Where are the publicly out gay pro male tennis players? - Outsports

Contents:

• THERE ARE NO PUBLICLY OUT GAY PRO MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHY
• THE UNSUNG HISTORY OF CIRCU PARTI, WHERE GAY MEN SEEK SEX AND FREEDOM
• THERE WILL BE NO OUT GAY MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AT THE U.S. OPEN, YET AGA
• WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN’S PROFSNAL TENNIS?
• ATHLETE’S GOAL IS TO REACH THE TOP AS AN OPENLY GAY PROFSNAL TENNIS PLAYER
• VANUVER’S GAY TENNIS LEAGUE CELEBRAT 25 YEARS ON THE URTS
• JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: A GAY TENNIS PRODIGY WHO NEVER REACHED HIS FULL POTENTIAL

THERE ARE NO PUBLICLY OUT GAY PRO MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHY

The proceeds of our Club Champnships benef two worthy : The Marsha Day Memorial Fund of the Astraea Organizatn and The Gay, Lbian, and Straight Edutn Network (GLSEN) Marsha Day Memorial Fund of the Astraea Organizatn, which honors the life and work of Marsha Day, a muny activist and former MTG board member. The Gay, Lbian, and Straight Edutn Network (GLSEN) striv to assure that each member of every school muny is valued and rpected regardls of sexual orientatn or genr inty/ LIBERTY OPENIn 1993, MTG created the Liberty Open, thereby officially jog the Gay and Lbian Tennis Alliance (GLTA) circu.

THE UNSUNG HISTORY OF CIRCU PARTI, WHERE GAY MEN SEEK SEX AND FREEDOM

Some of our past signated recipients clu God Lov We Deliver, GLSEN (Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network), and the Hetrick Mart Instute. The Atlantic Cup has tradnally been ntted among east ast gay tennis leagu and currently clus the leagu of New York (Metropolan Tennis Group), D.

GLTAThe Gay and Lbian Tennis Alliance is the ternatnal anizatn that manag and sanctns the gay tennis circu around the world. Wh over 70 annual GLTA-sanctned tournaments across the globe, the GLTA is the fastt growg gay sports anizatn. As a former men’s llegiate tennis player and openly gay member of my team, this qutn nagged at me as I attend the monumental first ever Pri event at the U.

As a former llegiate tennis player and gay man, this event stck a particularly sensive chord for me.

THERE WILL BE NO OUT GAY MALE TENNIS PLAYERS AT THE U.S. OPEN, YET AGA

After all of the homophobia I have personally experienced sports, the panelists and the packed dience gave me so much hope for the future of cln sports. The trailblazer for gay visibily on the ATP tour scribed himself durg the panel discsn as “an anx guy and an anx tennis player, ” statg that his disfort wh his sexual orientatn throughout his life was a signifint ntributor to his anxiety.

To me, the fact that Vahaly was even able to make on tour as a closeted gay man the 2000s mak him que an anomaly. The days, top players Roger Ferer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have all publicly stated that they would wele an out gay man to the ATP. While we now celebrate Kg for her acplishments as a gay rights activist, the sacrific she had to make and terrors that she endured for wantg to be her thentic self after beg outed towards the end of her profsnal tennis reer – nearly 40 years ago – are unjtifiable.

Combe that wh gay and bisexual men reprentg a signifintly smaller portn of the populatn than heterosexual men, and the odds of havg one of makg through the ranks growg up and currently beg a profsnal tennis player are slim, no matter how welg players such as Ferer, Djokovic and Murray are 2019. There uld be someone makg their way up the rankgs junrs right now, who hopefully will not be terred om tennis for beg a gay or bisexual man, who will see events such as the U.

WHY ARE THERE NO OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN’S PROFSNAL TENNIS?

-based group whose webse says works “to challenge homophobia, biphobia and transphobia sport and improve accs to sport for LGBT+ people. “I don’t thk anyone’s nyg that homophobia is a problem tennis, jt like is any sport, ” Denison said. “I don’t know how many straight guys wake up, ” he said, “and, while they’re bshg their teeth, thk: ‘I wonr if gay people are all right tennis?

The ATP qutnnaire clus lks to rearch om the Internatnal Olympic Commtee and the Amerin Medil Society for Sports Medice that, the survey says, “found everyone’s mental health and sport performance n be negatively impacted if a sport culture is not welg to gay and bisexual people.

What percentage of profsnal tennis players would be unfortable or would reject a gay tennis player? Other topics clud what factors ntribute the most to there beg no openly gay active profsnal male tennis players, whether the rponnt agre wh the ATP’s sire “to bat homophobia sport” and whether he “would publicly support a gay or bisexual tennis player. Metropolan Tennis Group (MTG) found s origs the mid-1980s New York Cy amidst a growg populary of gay tennis.

ATHLETE’S GOAL IS TO REACH THE TOP AS AN OPENLY GAY PROFSNAL TENNIS PLAYER

In 1985, Terry Fonville placed an ad the Village Voice seekg other gays and lbians terted playg tennis together.

In 1993, MTG created the Liberty Open, thereby officially jog the Gay and Lbian Tennis Alliance (GLTA) circu. The GLTA manag and sanctns an ternatnal aln of tennis tournaments, and wh over 40 annual events, reprents one of the fastt growg gay sports anizatns. Some tennis players astonished everyone by revealg their genr publicly and g out as homosexual.

The lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, and other non-cisgenr or non-heterosexual (LGBTQ+) muny is prent wh sports worldwi.

VANUVER’S GAY TENNIS LEAGUE CELEBRAT 25 YEARS ON THE URTS

Many well-known players are openly gay and lbian and have bee champns proudly, makg themselv known to the world. Mart Navratilova me out as homosexual 1981, makg her one of the few tennis players to do so (Source: Getty Imag).

The sportg world hasn't been ignorant of the discsn, and many athlet the recent past have found themselv fortable enough to e out as gay or lbian. Unlike several other sports, where homosexual athlet have received ser backlash and threats, tennis has been largely open and non-homophobic.

Raymond has been quoted as sayg: "I me out bee I knew that there would be life after tennis, and beg gay and playg tennis is not a big al.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: A GAY TENNIS PRODIGY WHO NEVER REACHED HIS FULL POTENTIAL

The circu—a loose global work of often weekend-long danceathons, where partygoers (almost all gay men) nvene om around the world to bond spirually, socially, sexually and milly—is one of the most unique phenomena to emerge om queer muni over the past few s. Undoubtedly, many younger gay men prefer smaller venu that "bask the bety and openns of queer culture. " Plenty of olr gay men, too, fd the whole ethos of circu parti — glow sticks, remixed diva anthems, lor them, "body fascism"—to be tired figure out the state of the circu 2017, THUMP spoke wh Mickey Weems, a lecturer at the Universy of Hawai'i Manoa who has extensively studied circu parti (alongsi relig, anthropologil and folklore terts).

Weems spoke to their past, prent and potential future, explag what role the circu has played shapg queer and gay culture, and what s evolutn says about the same today.