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It’s OUSA Diversity Week, to celebrate, we bring you the Diversity issue.
It’s easy to underestimate the importance of diversity issues in 2011. After all, homosexuality isn’t illegal anymore, civil unions have been established (more on this on page df) and there’s a small possibility that, as a result of the 2014 general election, we could have a gay Prime Minister (namely Grant Robertson).

But, unfortunately, while there may not be overt homophobia in our laws or society, accepting diversity is still very much a problem. When Damien O’Conner stood aside earlier this year, he claimed that he didn’t trust the list ranking process because the Labour Party was dominated by "self-serving unionists and a gaggle of gays". Instead of being condemned by the media for his outrageous assertion that the downfall of the party was a “gaggle of gays”, the media gave credence to his statement by assessing it as a valid point of view.

And O’Conner isn’t alone in his less-than -Diversity-Week-friendly views. While it may be universally accepted that racism isn’t appropriate in everyday conversation, it’s still perfectly acceptable for people in cars to yell “faggot” at unsuspecting pedestrians (read our article on page df for more on this). It’s similarly acceptable for people to use the ubiquitous adjective “gay” as a synonym for bad, as in “my assignment is gay”, “that top is gay”, “your face is gay”. None of these examples do much to promote the idea that being gay isn’t the end of the world.
 
Overseas, however, things look noticeably worse. In America last week, Fox News (yes, THE Fox News) ran a segment entitled “Is Glee too gay?” in which the presenter discussed whether gay content was appropriate for young audiences at 7.30pm. The presenter went on to question whether having gay content on Glee was likely to act in the same way as soft drink product placement, thus convincing impressionable young kids to turn gay. “Y’all know about product placement”, commented Damali Keith. “You throw a soda in a movie, and within a few seconds, everyone in the theatre is thirsty for that particular brand. Ray, what do you have to say to people who say that this is propaganda? These aren’t just story lines, these people have an agenda.” Stop the press! TV programmes can change your sexuality, and the evil producers of Glee intend to do just that! The idea that something could be “too gay” as well as the concept that homosexuality could be sold in the same way as say, Pepsi, doesn’t bode well for the whole acceptance of diversity thing.

It’s 2011. We’re all about spouting human rights and equality for all and promoting democracy as the be-all-and-end-all, but clearly we still have a long way to go to live up to our homophobia-free principles.

Stay cool,

Julia Hollingsworth