Is Paul Keating a homosexual? Radio 3AW's Derryn Hinch would know, surely

Three years ago I asked this question and got the biggest response to anything I had posted on my website. This is what appeared 21 April 2004:

Last year, during a conversation about the public outburst by Mark Latham's former wife, I asked some Sydneysiders why the public had heard virtually nothing about the break-up of the Keating marriage. Surely the silence of the media was unusual, even given the grovelling manner in which most reporters treated him? What was behind it? Who or what was responsible? What was the background?

The Sydneysiders claimed uniformly, and with passion, that the marriage broke up because Paul Keating is a homosexual.

I have no idea whether there is any truth to this claim. My conversation partners offered nothing but assertion to back their claim.

Whether an individual is a homosexual or not is a private matter. Homosexuality becomes a public matter when one raises the homosexual state and lifestyle to the level of ideological struggle. This is the present case. One can talk about a political ideology called 'homosexualism' which is constantly promoted by hyperactive 'homosexualists'. Homosexualising society is an essential policy of the politically correct agenda.

Paul Keating, by virtue of his being a notorious promoter and defender of the politically correct credo, has a duty either to confirm or refute publicly the circulating claim that he is a homosexual. Indeed, the media, if they adhered to any consistent principle, would hasten to clarify the matter. For you can be sure that the Canberra press gallery knows what the 'situation' is. At the very least, they would put an end to malicious gossip - if it were untrue, of course.

I received emails from people who had heard the claim and were interested to know the truth. They were obviously not convinced by Keating's reported denials. Others called me and my question homophobic which is the normal response from homosexuals and their PC supporters to any adverse comment or question.

Some months later when the emails had stopped, I received an email from someone who claimed on good authority (and named that authority) to know that Paul Keating had certain adventures when on overseas trips.

To use an overworn media expression, this is clearly a matter that is not going to go away. Apart from the emails received, there is a curious silence surrounding Keating's private life. He maintains a high profile public life with his poisonous tongue and malicious attacks on people whose 'vision' does not coincide with his political vision. Lately he has demonstrated that there is nothing he will not say in his effort to destroy his political opponents. You would think that a bit more would surface about what he was actually doing with himself when he wasn't slandering and smearing his perceived enemies.

People in the media must know pretty well about those features of Keating's private life that have significance and relevance to his loud uncensored public political stand. They must be able state the case and offer substantial reasons for it - for example, the existence of a girlfriend... It would be straining belief to claim that Keating lives like a monk.

If there is anyone who will not resile from speaking the truth when the public interest is involved - no matter what the canons of respect and decency prescribe, no matter what the law says - it is Derryn Hinch. It is also Derryn Hinch before most in the media who has an inside track on this sort of issue.

If anyone should know whether Paul Keating is homosexual, it is Derryn Hinch. I challenge him to state his opinion and give good reasons for it. This is a test of Hinch's credibility and moral consistency.