think it has something for everyone. Even if you’re not part of the rainbow community yourself, we’re all connected in some way through family and friends – and these stories capture what everyone goes through,” says Mon.

Download the ABC listen app for your smartphone or tablet device at the Apple App Store and Google Play store.

Source: Media release

You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.

The post Innies + Outies: New ABC podcast explores coming out (and staying in) appeared first on OUTinPerth.

During his time in Congress, the representative from Illinois voted against gay rights and allowing protections for LGBTIQ+ people. He now says he regrets those choices.

Schock revealed his sexuality in a long post on his website, saying that he’d spent the last year making sure everyone close to him heard the news from him directly.

“The fact that I am gay is just one of those things in my life in need of explicit affirmation, to remove any doubt and to finally validate who I am as a person.  In many ways I regret the time wasted in not having done so sooner.” Schock said.

The former politician shared that he’d been raised in a rural area and came from a deeply religious family. Schock was elected to the Illinois legislature when he was just 23, and became a Congressman when he was 29. He said working in politics from a young age had given him a sheltered life, and he felt couldn’t come out because he would have let down the people who he represented.

“I put my ambition over the truth, which not only hurt me, but others as well.

“I also, in retrospect, realize that I was just looking for more excuses to buy time and avoid being the person I’ve always been.” Schock said.

Schock also said that while not all his political beliefs had changed, if he was in Congress today he would be a supporter of LGBTIQ rights.

“The truth is that if I were in Congress today, I would support LGBTQ rights in every way I could.   I realize that some of my political positions run very much counter to the mainstream of the LGBTQ movement, and I respect them for those differences.   I hope people will allow for me the same.”

During his time in Congress Schock voted in favour of the ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy regarding LGBTIQ+ people in the military, opposed same-sex marriage, and voted against amendments to hate crime legislation. When asked if he was gay previously he said it was a question “not worthy of a response.”

Schock resigned in 2018 during a investigation into his campaign finances. Earlier this year he reached an agreement with prosecutors that did not see him being charged, he did however repay money to his campaign that had allegedly been used for inappropriate spending. He has not ruled out a return to politics.

OIP Staff

The post Former US politician Aaron Schock comes out as gay appeared first on OUTinPerth.

SBS Insight returns this evening with an episode that looks into the intersection between LGBTIQ+ identities and faith.

The debate forum which shares first person perspectives and experiences will feature a number of LGBTIQ+ Australians who have fought to reconcile their faith with their sexuality or gender identity.

Among those set to feature in tonight’s episode are Jarod, who says “I wanted to be the best Jew that I could,” and Lucas, who describes realising he was gay at 10 years old as “deeply traumatic.”

Ahead of the episode, Lucas reveals that growing up attending Catholic, Lutheran and Uniting churches, he was tought that being gay was a choice, and grew up hearing gay people described as deviants, or “mentally ill.”

Insight: Coming Out With Faith airs tonight at 8:30pm on SBS, or catch up after the episode On Demand.

OIP Staff

Do you need some support?

If you are struggling with anxiety or depression, support and counselling are available from:

Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au

Beyondblue: 1300 22 4636 and www.beyondblue.org.au

QLife: 1800 184 527 and www.qlife.org.au
QLife are a counselling and referral service for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people.

The post SBS 'Insight' explores coming out with faith in a religious family appeared first on OUTinPerth.

Actor DJ Qualls has come out declaring “Yep. I’m Gay” on Twitter. The actor said he’d made the declaration about his sexuality on stage at a Jim Jeffries show in San Diego.

“It is 11:20pm. I just came out on stage at a Jim Jeffries show in San Diego. Yep, I’m gay. Been gay this whole time. Tired of worrying about what people would think of me. Tired of worrying about what it would do to my career.” Qualls posted to social media.

His “Yep, I’m Gay” statement echoed Ellen DeGeneres’ famous coming out declaration on the cover of TIME magazine.

The actor has made a career out of playing dorky straight guys. He made his mark in the film Road Trip (2000) playing a nerdy teenage virgin. He followed that up with another similar role in the slasher comedy Cherry Falls.

He’s also appeared in Hustle and Flow, Chasing Holden, The Core, and The Last Days of Summer. He’s appeared in many TV shows including Lost, Scrubs, Criminal Minds, Law and Order, My Name is Earl, The Big Bang Theory, Fargo, and Breaking Bad. Qualls had a regular role in Z Nation and The Man in High Castle. 

The 41 year old actor also appeared in the video for Britney Spears tune Boys and modeled for Prada.

The post "Yep, I'm Gay" actor DJ Qualls comes out at Jim Jeffries' show appeared first on OUTinPerth.

Model and actor Zander Hodgson has posted a video to YouTube and shared that he is gay. In the clip Hodgson said “I just thought it was a really important thing to share with everyone.”

Hodgson said he believed that sexuality is just a small part of who someone is, but if you shut it off you don’t allow yourself to be “fully known”.

The actor and model is best known for his appearance in the TV series Ray Donovan where he played a gay hustler. The 27-year-old has also appeared in British series including Eastenders and Shameless.

Being a positive role model for young gay people is one of Hodgson’s motivations for sharing his news.

“When I think of all the kids out there who are being bullied or are really struggling with their sexuality, or even teenagers and adults…I just want you to know you’re not alone. There are people out there like you, and everythings going to fine, you’re going to get through this, there is going to be a better tomorrow.”

The actor said he had held back from going public with his sexuality because there were still so few out and proud actors of his age, and he feared it would stop him from being cast in the future.

Hodgson said he no longer wanted to be kept in the “prison” and he decided it was now time to just be himself and he hoped for a time in the future when coming out was a thing of the past.

Watch his video message. 

Zander documents his modeling work on his popular Instagram account.

Gotcha! What’s everyone going as for Halloween? I don’t know what to dress as

A post shared by Zander Hodgson (@zanderhodgson) on Oct 27, 2017 at 2:30pm PDT

A post shared by Zander Hodgson (@zanderhodgson) on Dec 28, 2016 at 1:37pm PST

A post shared by Zander Hodgson (@zanderhodgson) on Mar 9, 2018 at 4:19pm PST

The post Model and actor Zander Hodgson comes out as gay appeared first on OUTinPerth.

The upcoming teen coming-out tale Love, Simon has a lot of buzz ahead of its Australian release, and one of its stars has his own story to tell.

Actor Joey Pollari, star of American Crime and the US remake of The Inbetweeners, recently revealed in an interview with Advocate that working on the film helped him to come out as gay.

“The only part that was difficult was me coming out to myself,” Pollari said in the interview. “And I think that is the most difficult coming out.”

Pollari, who plays Lyle in the film, said Love, Simon‘s titular character has similar experiences on screen to Pollari in his own life.

“My mom knew. She laid hints for me everywhere. A lot of the trouble was self shame. I do believe a system of power, of patriarchy, of masculinity did impact me.”

Pollari’s co-star Nick Robinson, who plays Simon, also revealed on Ellen that his younger brother also came out while the film was in production.

“I think that he had been dealing with this for a long time and the timing was coincidental, but one of the best things that came out of this movie was being able to talk to him,” Robinson told Ellen DeGeneres.

“I think that’s the strength of a film like this is that is starts conversations, and I hope it can do that for more people and start a conversation that might not have been there.”

Love, Simon hits Australian cinemas on March 29th. Check out our review ahead of its release here.

The post Love, Simon star says film helped him to come out as gay appeared first on OUTinPerth.

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson has revealed that he came out to his family after he was caught shoplifting gay porn.

The actor sat down with People magazine and explained that happened.

“The incident with the porn, I was a freshman in High School when that happened.” Ferguson explained.

The actor shared that as a teenager he’d go into his local book store, pick up some adult magazines and then slip them inside a more reputable purchase. He’d the slip both under his shirt and sneak out of the store.

His plan came unstuck when a newly opened store had more advanced shoplifting detectors and as he walked out the store the alarm bells rang.

“I shamefully showed them the magazines under my shirt and they took me into a backroom and I was held there and a police officer came and arrested me.” Ferguson recounted.

“My Mum and Dad had to come to the store and they had to show them the ‘nature of the material’ I was stealing and that’s sort of how I came out.”

Ferguson said he finds the incident funny now in retrospect but at the time he found it to be a traumatic experience.

“I always remember that phrase ‘the nature of the material I was stealing’ it felt so dirty and to have a person of the law say ‘this is a shameful thing that you’ve done.’ was really traumatising.”

Ferguson shared that his father found it difficult to accept that he was gay, and it took many years for his father to get used to the idea that he had a gay son.

The actor said when he first came out he couldn’t imagine getting married or having a long term commitment but now he’s happily been married to husband Justin Makita for five years.

“I’m very happily married and I love my husband.” Ferguson said. He and his husband founded a charity to raise funds for to support advocates for marriage equality in the USA.

Ferguson said if he could chat to his seventeen year-old self he’d say “It’s okay to be different.”

The video featuring Jesse Tyler Ferguson is one in a series created by the magazine to support the upcoming film Love, Simon which is about a gay teen who struggles to tell his friends and family about his sexuality.

The video series sees a number of well known celebrities sharing their coming out stories. Vlogger Tyler Oakley, Australian actor Keiynan Lonsdale and Olympian Gus Kenworthy.

OIP Staff

The post Jesse Tyler Ferguson reveals he came out after being caught stealing porn appeared first on OUTinPerth.

“Everyone deserves a great love story.”

A new trailer has been released for an upcoming tale of a teenage boy coming out as gay in high school directed by Greg Berlanti.

Love, Simon features Nick Robinson as Simon, a seventeen-year-old who is trying to find a way to tell his family and friends about his identity, and falls for a stranger online after sharing his story anonymously.

The trailer has sparked excitement online among fans of the Becky Albertalli’s acclaimed novel and the film’s source material, Simon vs. the Homo Sapeins Agenda.

The movie also stars Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel as Simon’s parents, who appear to be supportive of Simon’s sexuality rather than the crux of the film’s conflict – an all too common trope in LGBTI+ cinema.

Watch the trailer below.

Love, Simon hits Australian cinemas March 29.

The post Watch the new trailer for teen coming out story Love, Simon appeared first on OUTinPerth.