Could Josh Dixon Be The First Openly Gay Olympics Gymnast?
Contents:
- WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
- GAY FORMER LLEGE GYMNAST SAYS HIS SPORT IS AN ‘ENDANGERED SPECI’
- JOSH DIXON, OLYMPICS GYMNASTICS HOPEFUL, COM OUT AS GAY
- THERE ARE A RERD 11 OPENLY GAY MALE OLYMPIANS R. NONE IS AN AMERIN.
- GAY OLYMPIC GYMNAST DOMIC CLARKE STRS VISIBILY AFTER G OUT
WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
Two athlet recently g out has highlighted the arth of openly gay players the world of U.S. men's profsnal sports, often dubbed "the last closet" for s lack of LGBTQ reprentatn. * men gymnastics gay *
Across our culture today, when a man “ out” so many immediately label him “gay gay gay!
That Leyva don’t intify as gay, is still tryg to figure out how exactly he intifi, and is still willg to share all of this publicly should be empowerg to other men who are the same boat. Weeks before the 2016 printial electn, he shared a msage of support for LGBTQ people, and trans rights particular, while wearg a “Make Ameri Gay Aga” T-shirt.
GAY FORMER LLEGE GYMNAST SAYS HIS SPORT IS AN ‘ENDANGERED SPECI’
* men gymnastics gay *
The men the sports are eher largely assumed to be gay, or their sexualy is unknown. Women face the same issu, but reverse: Ice hockey and softball players are assumed gay, figure skaters and gymnasts assumed straight. In the sports where athlet are assumed to be “gay, ” the prsure on athlet is to rist that label so they don’t nform to people’s assumptns.
The attus — that some sports are “gay” and some are “straight” — are changg, but they n’t change fast enough. So when I ntacted him 2014, askg if he’d like to talk about beg gay, he jt wasn’t ready. People around him knew he was gay.
Var posts across the ter speculated about him beg gay, or outright claimed . I was obvly gay, everybody knew me as such, and I didn’t go postg about .
JOSH DIXON, OLYMPICS GYMNASTICS HOPEFUL, COM OUT AS GAY
That’s not regret how he felt, but how he was ma to feel by a system of ele men’s sports that driv gay athlet to qutn whether they n live life openly the public’s eye.
While this is the first time he’s talkg publicly the media about beg gay, he did post-retirement share news of his weddg, and he’s been g #gaypri regularly on Instagram. Hashtags asi, Ruggeri’s life on social media isn’t “Gay gay gay.
He offers a perspective of beg gay we simply don’t get a lot of, and one wh which many gay men will intify. When Nashville Predators prospect Le Prokop me out this week, was the first time an active player unr ntract to an NHL team had ever publicly acknowledged they were gay. Overnight, Prokop's announcement doubled the number of out gay athlet currently playg the untry's four major men's sports — football, basketball, baseball and hockey.
THERE ARE A RERD 11 OPENLY GAY MALE OLYMPIANS R. NONE IS AN AMERIN.
They also highlighted the arth of openly gay players the hypermascule world of U. Though many retired former players have e out, is more unual for male profsnal athlet to say they are gay while still playg.
Gay male athlet face cultural barriers Part of the reason for the lack of out gay players men's profsnal sports uld be that there are jt fewer of them the game. Rory Magrath, a rearcher at Solent Universy England, has suggted that 's possible gay men are unrreprented profsnal sports. "Gay men are a fe rource, so they n't exist great numbers every quarter, " Magrath told "Gay men are overreprented some areas, and as a nsequence are gog to be unrreprented sports.
That uld be due to the mascule culture at the center of the major sports, experts say, creatg an environment that is ls welg to gay athlet. Magrath helped thor a study that found that male athlet who me out as gay while still playg sports were largely met wh acceptance by their teammat. Robbie Rogers ma history 2013 when he took the field for the Los Angel Galaxy after as the first openly gay player profsnal U.
GAY OLYMPIC GYMNAST DOMIC CLARKE STRS VISIBILY AFTER G OUT
NBA player Jason Colls, who me out 2013 while he was still playg the league, later told NPR " went great" when he scribed the perd after announcg he was gay. After Michael Sam beme the first openly gay athlete to be drafted to the NFL 2014, then-Miami Dolphs safety Don Jon tweeted "horrible, " rultg penalti and a spensn.
David Kopay, a former NFL nng back who me out 1975, was unable to land a profsnal achg job after he announced publicly that he was gay. There are key differenc the cultur of men's and women's athletics While few active players the major men's sports leagu have e out, many female profsnal athlet have said publicly that they're gay, om U. “Boys beg homosexually abed by their gymnastics ach is an issue that has been rampant for many, many years and, as far as we’re ncerned, do not get the ‘prs’ needs to and should, ” Riegel wrote to USA Gymnastics last October.
Riegel’s own drive to bee an Olympian, to get out of Readg, his own fatuatn wh his growg fame, the screamg girls, the tograph seekers, his fear of how he would be viewed the often homophobic circl of his workg class neighborhood, were all hammers Moyer wield over him to pound down any threats of gog to the police, to his parents, anyone. ’ And he would make me somethg to eat, he’d go to his bedroom, he’d put on a vio on one of those old projector reels and I uld see out of the rner of my eye, a homosexual vio and he’d lay there and pleasure himself wh me at 11, 12, 13, right there the room on the uch which was pla sight of his bed. Riegel wouldn’t tell bee if he did people Southsi would thk he was gay, Moyer ntued, Riegel said.