“I had to ask special permission to lend my voice to the Yes campaign”

Openly gay news presenters Narelda Jacobs, from Network 10, and ABC’s Patricia Karvelas have spoken about having to keep personal lives private as they rose through the newsroom ranks.

Reflecting in 10 pilot Dinner Guest, Jacobs said, “Coming up the ranks as I think back to the beginnings of my career, I just had to do things to fit in. We all just have to do things to fit in otherwise if you didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

“When I walked into the newsroom on my very first day, I was told ‘You’re Aboriginal and gay, but you can’t be political.’

“How do you tell an Aboriginal, gay woman that they can’t just be political? So I did have to fit in, and that was a choice I made,” she recalled.

“The more I fit in, the more elevated I was, getting opportunities….

“If I was saying the things that I’m saying now, back then, there is no way I would be where I am.”

But the 2017 Marriage Equality postal survey was a turning point.

“I had to ask special permission to lend my voice to the Yes campaign. I was pre emptive. …you get to a point in life where it’s like, ‘I’ve got to talk about this! I’ve got this lived experience that is kind of going to waste now.’ And that was in 2017.”

ABC’s Patricia Karvelas also recalls struggles around the Marriage Equality campaign.

“I didn’t campaign for Yes because I wasn’t allowed to,” she revealed.

“I was okay with that, actually. But my daughter said to me once, ‘It’s really weird the way you have to act like you have no stake in this basically.’ I said to her, arguing the journalistic case which I still think has merit, ‘It wouldn’t be very fair. …that I would interview someone who’s opposed to same sex marriage, and I was going on about how I’m gay, and they should let you get married. ‘And she said, ‘Yeah, but that’s just who you are, mum.’ Through children’s eyes, my friends….!

“It just didn’t sit right with her. And with me, I kind of normalised it. And I’m still cool, because I played a particular role in current affairs, but yeah, of course, it did have an impact on me.”

You can watch Dinner Guest at 10 Play.