BEHIND THE SCREEN How Gays and Lbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969 By William J. Mann Vikg: 432 pp., $29.95
Contents:
- CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY
- DODGERS HAVE HAD MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL’S ONLY 2 OPENLY GAY PLAYERS
CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY
* billy burke gay *
Today, as the Los Angel Dodgers prepare to play the World Seri agast the Tampa Bay Rays, -founr Jim Buzski remds that the Dodgers anchise is a part of LGBTQ sports history as havg the only two MLB players who ever were public about beg gay. Dodgers have had Major League Baseball’s only 2 openly gay players. In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been only two players who have e out as gay: Glenn Burke and Billy Bean.
Burke, while never publicly out wh the media while playg, did nothg to hi the fact to his teammat that he was gay. Not a “Hey world, I’m gay” way, but the sense that his teammat knew as did the management of the Los Angel Dodgers, Burke’s first team.
” A memorable moment “Out” occurs when is relled that the Dodgers — tryg to stifle mors that a popular player was gay — offered Burke $75, 000 to get married.
DODGERS HAVE HAD MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL’S ONLY 2 OPENLY GAY PLAYERS
The Dodgers and their manager, Tom Lasorda, prented a versn of themselv as a clean-cut, All-Amerin team and a flamboyantly gay player uld not be tolerated, pecially one who hung out wh Lasorda’s gay son.
(“Spunky’), himself a gay man and the son of the team’s manager, Tommy Lasorda. “Spunky” Lasorda later died of AIDS and his father shamefully never acknowledged that his son was gay. “My son wasn’t gay.
His beg gay was known and players were reluctant to shower wh him.