FROM THE EDITOR
FOR THIS Health Fitness And Wellbeing issue, I was planning on writing something uplifting and positive about how sport has become more inclusive and accepting of diversity… then Israel Falou happened!
Falou is an Australian rugby player. One of the best, and certainly the best paid. He’s also an evangelical Christian and, for the second time, he took to social media to announce that homosexuals would burn in hell unless they repented. It wasn’t just us, though. Other sinners destined for eternal damnation included drunks, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters. Pretty much everyone!
Of course, Falou’s right to freedom of religion goes without saying. Believe in the Giant Spaghetti Monster if you want to. He also has the right to freely express himself and his views. However, what he doesn’t understand is that freedom of expression comes with responsibility. He abandoned this responsibility with his post. He failed to comprehend the hurt and harm a statement like that can do to the young and vulnerable who may look up to him as a role model. We know, for example, that young LGBT people are many times more likely to self-harm or attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers.
Thankfully, the governing bodies of his sport, Rugby Union Australia and Rugby NSW, agreed. His multi-million-dollar contract was torn up and he will not play professional rugby for an Australian team ever again.
Coincidentally, as the Falou story was breaking, someone else was making headlines for better reasons. Pete Buttigieg is the gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana and he’s running for President in 2020. I think there’s something of the Obama about him: could he be the outside chance, minority candidate that surprises everyone? Well, he’s certainly an inspirational speaker. In a recent address, he said, “If me being gay was a choice it was made far, far above my pay grade. And that’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand. If you’ve got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”
I wish that Israel Falou could hear that message, too.
How should we respond to public homophobia without seeming to invalidate other people’s right to express their opinions? One way is to calmly and politely point out the harm they do – there was no Christian love or charity in Falou’s post. The other approach is to do what this month’s cover boy, Simon Dunn did – he posted a picture of he and his boyfriend Felix kissing with #israelfalou.
Simon is also a rugby player. He’s been with the Sydney Convicts for many years and has been part of the Bingham Cup-winning team.
We are proud to have this athlete and activist on our cover this month (for the second time) and welcome him to team DNA as our new regular Fitness columnist (page 40).
Our other rugby alumni this month is Beau Ryan. This month’s Straight Mate has hung up his boots and found his way into the entertainment business – and a good thing that is, too. Beau has no filter and knows how to tell a cracker of a story! He tells us he’d turn gay for Ricky Martin (already a close friend) in a heartbeat and that his wife already suspects something! Enjoy his interview (page 32).
Feeling sporty, we asked Michael Sean Walters to take us rock climbing. When he suggested sleeping on a ledge halfway up a rockface on a two-day ascent, we said, “Thank you very kindly that’s a lovely offer but no way in hell.” Anyway, Michael’s story starts on page 42 and is worth a read even if heights turn your tummy!
More Zen and more our speed, is correspondent Robbie-John King’s visit to the luxurious Naman Retreat in Vietnam. Naman combines five-star pampering with a detox package. Read more from page 28.
Our photography portfolios this month are also sports themed. Blake Yelavich’s images of Aaron Kuttler in wrestling, baseball and American football gear made all our sport/ fetish bells ring. Blake says it’s what the informs suggest but don’t show that makes them so sexy (from page 70).
Lucas Murnaghan is a surf photographer who saw, beneath the waves, a whole new world and a new way to photograph his male models. His beautiful images are featured in this issue from page 58.
There are also plenty of non-sport stories in this issue: Joel Creasey, Electric Fields, the remastered release of Maurice, French actor Félix Maritaud, porn star Skyy Knox, travel to Cabo in Mexico and all our regular columns.
Thanks for reading!
I was planning to write something about sport become more accepting of diversity… then Israel Falou happened!