The township of Mansfield and its youth workers were invited this week to a special information and training session about issues facing same-sex-attracted youth in rural areas, in an attempt to help curb homophobia and discrimination.

Sue Hackney, project coordinator of WayOut, Rural Victorian Youth and Sexual Diversity Project, was invited to address members of the Mansfield Youth Service Providers Network, including workers, school counsellors, drug and alcohol workers and general members of the public. WayOut works with communities in rural Victoria to raise awareness about homophobia and facilitates a group for young people in the Macedon Ranges Shire.

Mansfield is the home town of Ken Campagnolo, the bisexual firefighter who has been fighting the local Department of Economic Sustainability for refusing to hire him on the grounds of his sexuality. Ken was expected to attend the session but was not scheduled to speak.

Organiser of the event, and a youth development worker in Mansfield, Sarah Heywood said she hoped the session was an important step for the town’s youth workers.

“Like most communities, whether they be rural or urban, there are certainly instances in youth culture where some discriminatory behaviour can occur, as there is in the broader community,” she told bnews. “I had read a lot of the good work that Sue had done in other regional communities and I thought it would be great for her to come and speak to us.”

Heywood said that attendees would benefit from Hackney’s experience in dealing with homophobia in a rural environment.

“Hopefully we will gain information about what strategies have worked in other rural communities, and hopefully we will be made more aware of the difficulties that same-sex attracted young people face in communities where there is discrimination. Hopefully it will be the start of a much longer and broader conversation on a local level about what we can do at a local level to make sure there is no discrimination against younger people,” she said.

by CATHY ANDERSON