Kev Maxen be first male ach a US men’s pro sports league to publicly e out as gay | CNN

Contents:

• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• A BRIEF POLIL—AND PERSONAL—HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
• GAY USA

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay.

Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual. Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

My first experience at a gay bathhoe took place D. I met a handsome Black man wh dreadlocks a gay bar lled The Fireplace on the edge of Dupont Circle, and after a few rounds of drks, we left to go have sex only to disver that neher of uld take the actn back to where we lived.

A BRIEF POLIL—AND PERSONAL—HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO

The vibe uld be ls aggrsive there than at gay dance clubs like Badlands or Chaos, and the entry fee was ually cheaper than a night of drks at gay bars such as Mr. But, lookg back over the past half century, sex has been the fixatn of vol nservativ, who never knew the genue value of gay bathho, sex clubs, or porn theaters. So, by the late 1970s, you uld roll your ey at the opponents of gay sexual liberatn as you walked to the Roman Holiday Spa Los Angel; or the Nob Hill Theater San Francis; or Man’s Country Chigo; or the Olympic Baths Washgton, D.

; or the Ellwt Stereo Theater Dallas; or the Gay Paree Cema Atlanta; or the Mhaft New York Cy. There were approximately 200 gay bathho and dozens of gay porn theaters operatg the Uned Stat as the seventi drew to a close. Mayors passed laws, cy uncils approved ordanc, and school boards set polici that set back the Gay Rights movement.

And their narrative about gay bathho and other plac acmodatg to queer sex still endur. Here’s how the distorted story go: gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters had no reemg social value and were purely an outgrowth of the immoral, dg-fueled, hedonistic liftyle of queer men, and closg the lewd dwellgs durg the AIDS crisis the 1980s was the pnt cisn. Nohels, gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters did foster muny among their members.

GAY USA

’s ONE, or Boston’s Gay Communy News. That were hospable to queer ctomers, and specialty talogu like Vagabond, which discretely livered “gay-themed” albums, books, and magaz.

The rmatn the publitns kept queer people rmed, nnected, and, whout a doubt, safe om vlent homophob. Sex clubs, XXX theaters, and bathho also addrsed a pervasive lonels among gay men that was more than sexual. San Francis’s Nob Hill Theater opened s doors for Gay Rights activists to hold strategy meetgs durg the theater’s off hours on Sunday morngs.

At first, most polil lears seemed que willg to stand back and silently watch the unchecked spread of a adly vis layg waste primarily to the homosexual populatn. Then when spurred to actn, a host of elected officials ed the public health crisis as a pretense to enact measur that had long been on their polil wish list—for stance, closg the gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters, which was amed as a public health measure. I’ve raised this topic wh dozens of queer people across generatns, and a staggerg number nsir a matter of mon knowledge that shuttg down the gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters was a necsary and effective policy unr the circumstanc.