'I Am A Gay High School Basketball Coach' : NPR

Contents:

• HIGH SCHOOL STUNTS PROTT AFTER GAY ACH WAS ALLEGEDLY FORCED TO RIGN
• FROM LLEGE SWIMMER TO HIGH SCHOOL ACH, GAY ATHLETE STAYED TE TO HIMSELF
• VALOR CHRISTIAN ALLEGEDLY PHED OUT TWO GAY TEACHERS AND IS FACG CALLS FOR CHANGE. NOW IT’S BEG HONORED AS A TOP SCHOOL NATNALLY
• COMG OUT AS A GAY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL COACH: THE SURPRISG AFTERMATH
• STATE-CHAMPN COLORADO HIGH SCHOOL ACH MIH PORTER OUT AS GAY
• 'I AM A GAY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL COACH'
• GAY HIGH SCHOOL COACH COM OUT TO HIS PLAYERS

HIGH SCHOOL STUNTS PROTT AFTER GAY ACH WAS ALLEGEDLY FORCED TO RIGN

That’s how I rpond as the rults me on our Out In Sports study, the world’s largt study of openly gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr high school and llegiate athlet who have e out to teammat while petg. After g out of the closet as Ameri’s first openly gay high school ach 1993, sufferg immense homophobia, I returned to llege to plete a PhD on the topic.

In the terveng years between my g out, and my first study 2001, youth culture changed s view on homosexualy. In my first study, the first-ever study of openly gay athlet on high school and llegiate teams, I found the gay athlet experienced near-acceptance om teammat.

I have for two s argued that was unfair to scribe team-sport athlet as homophobic.

FROM LLEGE SWIMMER TO HIGH SCHOOL ACH, GAY ATHLETE STAYED TE TO HIMSELF

I evinced my claims wh dozens of studi on the experienc of gay men and the attus of straight men toward gay men. However, the msage of my rearch has often been drowned out by a few high-profile athlet makg homophobic ments, alongsi the rightful cultural regnn that out gay men were highly unr-reprented a few sports.

VALOR CHRISTIAN ALLEGEDLY PHED OUT TWO GAY TEACHERS AND IS FACG CALLS FOR CHANGE. NOW IT’S BEG HONORED AS A TOP SCHOOL NATNALLY

The wrongful portrayal of male team-sport athlet beg hyper-homophobic was also fueled by studi of LGBT athlet that foced on said language and around sports. The studi lead to the perceptn that athlet were hostile to gay men, and more broadly, hostile to other sexual and genr mori.

Yet sce 1993, the clear trend has been for youth to reject homophobia. Whereas was homosexualy that was unacceptable the 1980s, today is homophobia that is not acceptable. Why should we therefore thk that the same kid wh gay iends their history class would sudnly treat their gay teammate poorly on the football field?

Given the rults of this study, ntued utteranc of sport (and therefore athlet and ach) beg homophobic is to m an act of prejudice. The volleyball ach at Highlands Ranch’s Valor Christian High School said he was phed out of his job last week after employe found a social media post ditg the ach was gay. “I sat the room beg grilled about how beg gay is a ‘danger’ to the school and to the kids, ” Inoke Tonga’s Instagram post explag the suatn said.

COMG OUT AS A GAY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL COACH: THE SURPRISG AFTERMATH

“That wh me ‘intifyg as a gay man, they n’t put the kids at risk by havg me ont of them. Tonga, who was the volleyball ach for the 2020-21 school year only, said the mp pastor and athletic director lled him for a meetg Thursday, durg which they berated and beltled him over his sexual orientatn and rmed him that “parents pay too much” to have their kids ached by a gay man and perhaps Tonga wasn’t gay sce he had a love for the children he ached. Toward the end of the nversatn, first reported by Denver7, Tonga said school officials told him he had two optns: Denounce beg a gay man or leave the posn.

But a June 15 post, Tonga wrote: “If you really want to see the lack of chary, love, and passn (or any ‘Christ Like’ attribut) any Christian dividual, om any Christian relign, tell them you’re gay. For whatever reason, talkg about racism, and homosexualy will brg out the bt, but also the worst people. Inoke Tonga, the former ach for Valor Christian High School’s junr varsy girl’s volleyball team, told CBS 4 Denver that “[the school’s] terms were renounce beg gay or be released as a ach fully.

STATE-CHAMPN COLORADO HIGH SCHOOL ACH MIH PORTER OUT AS GAY

“They told me that I uldn’t prent as male here, which is my preferred genr inty, they pulled me to the an’s office and said, if you want to stay here, you have to prent as female, or you n leave the school, ” said the sophomore at the school. “If we’re tly lled to love thy neighbor, that means love your gay neighbor, love your trans neighbor, love your queer neighbor, and this is not lovg thy neighbor.

CARL NASSIB IS THE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO COME OUT AS GAY. From llege swimmer to high school ach, gay athlete stayed te to himself. ‘The most challengg part of beg gay has actually been enuragg myself to be more open wh others, ’ MacJilton Lewis wr.

When Brish diver Tom Daley announced he was gay, ronated wh me. However, after that first nversatn wh my mom, was not as if the floodgat opened and I began tellg everyone my life that I was gay. Even though I uld sense I was a supportive environment at Cleveland State (where I attend llege and petively swam), was not until my sophomore year that I was ready to open up to one of my teammat.

'I AM A GAY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL COACH'

The most challengg part of beg gay has still been enuragg myself to be more open wh others. I unrstand the importance of lovg myself for who I am: an athlete, a ach, a son, a brother and a iend — who happens to be gay.

Valor Christian High School — a private school Highlands Ranch that recently attracted natnal attentn after a volleyball ach said he was phed out for beg gay — has been named as one of six Natnal Blue-Ribbon Schools Colorado by the U.

The issue, which has received wispread natnal prs verage, first beme public Augt when a volleyball ach at the school, Inoke Tonga, a vout Christian, said admistrators at the school forced him to qu bee he would not nounce that he is gay. In a Facebook post, he shared how school admistrators told him how beg gay is a danger to the school and to the kids. Another ach, Lren Benner, said she was phed out as head lacrosse ach 2020 bee she is gay.

GAY HIGH SCHOOL COACH COM OUT TO HIS PLAYERS

” Benner wrote after a meetg wh school lears that “I was bombard wh ignorant and irrelevant statements like, 'gay marriag don't last' and 'God ma man and woman for the sole purpose of procreatn. Durg an Augt prott outsi the school, anizer and stunt Lucy Sarkissian told CPR that Valor isn’t a safe place for LGBTQ+ people and that she has wnsed homophobic behavr at the school. “And my relig background n't allow me to accept this, bee homosexualy is a s.