Andrew Shaw: Drivers & Cyclists

After Shane Warne went for a drive recently and got involved in a road rage incident with a cyclist, he called for registration of all bikes so maverick cyclists could be traced and punished.

Suddenly the issue was up for national debate, with authorities being called on to explain why Warnie’s call to action was not a good idea (a registration system would cost a lot of money, it would discourage exercise, what about kids’ bikes, etc).

It’s an example of how celebrities polarise debate. Warne probably didn’t give the issue of cyclists much thought before; after all, he’s no expert on the ethics of transport. But by using his media profile, he briefly drove a wedge between drivers and cyclists, polarising the debate, prompting a flurry of letters to editors damning one group or the other – even though the two overlap, some cyclists are also drivers and vice-versa.

Warne’s mega media profile has a solid foundation: his talent as a bowler. Getting to the top of his field took years of practise, guts, determination, ambition – it’s an effort that deserves respect. Since then he’s also acquired a reputation for: texting girlfriends (while married); being photographed smoking while representing an anti-smoking patch; spruiking for a hair replacement process; and playing poker for a company that runs gambling websites. It’s (mostly) nothing to be ashamed of, but the positive feelings we have about him, the reason we listen to him, comes from that time when he was the golden boy of cricket.

Margaret Court used to be the golden girl of tennis. Like Warne, her sporting achievement was fantastic. Since then she has – like Warne – added less noteworthy achievements to her profile.

Like Warne’s ‘drivers’ and ‘cyclists’, Court splits the world into ‘heterosexuals’ and ‘homosexuals’. She believes homosexuality will destroy the family; that homosexuality is a wrong lifestyle choice.

Don’t excuse her by saying she is speaking from faith, because as she wrote last week in a Melbourne paper, “even those without faith know what is right and what is wrong.”

But support for the rights of LGBTIQ people is not an issue of ‘us and them’, of ‘drivers and cyclists’. Look at the work of PFLAG’s Shelley Argent on behalf of equal marriage. Look at the so-called conservative politicians who have supported homosexual law reform in the past and present. Look at our mums and dads, brothers and sisters and cousins and everyone who cares for us supports us. Everywhere you look, gays and straights are working together for equality.

At least Shane Warne only wants cyclists to register themselves; Margaret Court would force cyclists to become drivers, ban bikes altogether and find a verse in the Bible that said transporting yourself on two wheels was an abomination.

This is all something to think about when you’re marching down Fitzroy Street for Pride March, which is the best way to show Melbourne that we’re here, we’re queer and we want equal rights. So enjoy Sunday – we’ll be there in the MCV Community Village and hope to see you.