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原文链接：
http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/fea ... father-and-son.html
FATHER AND SON: GEOFF AND NATHAN THOMAS
父亲和他的同性恋儿子
AUTHOR // Serkan Ozturk
CATEGORIES // National | ACT | Feature | New South Wales | Northern Territory | Queensland | South Australia | Tasmania | Victoria | Western Australia
The father is a plumber by trade. The son works in finance. Together, they’re a formidable team fighting for equal gay rights. Here, Geoff Thomas and his son Nathan share their inspiring story. Interviews by Serkan Ozturk.
父亲是一个水管工，儿子在一家金融公司工作。父亲和儿子组成了一支坚强的为同性恋权益而战的队伍。
When Western Sydney plumber and Vietnam veteran Geoff Thomas, 63, confronted Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on live television in 2010 over his lack of support for the gay and lesbian community, little did he know the ripple effect it would have across the country. Spurred on by the 36-year-old openly gay son who only came out to him a few years prior, ‘Geoff the plumber’ would use the opportunity to become one of the country’s most powerful advocates for marriage equality. Ahead of Father’s Day, Serkan Ozturk sat down with Geoff and his son, Nathan, to talk family, life and the continuing campaign for equality.
父亲 Geoff Thomas 今年63岁，越战老兵，2010在全国电视网公开质询Tony Abbott质疑他反对同性恋的立场。他万万没有想到，他的这一行为随后却被全澳人所周知。他36岁的同性恋儿子几年以前和他出柜的，Geoff成为全国知名的同性婚姻的倡导者。
GEOFF THOMAS
父亲的陈述
I grew up in the inner-city suburb of Richmond in Melbourne. We moved out to Heidelberg when I was eight years old, just near the Olympic Village, which is a housing commission area. We were in a war service home that my father had purchased. It was pretty tough. I have a very disabled brother and of course I fought every kid in the street who used to poke fun of him and call him names. I guess from that I’ve never liked bullies.
我从乡在城里长大，我8岁的时候搬家到了现在的地方，住的是救济房，是我父亲退役以后购买的。我有一个残疾的兄弟，我经常为了我兄弟不受欺负而帮他打架。这也是我反对欺辱的原因。
I’m a very proud Australian. You can take me back to when I joined the army at age 15 in 1964. I went to a military school, and of course, there was very strong discipline in that place. Homophobia was the order of the day. Gays in the army at that time – their feet did not touch the ground once somebody suspected them of being gay, or they admitted to being gay, literally they were gone. I was raised homophobic but an intensely proud Australian. I went to war in Vietnam with all the patriotic fervour of a young man who wanted to do something for his country and believed strongly in the ideals of democracy and freedom. Roll time ahead, I discover that I have a gay son and then I discover to my horror that he’s not treated equally in his own country.
我是一个骄傲的澳大利亚人，我于1964年参军，我进入了军校，在那时候歧视同性恋是军令，在那时候军队是禁止同性恋的，如果有人承认自己是同性恋或者被别人发现是同性恋，会立即被开除军籍。我从小长大的所接受的教育就是歧视同性恋的。我作为一名自豪的澳洲人，为了民主与自由，参与了越战。后来，我知道了我的儿子是同性恋，直到我的儿子会因为他的同性恋身份而受到社会的不公待遇这件事情扔我感到很恐惧。
When my son came out to me I had to ask myself why was it that I didn’t like gays. In my sort of introspective look at my attitudes I boiled it down to three things – fear, ignorance and prejudice.
当我儿子告诉我他是同性恋时，我不得不问自己，是什么让我歧视同性恋的。我很深刻的思考这个问题，最终我得出了三个结论：恐惧，无知，偏见。
You know my wife was not well. She had breast cancer and the prognosis at that time wasn’t good. She was chatting to Nathan on the phone – we were watching television – and I heard her say, ‘Oh, don’t be bloody stupid, you don’t know how your father’s going to react’. She then just handed over the phone and said, ‘Your son has got something to tell you’. I pick up the phone and he says, ‘I need to tell you that I’m gay’. I paused for a second, the brain was going a thousand miles an hour. I then said, ‘You’re my son and I love you, and that’s the end of it’. We say that with a background knowing that I was homophobic at the time and I certainly didn’t expect to have that conversation. I happily hugged my son and kissed him when I first met him after that telephone exchange. When he came in the door he was nervous so I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.
我的妻子身体不好，她得了乳腺癌，我听到她和我儿子通电话，她说：别愚蠢了，这事要是让你父亲知道的话，他会暴跳如雷的。我妻子立刻把电话交给我说：你儿子有事情要告诉你。我拿过电话，听到我儿子对我说：我是同性恋。我沉默了一下，急速的思考。我回答说：你是我儿子，我永远爱你！我那时候心里知道，我是反对同性恋的，我从来也没想到过会听到这个消息。通话不就以后，我见到了我儿子，我儿子有些紧张，所以我给了他一个拥抱，并且亲吻了他的面颊。
I had a great sense of shame that my son had grown up knowing that his father was fundamentally of the view that his sexuality made him less acceptable to me. I was never homophobic to the point where I agreed with gay bashings, I abhor all such violence in that sense. But I used to have a throwaway line with some of the plumbers contracted to me. If they were sort of slacking off on the day or if they complained about cutting their finger or burning their hand, I’d say, ‘Plumbers aren’t wimps or poofters, just get on with it!’ My son heard me say that probably thousands of times. In that instant when he told me he was gay it all came back to me. I really felt quite ashamed that my son had to grow up in that type of environment.
我感到很羞耻，因为现在得知我儿子不得不成长在他的父亲是那样歧视同性恋，而因此不接受他的家庭环境中。我反对同性恋，但是我不认为欺辱同性恋是可以接受的行为。但是我过去一直在言语上肯歧视同性恋，比如有一些水管工有一些娇妻的行为举止，我就说一些很话，用同性恋去讥笑他们。我儿子恐怕经常听到我这样的言语。当直到我自己的儿子是同性恋的事后，我立刻想到，我的过去的那些言语，我感到很羞愧，因为我的儿子不得不成长在那样的一个环境下。
I was keen on the opportunity to say something to Tony Abbott and these people because they need a shake-up. In one sense we look up to our politicians for leadership but on this issue and some others they just seem dumb. It’s an obvious question isn’t it? Why does my son not have the same dignity and respect afforded to him like other Australians? That’s a pretty basic question and often we don’t ask politicians the simple questions.
我很想问问Tony Abbott 和那些反对同性恋的人，国家领导人应该其带头作用，但是他却在这件事上装傻。事实很明显不是么？为什么我儿子就不能够像所有澳洲人一样拥有应得的尊严呢？这么简单的问题，这些显而易见的问题通常是不需要政治家们作答的。
The primary thing that parents should do is absolutely accept their children for what they are. They must tell them that they love them, they must open their hearts to them and their friends. Accept them for what they are. That’s the most important thing. The second thing is they should get angry that they live in a country that doesn’t treat their children equally. My son is as valuable an Australian citizen as anyone in the street and deserves to be treated the same under the law.
作为父母，最重要的是接受他们的孩子，不管他们的性取向如何。然后做父母的应该感到愤怒，因为他们的同性恋孩子收到的不公正的待遇。我儿子是一个自豪的澳洲人，他应该得到法律上和任何其他人一样的待遇。
NATHAN THOMAS
儿子的陈述
That was probably one of the best moments of my life [when Geoff confronted Tony Abbott on Q&A]. That was gutsy. I mean he was one of the first straight guys to stand up and say publically that he supports same-sex marriage. He’s in the construction industry, he’s seeing people every day and he really put himself out there. That was all inconsequential to him because he wanted to do what he thought was right. I don’t think he expected that it was going to get as much traction as it did.
最让我感动的是，当我父亲在全国电视网上公开质问Tony Abbott为什么反对同性婚姻。我爸爸真的很有骨气。我父亲最先敢于站出来宣称支持同性婚姻的异性恋。他自然直到这有可能引起的后果。他是一名水管工，他的客户很多，他还是勇敢的站出来。对于我父亲来说，他要做他认为正确的事情而不计后果。然而，他没有料到他的行为产生了极大地反响。
What happened was on Twitter there were just hundreds of hundreds of messages and comments like, ‘Can your dad adopt me?’, ‘I wish my dad was like your dad’, and ‘You’re so lucky, my dad doesn’t speak to me’. I copied all of those and sent them to my dad and said, ‘You just won’t believe this’. I think it really upset him because he just couldn’t believe parents wouldn’t support their children. It really shocked him and I think it spurred him on because he thought, ‘Well I could make some contribution here and make it better for gay and lesbian Australians’.
我在微博上受到了很多回应：【你爸爸可以收养我么】【要是我父亲跟你父亲那样就好了】【你太幸运了，我和我父亲断绝关系了】。我把这些消息转给我父亲看，这些消息让我的父亲很伤心，他说：我不相信这些。我父亲为了有那么多父母不支持他们的孩子而感到很伤心。这个事实让我的父亲很震惊，进而激发了他继续为同性恋权益而战的决心。
Contrary to what my dad thinks I never told him [about being gay] because he was so homophobic, like with all the things he used to say. So I didn’t tell him so I waited. My mum was terminally ill so I told her. I told her, ‘You can tell dad, I don’t care what he thinks anymore’. I guess what I learned from that is sometimes you expect the worse. What would have happened if I didn’t come out to my dad? I never would have given him the opportunity to be the super dad in a way. Sometimes the most surprising people are the ones who will fight hardest for you. I could never, ever have imagined my dad would be like this.
我的父亲过去很歧视同性恋，因此我决定不告诉他。但是我却告诉了我患有绝症的母亲，我还告诉我母亲：你告诉父亲吧，我再也不在意他怎么想了。我做好了最坏的打算。但是如果我没有告诉我父亲我是同性恋的事实，那么我将失去一个给我父亲成为一个超级爸爸的机会。有时候，最支持你的人是你意想不到的人。我从来都不敢相信，我父亲会这么支持我。
He’s taught me lots of things. He’s always calm under pressure. He always tries to look for the good in people. Something that I sometimes don’t get is that my dad will always deal with everyone with the best of intentions. He’s often let down and he’s always still happy to just continue on that basis. Sometimes I’m like gees, you’re still letting people take advantage of you ... My dad is very kind hearted. Definitely likes hard work and tries to do unto others how he himself would like to be treated.
我的父亲是那种天生乐观的乐于助人的人。他努力工作，他希望别人像他对待其他人那样对待他。
You’re not always going to have an accepting family so it’s hard for me to give advice on that. But for me it was really important, regardless of what my dad thought, to live in my truth. I wanted to be myself and I thought he’s going to have to come along with me, or he’s not, but that’s his own decision. I’m going to live my life the way I want to and I’m proud to be gay.
你并不总能够有一个全力支持你的家庭。对于我来说，最重要的是做我自己，不管我父亲支持我，还是反对我，我都要过我自己的生活，我是一名骄傲的同性恋。
My dad said to me one day that I’m so lucky to have a gay son because understanding all the issues opened his eyes up so much to the world. It’s really opened up a lot of things that he was close-minded about. My dad’s a superstar. I admire my dad so much. At his 50th birthday party I stood up and did a speech and remember saying, ‘My dad is that typical dad. You go to him and he’s always got the answer, he’s never judging, always supporting.’ I would love to be half the man that my dad is.
有一天，我父亲告诉我，他为有我这样一个同性恋的儿子而感到真的很幸运，因为这让他有一个机会去感受这个世界的另一面。直到我是同性恋这个事实，真的个我的父亲对世界的看法。我一直很崇拜我的父亲，在他50岁大寿的时候，我对他说：你是一个典型的好爸爸，一个超级明星，你总有答案，你从里不对人有偏见，你总是给人予支持。我希望我有你的一半好，我就知足了。
The biggest thing my father has done for the cause is that every gay and lesbian Australian can bang on about their own rights but it is far more powerful coming from somebody whose got nothing to really gain from it. He’s fighting for his son’s rights and all gay and lesbian Australians and that’s just a hugely powerful message.
每一个同性恋都有权利去为了自身权益而战，但是我父亲却也为了同性恋的平权而战，这并不涉及他的自身利益啊。我父亲是为了他的同性恋儿子而战，为了全澳的同性恋而战。
My dad always says: “The Thomas family we don’t like to fight, but when we fight we fight to win”.
我父亲总是说，我们家族向来不喜欢挑起争端，但是如果要打仗我们就要竭尽全力打仗。
We don’t fight very often but on this cause we’re absolutely fighting. And we will win this one, I know it.
我们不经常参与打仗，但是为了同性恋平权，我们一定要战斗，我知道，我们肯定会最终赢得胜利。
[Pictured] Geoff Thomas (left) with his son, Nathan. Photo: John McRae
[Video] Geoff Thomas confronts Tony Abbott on the issue of same-sex marriage on the ABC's Q&A in August 2010.
[ 本帖最后由 xblues 于 27-8-2012 12:41 编辑 ] |
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发表于 27-8-2012 12:20:53
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