Sexual Orientation is No-one Else's Business

One of the major news items dominating the local papers this last weekend was Ian Thorpe's interview with Michael Parkinson in which he "came out" as gay. I doubt many people were surprised but he had never spoken of it openly. My first thought was why is this news? Surely his sexuality is of no concern to anyone else. I don't care what anyone's sexual orientation is. Why should I? Ian Thorpe was a great representative for Australia as a Olympic swimmer and that's all I need to know about him. The only time when someone's sexuality becomes important is if they try to force someone else act against their will or they are paedophiles and that is abhorrent no matter the sexual orientation of the perpetrator. Right?

Then I saw this opinion piece in the New Matilda. I was shocked because I thought we'd moved past such stupidity in this country. Sadly it seems we haven't. Yes, we have made progress but we certainly have a long way to go.