THE MATTHEW MITCHAM PHENOMENON - Editorial

Let's look at the Matthew Mitcham phenomenon. To me, this is less of a GLBTI story and more of a general media story. I can't help imagining the way this story would have been treated by the general media 20 years ago, maybe even ten years ago. I am thinking that the 'G' word simply wouldn't have been mentioned but he would just be another golden boy done good in the four-yearly sportsfest. The photos of him and his partner wouldn't have appeared and the news reports would have carefully edited out any footage including embraces and kisses. That was the way back then.

The pink rags of the time would have gone hell-for-leather screaming that the media had ignored the fact that the guy was gay and complained about discrimination in the media.

Seems the tables have turned a bit. This time, in Australia anyway, the media has mentioned, simply in passing, the fact that Matthew is openly gay and that his partner was there to cheer him on. No fanfare... just basic reporting. On the TV, same thing. Footage of Matthew thanking his partner and mum... no editing, just matter-of-fact reporting. On the other hand the gay press have been singing his praises in front page splurges beating up the fact that here was an openly gay athlete performing at the very peak of his sport. MCV screams 'Australia's Golden Boy'. BNews followed with 'Mitcham wins Gold'. In their case, they failed to mention the other 45 Australian gold medalists at all.

In the same way that the Americans seem ready to elect an African-American to their highest post, it seems that much of the Australian media has matured to a situation where being gay is just not an issue any more. SMH journalist, Jessica Halloran, wrote a column last week headlined 'Out and Out Champion Celebrates' and did a behind-the-scenes look at the people behind Matthew Mitcham's success. Just like any other look behind any other athlete... it was all so normal. Another article by Ryan Heath titled 'A win for Australia - and gay athletes everywhere' took a media naval gaze at it's treatment of this sort of story in the past. All good stuff.

Seems that, at last, being gay has become boring and that's just the way we want it, surely. Even Joanna Griggs, in a face-to-face interview the following day with Matthew casually brought his partner into the conversation. It was just so perfectly normal.

But in the US it wasn't quite the same in the big media. Outsports.com expressed concern that NBC ignored Mitcham’s sexuality. The diver, who bounced back from a lackluster performance earlier in the week to win a gold medal for the 10-meter, is the only openly gay male athlete at this year’s Olympics.

“If he had had cancer, or if his parents had been killed in a car crash when he was 2, or if he had just proposed to his girlfriend, they would have mentioned it,” an article on the sports website read. “But they never showed him hugging his boyfriend, never mentioned it.”

Seems that the Australian media are leaving the US behind in the issue of a maturing media and the reporting of GLBTI issues.