Susie O’Brien: Tom Morris’s comments show respect for gay women has a long way to go

For too long gay women have long been subjected to homophobia from straight men who seem offended that they have the temerity to be attractive and yet unavailable.

Former Fox Footy reporter Tom Morris was sacked after making “degrading” comments about a colleague.

Entitled white men still don’t understand why Fox Footy journalist Tom Morris lost his job.

Morris was caught on tape lamenting the fact that a good-looking female co-worker was a lesbian.

He used a term that was a lot more demeaning than that to describe her.

A second tape further displayed Morris’s straight white male privilege: “I’m not Asian, I’m not black, I’m not a woman, I’m not gay, so don’t treat me like shit. I’m a man with a heart and I’ve got feelings. Love youse all.”

Within a day Morris went from being backed by Fox to being sacked by Fox.

Morris didn’t lose his job because he was careless on social media or because he was the victim of a vendetta that saw his white man’s lament broadcast far and wide. He lost his job because he expressed offensive, harmful Neanderthal views that have no place in modern society, let alone a workplace.

Morris’s comments made the sexuality of a co-worker public without her knowledge or consent.

This illustrated a brazen lack of regard for her feelings, privacy and humanity. And yet, there are plenty of men who believe Morris has been wronged because he made the comments in a private forum and thus didn’t deserve to lose his job.

Former Fox Footy reporter Tom Morris. Picture: Ian Currie

Morris’s Twitter feed is illuminating.

Jack Bennett writes: “Would be interested to know the percentage of people genuinely offended by Tom’s comments, and those who couldn’t resist joining the pile-on?” And there’s Baz, who said: “Just imagine if everyone’s private conversations were made public. There’d be a lynching every 5 minutes”.

But Morris doesn’t need to “find better friends”, as Peter also suggested.

He needs to have a wholesale rethink about his views on women, homosexuality and his own place in the world. Most men wouldn’t think these things, let alone put them on social media.

Morris went to Melbourne Grammar, and in an article on the school’s website from 2018, said he “continues to draw on values and experiences gained during his time at Melbourne Grammar School”. (Wait for that one to be quietly pulled from the web.)

Morris also said he loves sport because there’s “nowhere to hide”.

“What you see on the sporting field is how a person is,” he’s quoted as saying in the school article. I think the same is true of someone’s private communication. What you say on WhatsApp in an unguarded remark is who you really are.

It’s how a person is, to use Morris’s words.

For too long gay women have long been subjected to homophobia from straight men who seem offended that they have the temerity to be attractive and yet unavailable. Other gay women find themselves on the outer because they don’t look feminine enough, or don’t present themselves as targets of a male gaze.

Straight men like Morris are members of the hegemony – especially in a male-dominated area like sports journalism. They don’t have to worry about being outed by others, or demeaned for who they are, what they look like or what they represent.

Morris has since offered an apology, but it doesn’t change what he did. He said he will now “take the time to listen, learn and work to improve myself”.

Morris wasn’t just degrading one gay woman, he was degrading all gay women.

I note that he didn’t openly admit to being homophobic in his apology.

The outspoken Sam Newman. Picture: Michael Dodge.

Morris’s actions caused an innocent woman to be publicly outed as gay. As the woman in question explained, coming out “should never be taken out of someone’s hands”.

The swift sacking of Morris is in stark contrast to the more favoured treatment meted out to former footy players and commentators like Wayne Carey, who should not be on our TV screens, now or ever.

Others cite the example of Crows player Tex Walker and broadcasters like Eddie McGuire and Sam Newman who survive through many such offences.

Despite this, Fox executive director Steve Crawley found time to praise Morris while giving him the sack, noting his “valuable contribution to Fox Sports over the past seven years”.

And yet, Fox’s treatment of Morris is a watershed moment.

For a long time, gay workers have stayed quiet about their private lives, fearing honesty will cost them their job.

This time around someone lost their job, not for being gay, but for being homophobic and demeaning.

Slowly, slowly, things are changing.