15 Jun 2009
Get 'em while they're young
The conservative press here in Madrid, rabidly rant and rage against the theme of this year's Gay Pride celebrations: Schools without closets. Predictably, they see this as a very overt indication of our central aim in life, that of getting 'em while they're young. Young, fresh and lush meat. Just to prop up the numbers, mind. Curiously, there seems to be no mention of everyone's favourite Italian Stallion, Mr Berlusconi, his young and now 18 year old young friend Noemi and those rather indecent photos with topless young ladies (published in El País recently but banned in Italy). But I digress.
Young people are vulnerable, I admit. They are vulnerable more than anything to misinformation. In their quest to discover what the world is about, they turn to their parents and peers for guidance. Sometimes, what they get is a warped view of the world. This year's Pride aims to break down stereotypes among our very important future leaders as they start on their journey in life. What is wrong with that?
To tie in with the imminent gay marriage legislation in 2005, TVE turned to its children's television ratings winners Los Lunnis for help. The Lunnis pop up on Spanish TV all day until 8pm when they and their viewers are supposed to go to bed. One episode contained a section called Other Weddings and kids were introduced to gay couples who were planning to marry. The key learning point was that if two people loved each other, they could get married.
So, what can RTE do to help Irish queers? Maybe Bosco could be retrieved from a drawer somewhere in Donnybrook and given a new lease of life. Isn't it time that RTE got put to some good use?