Mix 94.5 defends 'gaydar' quiz
As gay Mardi Gras kicks off in Sydney this weekend Perth’s top-rating radio station has been left defending a segment it ran Thursday morning ridiculing gay stereotypes.
Mix 94.5’s breakfast team — Clairsy, Shane and Kymba — invited listeners to play a one-off quiz, testing their “gaydar” by asking them questions about Broadway musicals, the brand of underwear they wear, and their hygiene routine.
Callers then had their sexuality rated according to how gay they were.
The segment — which included announcer Shane McFarlane speaking with a lisp — has outraged members of the gay community.
“The thing is, we all have an in-built gaydar,” McFarlane said to open the segment.
“We meet people, they’re fabulous, it goes off.
“I sometimes meet people for the first time, and I’ve got a whole bunch of my mates and we just go ‘what do you reckon? Is he? Is she?’
“I usually find it harder to pick a gay woman than a man because the man is kissing me at the time,” he said.
The winning contestant received a package of personal care products.
“Can I use that on my chihuahua in my handbag?” he said.
Southern Cross Austereo’s WA manager, Linda Wayman, confirmed she had received two written and one verbal complaint.
“It was meant in a light-hearted manner and in no way was it meant to be offensive to gay people,” she said.
“In fact, the breakfast guys ran it past some gay staff members, including the executive producer of the show.
“We believe the tone was celebratory rather than vicious, and our intention was to mark Mardi Gras weekend with something light-hearted and fun.”
But it has not been received well by some in Perth’s gay community.
Perth man Conrad Liveris said the gay and lesbian community had made many strides toward acceptance in the wider community in recent times, but this was a gimmick segment that “perpetrates a negative stigma”.
“It spins ill-informed stereotypes that fail to recognise the development and contributions of our community,” he said.
“Generalising and making assumptions of any marginalised group ought to be frowned upon.
“The all-straight hosts and callers may not have meant harm but showed a lack of understanding of the issues facing gender and sexually diverse groups.”
Ms Wayman said the Mix breakfast show and the radio station were “quite the opposite of homophobic”.
“The last thing we intended was to insult the LGBTI community,” she said.
“Shane's best friends are gay and he would be really upset if he thought he had offended them or the gay community.
“In fact, he rang one to check beforehand and again got the go-ahead.
“We will of course respond to anyone who complained and assure them the show or the individuals didn't mean any harm.”
