Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Intercultural relationships... from the Australian partner point of view

There are many gay & lesbian relationships in Australia where one partner is of a traditional Anglo/Australian heritage, and the partner is from some other country... be that one of the European countries, the Americas, Latin America, Middle East, the African continent, or one of the many Asian countries.

This week we take a look at one Australian's view on such intercultural relationships, and his own experiences with a number of short, and one not-so-short, intercultural relationships. Our guest this week is 31-y.o. Scott, an Anglo Saxon Australian who professes to liking guys "with tanned skins", be they Latin American, or Asian. Scott will openly discuss his experiences, why he prefers this "type" of man, and how he has handled such relationships. And he will specifically discuss his experiences with the longest relationship he has had to-date, which ended about a year ago... or did it?

This can be a controversial topic, particularly if we end up discussing such labels as Rice Queen, Potatoe Queen, Sticky Rice etc. But it's a topic that is of interest to many people in our communities never-the-less. So listen in to Orange Ribbon next Saturday (3rd April, 2010) when Hao and Allan (yes... Allan is returning briefly...) chat with Scott about all of the above issues.

And one final note of sadness... and the reason for Allan's brief return this coming Saturday...

Orange Ribbon presenter, Hugh McKenna, has recently been on 4 weeks holidays which not only took him to India for a 40th birthday party, but also back home to Scotland in order for him to catch up with his very ill and ageing mother. Hugh returned home to Melbourne just last week and was able to return to the airwaves last Saturday.

Unfortunately, Hugh's Mum passed away in the past 24 hours, which means that Hugh has now had to rush back to Scotland again for the funeral. Our sincere thoughts are with Hugh and his family during this very sad moment in their lives.

As a result of the above emergency, Allan will be back with Hao for this coming Saturday's program, before he too heads off back to Hong Kong again next week for most of April. It is expected that Hugh will be back on board again for Orange Ribbon on Saturday 10th April. Our condolences to Hugh and his extended family at this difficult and stressful time.

Orange Ribbon: 2:00pm Saturday, 3rd April, 2010

Thursday, March 25, 2010

This Week on Orange Ribbon Saturday 27 March

This week we will be speaking to Jason who originally comes from mainland China. He will tell us what his family life was in like China, why his parents decided to come to Australia and what life was like for his parents and him when they first arrived here.
Jason was very young when he came to Australia, we will find out what it is like for a child to come to Australia  and have to learn to speak English at school and see his parents struggle to pay the rent and buy food.
He will also talk about the first person he came out to and why, even though he did not even like her.

To hear Jason's story, tune into Joy 94.9 and Orange Ribbon on Saturday at 2.00pm.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Born in Mauritius, raised in Australia

Mauritius is a tiny island spec out in the middle of the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the much larger Madagascar, which in turn is off the eastern coast of Africa.

This week on Orange Ribbon we chat with Michael, who was born in Mauritius, but moved with his family to Australia some 40 years ago when he was a toddler.

As a result, although with obviously coloured skin, Michael is very much Australian in so many ways, having effectively spent almost his entire life in Melbourne. He comes from a Catholic family, although he admits that religious convictions have long faded into the background of his life. He will discuss being raised in the outer northern suburbs of Melbourne,, family issues, the freedom of going to university, and about his coming out process.

These days Michael works in Event Management, and he also will speak briefly about just some of the issues he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis with his work, and about some of the major events in which he has been involved.

So join Allan and Hao this coming Saturday (13th March, 2010) at 2:00pm for this interesting chat.

Orange Ribbon can be heard every Saturday between 2:00-3:00pm on JOY 94.9FM, or if you are not in Melbourne then you can listen in "live" via JOY's webstreaming.