Doug PollardBattling Bullying in Warrnambool
Freshly Doug interview with Daniel Witthaus on his tour of Australia challenging homophobia in schools
DOUG: Welcome to the show – and as always, we are going to kick-off with a trip to somewhere in Australia. With our roving homophobia fighter, I can call him – Daniel Witthaus. Good morning, Daniel.
DANIEL: Good morning, Doug.
DOUG: You’re back in Victoria, it’s relatively easy to find you now – Warrnambool, is where we’ve just been?
DANIEL: Yeah, I’ve been down in the south-west of Victoria. Meeting some of the folk down that way and hearing what life is like for them.
DOUG: I like the sound of this Rose person whom you met.
DANIEL: Yeah. I adore Rose - - -
DOUG: [laughs] That comes across clearly, on your Blog.
DANIEL: - - - because if we could have a Rose in every regional and rural location I’d be a happy man. I’ll have to talk to the Gillard government about that.
DOUG: What exactly is Rose’s role, what does she do?
DANIEL: Yeah – well, this is a – she is a project worker down that way and she’s working on a project and I guess, although it supports LGBT young people what it’s really doing is trying to – m’mm, get local young people together. Who want to challenge homophobia in the region. So, who want to do things in the schools and in – m’mm, local business and you know, in the newspaper etcetera – and rather than having to say: “I’m L-G-B or T, myself” in order to part of this group. It’s just: “I want to do something about homophobia”. It attracts a lot of LGBT young people as well.
DOUG: That’s more along the lines of the American-style gay and lesbian and straight alliances that you see such a lot of, over there. They’re not too common here, yet. Are they?
DANIEL: Yeah – look, they’re gaining in popularity. I think that Victoria is probably the place where they’re really starting to spring up. So there are quite a number of youth groups starting to crop up – you know, cross-regional rural Victoria. (and)I guess it has its-pluses-and-its¬-minuses so I think what people have seen in the United States is that if you have a bunch of young people who come together – you know – and they’re talking about the fact that their issue is with challenging homophobia. They can open a lot of doors and therefore, there’re a lot of young people who can gain support without having to identify themselves. Without saying: I’m here because I’m L-G-B or T - - -
DOUG: M’mm, m’mm.
DANIEL: They can say I’m here because I’m challenging homophobia and that’s the most important thing – and you know, then I guess – a lot of young people get support in other ways, from that.
DOUG: Yeah, I love the name of the group by the way – Yumcha.
DANIEL: Yeah - - -
[laughs]
DANIEL: - - - it is and if I can remember it’s: Youth Uniting Making a – like, it’s something about changing - - -
DOUG: Youth United Making Changes Against Homophobic Attitudes. It’s a bit of a stretch.
DANIEL: It is. But - - -
DOUG: It’s a bit of a stretch but it does give you a nice acronym at the end of it
DANIEL: - - - absolutely – like, they’ve been around for the last six or seven years and they’ve had a number of different facilitators. But one of the great things about an idea like this is that – you know, they can have different facilitators but they seem to have a consistent success rate. With both young people and with the local community be it the newspapers and the schools; probably, they need a consistent approach – because it’s pretty tough down there, from all accounts.
DOUG: Yeah. I’m reading what you wrote about Rose and some of the quotes from her – she said when she started the job she thought it would be better these days, because of role models, the media and the Internet. But it, in fact doesn’t quite work like that – does it?
DANIEL: Yeah – well, there - - -
DOUG: There are two sides to it?
DANIEL: - - - a perfect example of someone who grew-up in regional – m’mm, Victoria. She moved to another place to be with her partner and – which she, kind of – almost fell into this kind of role and she did fall into this role, she decided how much she absolutely loved it – and how passionate she was about it, I think she – kind of, had – you know, moved out of her home town. She had come out to everybody around her. She’d made her way and she was quite successful in her career and I think she didn’t necessarily think that things were as bad these days. She said once she’d started working with young people she realised that she had to re-assess her belief that things were going to be better. There were these things – like, she gave the example of Matthew Mitcham and Ruby Rose and things like that - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
DANIEL: She said despite that, young people are still doing it as tough as when she was growing up and that was a bit of a shock to her.
DOUG: Yes and in some ways, a little bit worse. ‘Cause as she said, when she was doing it – at least, when she got out of school and went home, she left the bullying behind. Whereas now with cyber-bullying it can follow you.
DANIEL: Yes, she was definitely saying that her experiences with the young people she’s been working with over the last 18-months is that they’re copping it outside schools in ways she’s had to get her head around – things – like, if there’s mobile ‘phones or there’s Internet access. That that can be really tough for young people and she said: ‘at least you could go home, close the door and forget about it’. But the young people she’s working with don’t get that kind of a break and so, she was saying she wonders if it’s getting worse – and – m’mm, it may well be. For some young people.
DOUG: Yeah – well, that’s why it’s good to hear about the latest initiative the Alannah & Madeline Foundation are putting out – e-Smart - against cyber bullying which has just got I think, $10m of Brumby government money behind it.
DANIEL: Yes.
DOUG: That’s going to make a bit of a dent, I should hope? I should hope.
DANIEL: Yeah, absolutely and I think – like, if you’ve got lots of these projects and these people who are supporting young people – I mean, you know – certainly they’re looking for ways to bolster themselves against what’s happening with technology. I think a lot of the workers without campaigns or resources – like, asking questions and working it out over the years – you know, what does this mean to young people and how can I keep young people feeling safe – and as least harassed as possible?
DOUG: (and)Leading on from that it’s also interesting that Warrnambool as you say, seems to have a local adult gay and lesbian community. That’s directly supporting the younger people. That’s not what you found almost, anywhere else. I think.
DANIEL: Yeah and so, what’s happened is that – you know, there’s a whole bunch of adult LGBT people who have said, look, there’s this group – and you know, yes, we can have our parties and events. But come on, let’s do something – let’s do these events and come together. In order to raise funds, for Yumcha. So really, for them it’s actually – like, they’re feeling stable in their lives. They’re feeling – like, they have their own networks and they like to get together, every now and then. Have a party – and they just see it as a perfect place to raise funds – as opposed to other places where people will tend to come in-and-out of events. So, in other regional areas they’ll say: sometimes, we go to the parties when we feel like it – and – ‘sometimes, we don’t - - -’
DOUG: M’mm?
DANIEL: - - - Warrnambool seems to be coming along, because it has a purpose – and yes, we do want to go there and have fun. But – you know, ‘we see it as important we’re raising funds’ – funds for this project – and it’s absolutely necessary and: “we know that even though we’ve got our lives together and pretty stable, there’s a whole bunch of young people who aren’t” – you know, for whom that isn’t the case.
DOUG: Yeah. I also think it’s really good that Rose goes along to the local footy club and does a meat tray raffle for Yumcha, as well [laughs]
DANIEL: Yeah.
DOUG: I mean, to get the local footy club supporting a gay and lesbian alliance-kind-of-thing is quite something, too.
DANIEL: It is.
DOUG: She must be quite a character?
DANIEL: Look, she is absolutely a character and – you know, I’d love for everyone to get a dose of Rose. She’s a perfect example of someone who goes to things – like, the meat-tray raffle on a Friday night. She sits down and she talks about her life and her work – and you know, I’ve been talking about this – this – kind-of, idea. All the way around the country – is that, where we see great things happening is when people like Rose, have those everyday conversations - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
DANIEL: So, she’s talking with parents and grandparents – and you know, all these straight people. That sit at the club and they now, ask her – you know, without prompting; they: “how are those Yumcha-young people, can we make any donations, do you need any help”, ‘what is it we can do’ – m’mm, she’s saying through those everyday conversations – they’re saying they can’t believe these things are happening. ‘Cause they love their children and their grandchildren. They can’t imagine them being forced-out of home, of them being harassed every day [indistinct] their schools - - -
DOUG: It only takes one, it only takes one to start those conversations. Doesn’t it?
DANIEL: - - - and Rose is doing that so, so very well and she’s doing it in a way where she’s just a – she can tell a great yarn and she’s got personality-plus so again, one Rose for every regional location. Please.
DOUG: Yep – all right, where are you going next?
DANIEL: I’m taking a little bit of a break for a few days in western-Victoria, catching up and looking forward to the last six weeks; so, I’m taking a little bit of a school holiday break - - -
DOUG: [laughs]
DANIEL: - - - before I go off to tackle eastern-Victoria.
DOUG: Okee-doke(sic) – well, you enjoy - - -
DANIEL: Thank you very much. Thanks to everyone.
DOUG: - - - and we’ll talk to you again, next week.
DANIEL: You will. ‘Bye.
DOUG: ‘Bye, ‘bye. That was Daniel Witthaus, there. On his: Beyond That’s So Gay – tour; just a reminder, that this is a self-funded tour. It doesn’t have funding behind it – it relies on in-kind support and small, tax-deductable donations. So, if you go along to his website: http://www.thatssogay.com.au – you can make a little donation and help Daniel out, it’d be really nice if you could do that.
DOUG: Welcome to the show – and as always, we are going to kick-off with a trip to somewhere in Australia. With our roving homophobia fighter, I can call him – Daniel Witthaus. Good morning, Daniel.
DANIEL: Good morning, Doug.
DOUG: You’re back in Victoria, it’s relatively easy to find you now – Warrnambool, is where we’ve just been?
DANIEL: Yeah, I’ve been down in the south-west of Victoria. Meeting some of the folk down that way and hearing what life is like for them.
DOUG: I like the sound of this Rose person whom you met.
DANIEL: Yeah. I adore Rose - - -
DOUG: [laughs] That comes across clearly, on your Blog.
DANIEL: - - - because if we could have a Rose in every regional and rural location I’d be a happy man. I’ll have to talk to the Gillard government about that.
DOUG: What exactly is Rose’s role, what does she do?
DANIEL: Yeah – well, this is a – she is a project worker down that way and she’s working on a project and I guess, although it supports LGBT young people what it’s really doing is trying to – m’mm, get local young people together. Who want to challenge homophobia in the region. So, who want to do things in the schools and in – m’mm, local business and you know, in the newspaper etcetera – and rather than having to say: “I’m L-G-B or T, myself” in order to part of this group. It’s just: “I want to do something about homophobia”. It attracts a lot of LGBT young people as well.
DOUG: That’s more along the lines of the American-style gay and lesbian and straight alliances that you see such a lot of, over there. They’re not too common here, yet. Are they?
DANIEL: Yeah – look, they’re gaining in popularity. I think that Victoria is probably the place where they’re really starting to spring up. So there are quite a number of youth groups starting to crop up – you know, cross-regional rural Victoria. (and)I guess it has its-pluses-and-its¬-minuses so I think what people have seen in the United States is that if you have a bunch of young people who come together – you know – and they’re talking about the fact that their issue is with challenging homophobia. They can open a lot of doors and therefore, there’re a lot of young people who can gain support without having to identify themselves. Without saying: I’m here because I’m L-G-B or T - - -
DOUG: M’mm, m’mm.
DANIEL: They can say I’m here because I’m challenging homophobia and that’s the most important thing – and you know, then I guess – a lot of young people get support in other ways, from that.
DOUG: Yeah, I love the name of the group by the way – Yumcha.
DANIEL: Yeah - - -
[laughs]
DANIEL: - - - it is and if I can remember it’s: Youth Uniting Making a – like, it’s something about changing - - -
DOUG: Youth United Making Changes Against Homophobic Attitudes. It’s a bit of a stretch.
DANIEL: It is. But - - -
DOUG: It’s a bit of a stretch but it does give you a nice acronym at the end of it
DANIEL: - - - absolutely – like, they’ve been around for the last six or seven years and they’ve had a number of different facilitators. But one of the great things about an idea like this is that – you know, they can have different facilitators but they seem to have a consistent success rate. With both young people and with the local community be it the newspapers and the schools; probably, they need a consistent approach – because it’s pretty tough down there, from all accounts.
DOUG: Yeah. I’m reading what you wrote about Rose and some of the quotes from her – she said when she started the job she thought it would be better these days, because of role models, the media and the Internet. But it, in fact doesn’t quite work like that – does it?
DANIEL: Yeah – well, there - - -
DOUG: There are two sides to it?
DANIEL: - - - a perfect example of someone who grew-up in regional – m’mm, Victoria. She moved to another place to be with her partner and – which she, kind of – almost fell into this kind of role and she did fall into this role, she decided how much she absolutely loved it – and how passionate she was about it, I think she – kind of, had – you know, moved out of her home town. She had come out to everybody around her. She’d made her way and she was quite successful in her career and I think she didn’t necessarily think that things were as bad these days. She said once she’d started working with young people she realised that she had to re-assess her belief that things were going to be better. There were these things – like, she gave the example of Matthew Mitcham and Ruby Rose and things like that - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
DANIEL: She said despite that, young people are still doing it as tough as when she was growing up and that was a bit of a shock to her.
DOUG: Yes and in some ways, a little bit worse. ‘Cause as she said, when she was doing it – at least, when she got out of school and went home, she left the bullying behind. Whereas now with cyber-bullying it can follow you.
DANIEL: Yes, she was definitely saying that her experiences with the young people she’s been working with over the last 18-months is that they’re copping it outside schools in ways she’s had to get her head around – things – like, if there’s mobile ‘phones or there’s Internet access. That that can be really tough for young people and she said: ‘at least you could go home, close the door and forget about it’. But the young people she’s working with don’t get that kind of a break and so, she was saying she wonders if it’s getting worse – and – m’mm, it may well be. For some young people.
DOUG: Yeah – well, that’s why it’s good to hear about the latest initiative the Alannah & Madeline Foundation are putting out – e-Smart - against cyber bullying which has just got I think, $10m of Brumby government money behind it.
DANIEL: Yes.
DOUG: That’s going to make a bit of a dent, I should hope? I should hope.
DANIEL: Yeah, absolutely and I think – like, if you’ve got lots of these projects and these people who are supporting young people – I mean, you know – certainly they’re looking for ways to bolster themselves against what’s happening with technology. I think a lot of the workers without campaigns or resources – like, asking questions and working it out over the years – you know, what does this mean to young people and how can I keep young people feeling safe – and as least harassed as possible?
DOUG: (and)Leading on from that it’s also interesting that Warrnambool as you say, seems to have a local adult gay and lesbian community. That’s directly supporting the younger people. That’s not what you found almost, anywhere else. I think.
DANIEL: Yeah and so, what’s happened is that – you know, there’s a whole bunch of adult LGBT people who have said, look, there’s this group – and you know, yes, we can have our parties and events. But come on, let’s do something – let’s do these events and come together. In order to raise funds, for Yumcha. So really, for them it’s actually – like, they’re feeling stable in their lives. They’re feeling – like, they have their own networks and they like to get together, every now and then. Have a party – and they just see it as a perfect place to raise funds – as opposed to other places where people will tend to come in-and-out of events. So, in other regional areas they’ll say: sometimes, we go to the parties when we feel like it – and – ‘sometimes, we don’t - - -’
DOUG: M’mm?
DANIEL: - - - Warrnambool seems to be coming along, because it has a purpose – and yes, we do want to go there and have fun. But – you know, ‘we see it as important we’re raising funds’ – funds for this project – and it’s absolutely necessary and: “we know that even though we’ve got our lives together and pretty stable, there’s a whole bunch of young people who aren’t” – you know, for whom that isn’t the case.
DOUG: Yeah. I also think it’s really good that Rose goes along to the local footy club and does a meat tray raffle for Yumcha, as well [laughs]
DANIEL: Yeah.
DOUG: I mean, to get the local footy club supporting a gay and lesbian alliance-kind-of-thing is quite something, too.
DANIEL: It is.
DOUG: She must be quite a character?
DANIEL: Look, she is absolutely a character and – you know, I’d love for everyone to get a dose of Rose. She’s a perfect example of someone who goes to things – like, the meat-tray raffle on a Friday night. She sits down and she talks about her life and her work – and you know, I’ve been talking about this – this – kind-of, idea. All the way around the country – is that, where we see great things happening is when people like Rose, have those everyday conversations - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
DANIEL: So, she’s talking with parents and grandparents – and you know, all these straight people. That sit at the club and they now, ask her – you know, without prompting; they: “how are those Yumcha-young people, can we make any donations, do you need any help”, ‘what is it we can do’ – m’mm, she’s saying through those everyday conversations – they’re saying they can’t believe these things are happening. ‘Cause they love their children and their grandchildren. They can’t imagine them being forced-out of home, of them being harassed every day [indistinct] their schools - - -
DOUG: It only takes one, it only takes one to start those conversations. Doesn’t it?
DANIEL: - - - and Rose is doing that so, so very well and she’s doing it in a way where she’s just a – she can tell a great yarn and she’s got personality-plus so again, one Rose for every regional location. Please.
DOUG: Yep – all right, where are you going next?
DANIEL: I’m taking a little bit of a break for a few days in western-Victoria, catching up and looking forward to the last six weeks; so, I’m taking a little bit of a school holiday break - - -
DOUG: [laughs]
DANIEL: - - - before I go off to tackle eastern-Victoria.
DOUG: Okee-doke(sic) – well, you enjoy - - -
DANIEL: Thank you very much. Thanks to everyone.
DOUG: - - - and we’ll talk to you again, next week.
DANIEL: You will. ‘Bye.
DOUG: ‘Bye, ‘bye. That was Daniel Witthaus, there. On his: Beyond That’s So Gay – tour; just a reminder, that this is a self-funded tour. It doesn’t have funding behind it – it relies on in-kind support and small, tax-deductable donations. So, if you go along to his website: http://www.thatssogay.com.au – you can make a little donation and help Daniel out, it’d be really nice if you could do that.
