Australian Story – Since Adam Was a Boy: Denying reality

Adam is clearly athletic, good-looking and the sort of young man that any parent would be proud of. Adam’s story is filmed with understanding and warmth and, in the style of Australian Story, it’s Adam himself and his family and friends who tell the story, not an omniscient narrator.

Australian Story – Since Adam Was a Boy Synopsis

Adam Sutton is a quintessential cowboy. He’s fearless, fun-loving and gay. He’s a horse wrangler and rodeo rider but the biggest risk he ever took was to reveal the secret of his sexuality to the world.

This is Adam’s story from his earliest years – as a prankster kid with a close-knit family and adoring male and female friends, through a troubled period in his late teens when he was sent to jail for culpable driving causing the death of a young man.

Australian Story – Since Adam Was a Boy Curator's Notes

Coming out must always be a big decision but coming out in the bush must take a real act of courage. It took Adam Sutton many years to know and accept his sexual orientation – to himself, and to his family and friends. As a boy from the bush he’d never met gay people and was utterly unprepared for the turmoil he experienced over his sexuality.

This is Australian Story at its best. The series gives people space to tell their own stories. Adam’s story and that of his parents and sisters is truly riveting – the more so because they are ordinary people with an extraordinary story to tell.

Australian Story has no omniscient narrator, just the voice-over of the participants. At its best, it’s great television, when it’s less successful, the program can be rather sentimental but that’s not the case with Since Adam Was A Boy.

Notes by Janet Bell

Education notes

This clip shows Adam Sutton, a horse breaker and trainer, practising riding tricks on his horse as he describes in voice-over how he 'came out’ to his family and the reaction of his parents, John and Barb, to the news that he was gay. John and Barb describe their immediate response to learning about their son’s sexual orientation, including Barb’s fear that she would 'lose’ her son and John’s hope that this was a passing phase.

Educational value points

• Coming out, or announcing sexual identity, to family can be a difficult step because of fears about how family, particularly parents, will react. This may include a fear of rejection from family, or a fear of disappointing or hurting family members. Adam says that the 'hardest thing’ was to tell his parents that he was gay because he knew it would upset them. Gays, bisexuals and lesbians may also keep their sexuality a secret because they are concerned about being harassed by family, friends, or others.
• Adam’s mother and father describe their difficulty in accepting Adam’s sexual orientation. According to the New South Wales Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, parents who learn that their child is gay may go through a grief process that can include anger, denial, disbelief, guilt and a sense of perceived loss (such as the fear that their child will become a different person, and the possible denial of grandchildren) before accepting their child’s sexuality. Being 'out’ can, however, ultimately strengthen the relationship between parents and child, because the child may no longer feel they have to hide this part of their identity from their family.
• Adam’s mother says that when her son came out she was angry because he had earlier denied he was gay. Yet, she agreed to be in the documentary, suggesting that she had come to terms with her son’s sexuality. Identifying as gay or lesbian can be difficult due to the stigma sometimes associated with being homosexual and ignorance within the community. A 2005 Australian Institute report showed that 35 per cent of the population aged over 14 years believe homosexuality is immoral. Gays and lesbians face discrimination, homophobia (a fear or hatred of homosexuals) and violence.
• Isolation, homophobia and a lack of support services can make it particularly difficult for gays and lesbians in rural areas to come out. A 1996 study, The Rural Mural: Sexuality and Diversity in Rural Youth, found that young gays and lesbians in rural areas are less likely to confide in their doctor because of confidentiality issues, particularly a fear that the doctor might inform parents. A 2005 Australian Institute report, Mapping Homophobia in Australia, found that homophobia is more prevalent in rural areas.
• Adam participated in Australian Story because he wanted to counter negative stereotypes of gays and lesbians and serve as a role model for young gays and lesbians in rural communities, perhaps helping others to be open about their sexuality. A lack of positive role models has been linked to higher rates of youth suicide among gays and lesbians in rural areas. According to a report released by VicHealth (the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation) young gays and lesbians, particularly in rural areas, may be six times more likely to commit suicide than other young people, and the report found that the stress experienced by gay and lesbian people who have not come out contributes to this risk.
• Research conducted by La Trobe University in 1996 found that around 10 per cent of young people aged 14 to 18 are sexually attracted to members of the same sex.

Education notes provided by The Learning Federation and Education Services Australia