Following last week’s blog about Justin Timberlake and his mum Lynn, we’ve decided to look at another modern family. This week is all about Logie winning actress Brenna Harding and her mums Vicki and Jackie!
Brenna may be known nowadays for her role as Sue in ‘Puberty Blues’, but ten years ago she was making headlines for a very different reason. Brenna and her mums featured on a controversial episode of the classic ABC Children’s show ‘Play School’. Now it wasn’t controversial because it featured a happy young girl with her two supportive mothers but because our then Prime Minister John Howard called this inclusion ‘foolish’. Within the government it was suggested that the show was deliberately making a political statement and (GASP) ‘exposing children to same sex marriage’ as though it would destroy their innocence. Scarily this thought process was still in place only a mere ten years ago!
Even though it would be easy for Brenna to fall into the cliché ‘child star’ pattern, parents Vickie and Jackie have been careful to make sure that Brenna prioritizes her education as well. Last year, Brenna completed Year 11 at Sydney’s St George Girls High School whilst also working on the second season of ‘Puberty Blues.’ In fact, Brenna has more than proven to be a poster child for a well-adjusted teenager raised by a gay couple – she’s co-authored kids’ books that normalise the concept, campaigned for gay rights and recently contributed a long essay about her family in support of gay marriage to the Griffith Journal Of Law and Human Dignity.
Biological mother Vicki also specifically chose a known sperm donor so Harding could meet him later in life if she wanted to. Of course she did: “It was another person in my life who was loving,” Brenna says. They still see each other every three weeks. “I don’t refer to him as my dad. My donor is what I call him. He’s a bit like an uncle.”
It’s no surprise then that when Brenna won her Best New Female Talent Logie in 2013, she was quick to thank “two women, my beautiful mothers’ during her acceptance speech. What’s even more exciting is that the mention caused little to no fuss in the press room afterwards. Our society is slowly coming around to the idea that same sex families can be just as happy as opposite sex ones!
(Credit and quotes from News Online)
