Sheesh! Talk about your flagrant disregard for FReep rules...
Man I wish I was a dolphin!!!
Posted on 09/30/2003 2:20:51 PM PDT by presidio9
I'm out.
I didn't strike out. I wasn't thrown out. And above all, I wasn't forced out.
I'm out because I no longer, in good conscience, choose to ignore the unabashed homophobia that is so cavalierly tolerated within the world of sports. I'm out, because the silence of a closeted gay man only serves to give his implicit approval to bigotry. I'm out, because I refuse to continue hiding from the truth that an openly gay man has as much right as a straight man to play sports or report on them.
Frankly, I'm out because I can't come up with a single logical reason why I should have denied myself the right to live and work as openly and freely as everyone else.
Nor should anyone find a reason why an openly gay athlete should be denied the right to play a team sport without fear of becoming a target of prejudice or physical harm.
In the cases of both a gay athlete and a gay sportswriter, homophobic athletes always come up with the same sorry excuse to justify the perpetuation of prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation - the locker room.
What, exactly, does a straight athlete have to fear from a gay teammate or sportswriter? Any man secure in his heterosexuality should not have a care in the world when a gay man is present in the locker room. He is there only to earn a living, not to infiltrate the locker room in a covert operation to ``convert'' straight athletes. There are infinitely more friendly and healthy environments in which a self-respecting gay man would prefer to explore his sexuality than a locker room full of straight guys.
From the viewpoint of a sportswriter, gay or straight, the professional locker room is a relatively hostile environment, where too many athletes have developed an us-against-them mentality toward the media. Reporters, usually working on deadline, are only too glad to vacate the premises as soon as they're able to extract enough quotes to write their stories.
Should a gay athlete be brave enough to come out during his career, he'd spend considerably more time than a sportswriter in the locker room, likely causing some teammates to feel uncomfortable. Being among a vast majority of straight teammates, even a homophobic player would have to eventually realize that he is not so vulnerable that he should be intimidated by the presence of a single gay teammate.
No active player in a major professional team sport has ever come out, but former NFL players Esera Tuaolo and David Kopay and former major league baseball players Billy Bean and the late Glenn Burke surely are not the only closeted gay athletes to have shared locker rooms with their straight teammates. It wouldn't be at all surprising if there are gay athletes on a great many professional teams, tolerated under a duplicitous ``Don't ask, don't tell'' understanding. Somehow, a gay teammate is only regarded as a threat if he is honest and a stand-up guy, qualities that are usually valued in team sports.
In an effort to justify homophobia, some would claim that an openly gay player would become a distraction that would undermine his team. A media frenzy surely would be created by a player coming out of the closet, but how long would a gay player be such a distraction if all of his teammates rallied around him for the whole world to witness? Professional athletes are role models, and a demonstration of team solidarity would send the profound message: ``We support our teammate and you should, too.''
Obviously, the climate is not ideal for a gay athlete to come out when San Francisco 49ers running back Garrison Hearst can say, ``I don't want any faggots on my team,'' and New York Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey can call Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells ``a homo'' without any fear of being suspended or fined by his team or the NFL.
The gay community is the one minority that is still very much fair game for overt displays of prejudice in the world of sports. While inroads toward achieving equality are slowly being made in the real world, a gay man is still expected to bear the burden of shame in the sports world.
``He's got rights or whatever,'' relief pitcher Todd Jones was quoted in a Denver newspaper last spring before being traded to the Red Sox, ``but he shouldn't walk around proud.''
I'm out, and I am exercising my right to walk around proud.
Nobody cares if your gay Ed, just don't let anyone know if your a Christian.
"There are infinitely more friendly and healthy environments in which a self-respecting gay man would prefer to explore his sexuality than a locker room full of straight guys."
Self-respecting?
Meaning I don't loath myself anymore because everybody does it?
Explore his sexuality?
Meaning I was kept a bound prisoner from birth through childhood, and now as and adult I need to explore my sexuality?
Fine with me. Walk, kneel, bend over. I don't care.
Just remember, you are what you eat.....
As if we care...
But...If you want to suck face with a guy, have on average a lonelier life, get more diseases, and possibly get AIDS easier and die younger, then more power to ya fella.
What is the average age of death in the homosexual community?... fourtyish? Sad.
Behaviors have consequences to self and society.
Wait... I do care.
Better to let him enjoy the gawk rather than be seen as 'homophobic'. Heck.
I have seen the number "42" quoted here many times.
Better to let him enjoy the gawk rather than be seen as 'homophobic'. Heck.
It was pointed out on another thread that he mostly writes about horses anyway.
I'm supposed to care? Whoopdie doo.
OK... then I, as a het male, should be able to hang out with Mia Hamm or Anna Kournikova when they hit the showers...
Is that your face you see in the mirror?
Sheesh! Talk about your flagrant disregard for FReep rules...
Man I wish I was a dolphin!!!
On the serious note. Ed doesn't understand a very important concept. It's called team chemistry. A player coming out of the closet will upset team chemistry. It's just the way it is.
If I was a GM and had an openly gay player on the team, that player will be released for strictly that reason. Without chemistry, a team can't win.
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