Why There Few Openly Gay Athlet In Men's Profsnal Sports : NPR

Contents:

• A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS
• CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY N.F.L. PLAYER, HAS BEEN A FOOTBALL EVERYMAN
• JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY ATHLETE TO PLAY NBA, MAK U.S. SPORTS HISTORY
• NORTH AMERI’S FOUR BIGGT PRO SPORTS LEAGU HAVE BEEN AROUND A BED 398 YEARS. THEY’VE HAD TWO OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYERS
• JAGUARS’ KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE ACH TO E OUT AS GAY US MEN’S PRO SPORTS
• KEV MAXEN, JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH, OUT AS FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE ACH NFL
• ADAM RIPPON IS U.S.'S FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN TO QUALIFY FOR WTER OLYMPICS
• KEV MAXEN BE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE COACH THE NFL
• KEV MAXEN BREAKS BARRIERS AS FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE PROFSNAL COACH MAJOR U.S. SPORTS
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS
• ROBBIE ROGERS TAK FIELD AS 1ST OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYER U.S. PRO SPORTS MATCH
• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
• GIANT MURAL ON NORWICH PUB HONOURS JT FASHANU, ENGLAND'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER

A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS

Figure skater Adam Rippon will be one of two openly gay Amerins petg the 2018 Wter Olympics, a first for the U. But there’s one thg Rippon won’t be hidg – this year, he and etyle skier G Kenworthy will bee the first openly gay Amerin men to ever pete the Wter Olympics.

CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY N.F.L. PLAYER, HAS BEEN A FOOTBALL EVERYMAN

Even so, the last time that the Uned Stat sent an openly gay man to any Olympic Gam was 2004, when equtrians Guenter Seil and Robert Dover won bronze team drsage.

It was Dover’s sixth time reprentg the Uned Stat at the Olympics; durg his send Gam, 1988, Dover me out, beg the first openly gay athlete to pete the morn Olympics. "I wish that all gay athlet would e out all discipl – football, baseball, the Olympics, whatever, " Dover has said. Ined, by the time Dover me out on the ternatnal stage, was clear that gay athlet were petg and wng all levels of profsnal sports.

) And 1982, former Olympian Tom Wadll – who would die om AIDS at the height of the epimic five years later – helped found the first Gay Gam for LGBT athlet. Curry acknowledged that the mors about his sexualy were te, but when journalists asked prient qutns betrayg the era’s misnceptns about homosexualy and masculy, Curry fought back: “I don’t thk I lack virily, and what other people thk of me don’t matter, ” he said. There, a fiery, unflchg athletic spectacle, Curry abandoned his ual lively route of skips and hops for a stern technil masterpiece, makg him the first openly gay athlete to perform on the Olympic stage.

JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY ATHLETE TO PLAY NBA, MAK U.S. SPORTS HISTORY

LGBT journalists and historians, cludg Zeigler and Tony Scupham-Bilton, have talogued the many Olympians who were homosexual but peted a time before beg “out” was safe and acceptable.

German nner Otto Peltzer, for stance, peted the 1928 and 1932 Olympics, but was arrted by the Nazis 1934 for his homosexualy and was later sent to the ncentratn mps.

Louganis was long mored to be gay, but didn’t e out publicly until the openg ceremoni of the 1994 Gay Gam: "Wele to the Gay Gam, ” Louganis said to the crowd. Though the early history of openly gay Olympians is dotted wh male athlet, openly gay women have quietly gaed prevalence recent petns.

NORTH AMERI’S FOUR BIGGT PRO SPORTS LEAGU HAVE BEEN AROUND A BED 398 YEARS. THEY’VE HAD TWO OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYERS

At the 2008 Summer Olympics Beijg, 11 openly gay athlet peted, only one of whom – Atralian diver Matthew Mcham, who won gold and is a vol LGBT activist – was a man.

All six openly gay athlet at the 2010 Wter Olympics Vanuver were women, as were all seven of the openly gay athlet at the 2014 Wter Olympics Sochi. Both of the terveng Summer Olympics saw a greater turnout of openly gay athlet, but women still held the large majory. Wh this year’s Wter Gam Pyeongchang, Rippon and Kenworthy are the first openly gay Amerin men to pete the Olympics sce the legaly of same-sex marriage was tablished throughout the Uned Stat 2015, and the cultural shift is apparent.

JAGUARS’ KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE ACH TO E OUT AS GAY US MEN’S PRO SPORTS

The summer before hostg the Wter Olympics, what many saw as an afont to gay rights activism, the Rsian ernment passed a law prohibg the promotn of “nontradnal” sexual relatnships to mors. The Uned Stat ed the Olympic platform as an opportuny for subtle prott, cludg proment gay athlet Brian Boano, Billie Jean Kg and Cal Cahow s Olympic legatn, and protts were staged across the world.

KEV MAXEN, JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH, OUT AS FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE ACH NFL

Rippon recently ma headl when he refed an offer to meet wh Vice Print Mike Pence due to disagreements wh his stanc on LGBT rights – which clu past statements that appear to support fundg gay nversn therapy. He om a football fay, was a standout at Penn State and has tght his teammat about personal Miller/Getty ImagPublished June 22, 2021Updated June 25, 2021Las Vegas Rairs fensive leman Carl Nassib walked outsi his home Wt Chter, Pa., looked directly to his phone and did somethg that he said he hoped would one day no longer be a few brief sentenc, the 28-year-old Nassib me out as gay. L., his ach and his peers the league for their rpect and acceptance, and acknowledged that many gay people before him did not receive that same support.

In 1976, Wadll and his partner Charl Deaton are the first gay men to be featured the "Coupl" sectn of People magaze.

Gallagher says that before his suici attempt, he had bee unable to rencile his image of himself as an athlete wh gay urg. Bce Hay, an Olympic swimmer who won a gold medal 1984 as a member of the 800-meter etyle relay, out publicly at the Gay Gam and ws seven gold medals petn.

ADAM RIPPON IS U.S.'S FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN TO QUALIFY FOR WTER OLYMPICS

Roy Simmons, an offensive guard for the New York Giants and the Washgton Redsks om 1979-83, reveals he is gay durg an appearance on The Phil Donahue Show. Durg the same terview which he adms his homosexualy, Burke says he believ he was trad om the Dodgers bee management spected his was gay. Rudy Galdo, the natnal men's skatg champn, discs beg a gay man the book Insi Edge: A Revealg Journey Into the Secret World of Figure Skatg.

Greg Louganis, a special Goodwill Gam edn of New York 1 News' nightly sports program, says that several athlet profsnal team sports have asked him for advice about gog public wh their homosexualy.

Brian Orser, former world figure skatg champn and two-time Canadian Olympic silver medalist, is revealed November as gay an palimony su filed by an ex-boyiend. In an affadav which he argued to keep the su's documents sealed, Orser says, "Other skaters, both Canadian and Amerin, guard their gayns closely bee of the likely impact of public disclosure on their reers.

KEV MAXEN BE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE COACH THE NFL

On Febary 23, 2014, Brooklyn Nets center Jason Colls be the first openly gay athlete to play a game the Uned Stat’ four major profsnal leagu. The 35-year-old journeyman plays 10 srels mut, rerdg two rebounds and five fouls the Nets’ 108-102 victory over the Los Angel May 2013, Colls revealed he is gay a first-person say  Sports Illtrated. In June 2021, NFL fensive end Carl Nassib me out as gay a vio posted to his Instagram, addg he donated  $100,000 to The Trevor Project, an anizatn that foc on suici preventn LGBTQ youth after he stggled wh his sexualy for 15 years.

Prokop, a prospect wh the Nashville Predators, wrote an Instagram post that he was "no longer sred to hi who I am."He add: "From a young age I have dreamed of beg an NHL player, and I believe that livg my thentic life will allow me to brg my whole self to the rk and improve my chanc of fulfillg my dreams."Acrdg to USA Today, no NHL player — active or retired — had e out as gay.

"Sce Febary and my big announcement, this has been a whole [lot of] speculatn of the first openly gay football player, but you know what? The athlete quickly ma a name for herself a seri of TV terviews, where she voiced her support of women's rights and LGBTQ rights as an openly gay woman.

KEV MAXEN BREAKS BARRIERS AS FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE PROFSNAL COACH MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

"I thk female athlet, general, are at the foreont of every prott general bee we're gay, we're women, we're women of lor, we're sort of everythg all at one time," Rapoe told NBC news 2019. The thgs you hear as a child—every time you hear someone say 'f----t' or talk bad about a gay guy, or see somethg on TV and make fun of that. Amaechi first discsed his sexualy a memoir, "Man the Middle." He scribed hidg his sexualy while playg for the Utah Jazz, but said some teammat who spected he was gay were welg about .In a 2007 terview on "Outsi the L," Amaechi, who played five seasons the NBA, said he thought there were other gay players the league, but said 's "terrifyg" for some to e out."It's a ighteng prospect.

Would I want to do terviews every day, where people are askg: 'So you're takg showers wh guys – how's that?'"But a few months later, he joed the Los Angel Galaxy team and beme the first openly gay man to play a major US profsnal league. At the time, he said, "I have always been and always will be a proud gay man.""I don't want to hi any of my inti," he told ESPN at the time. But I also want kids who suffer om bullyg to know that you n be whoever you want to be life, cludg a profsnal boxer, that anythg is possible and that who you are or whom you love should not be impediment to achievg anythg life."In 2016, he dited a match to the victims of the gay nightclub shootg at Pulse Orlando, Florida.

I showed jt bee I'm gay don't make me any different or ls of a person," Denson told the Milwkee Journal Sentel 2017. I was offend, bee beg gay is no way offensive, but more so bee was and always has been/felt very tsive.". He beme the first openly gay Amerin to go to the Gam."One time, I was the fourth gra and somebody said, 'Oh, bee you skate, you're gay,'" Rippon told Today 2019.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Greg Louganis won four gold medals and one silver medal at three Olympic Gam om 1976 to 1988 as a diver, but wasn't until 1994 that he me out as gay.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

She said the cisn to disclose her sexualy to the public "wasn't hard at all.""If I n show that I'm out and I'm fe, then hopefully the younger generatn will feel the same way," Grer said the terview.That same year, Grer recieved a multi-ln dollar al om Nike, and beme the first openly gay basketball player endorsed by the brand, acrdg to The Wrap.Grer married her wife, Cherelle, 2019. The Las Vegas Rairs fensive end is now jt one of two openly gay active players the history of the four biggt North Amerin sports leagu (the Natnal Football League, Natnal Basketball Associatn, Major League Baseball and the Natnal Hockey League). Homophobic language is still a regular feature of playg on a boys’ sports team the US and abroad, Denison’s rearch shows – one of his studi found that more than half of the ice hockey and gby players he terviewed said they’d ed slurs.

Regular exposure to slurs or stereotyp eventually rerc among players that their succs as an athlete is tied to an ia of masculy that exclus gay men, he said. Denison scribed what he lls a “cycle of excln” that begs when a boy hears ach or olr players e homophobic language and observ a “posive rponse” to that behavr – maybe they lgh at each other, or the ach don’t challenge them, he said.

ROBBIE ROGERS TAK FIELD AS 1ST OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYER U.S. PRO SPORTS MATCH

That sends the msage that homophobic language is harmls and OK to e – and cements the assumptn that all members of the team are heterosexual.

Gay players on those teams may also e the language as a shield to hi their sexualy and nform wh their team, Denison said. “We often fd that male ach ntue to e homophobic language and teach nformy to this tough mascule athlete inty that don’t really exist, ” he said. As a child, before Davis unrstood what meant to be LGBTQ, he was already absorbg the norms beg set around him durg practice – that “beg gay those walls was unsafe, that [he] would be danger.

WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS

And by the time he was an NFL locker room, he said he didn’t hear homophobic slurs beg ed, but sexist on. Insert someone who’s gay … and you fely want to have domn over this gay person, and you actually don’t want them your space. Quali players necsary for succs football – domance, aggrsn and, ocsnally, vlence – are often associated wh homophobia and sexism, too.

So whether or not a male athlete actually holds sexist or homophobic views, featur of both are often baked to his sport. He beme the first openly gay player an NBA game when he was signed to a 10-game ntract wh the Brooklyn Nets Febary 2014. Almost 50 years earlier, there was Glenn Burke, a buddg Los Angel Dodgers star whose reer was cut short by homophobia the 1970s, argu Andrew Maraniss, an thor and special projects ordator wh Vanrbilt Universy Athletics, his book on Burke.

GIANT MURAL ON NORWICH PUB HONOURS JT FASHANU, ENGLAND'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER

The next season, Burke was trad to the Oakland A’s, where a ach lled him a homophobic slur and said he would “ntamate” the team, Maraniss wrote. “He was a phenomenal athlete at the time when majory of straight sports fans the untry assumed that there’s no way there uld even be a gay player the game, let alone the most popular player on his team, ” Maraniss said.