For gay high school football player, simple team photo meant a lot - Outsports

Contents:

• GAY TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OUT TO TEAM AND STARTS A GAY STRAIGHT ALLIANCE
• GAY HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE IN SEATTLE FDS LOVE AND RPECT FROM HIS TEAMS
• FROM LLEGE SWIMMER TO HIGH SCHOOL ACH, GAY ATHLETE STAYED TE TO HIMSELF
• IT WAS A SIMPLE TEAM PHOTO, BUT MEANT THE WORLD TO GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER
• GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER AND SWIMMER BOYIEND DANCE NIGHT AWAY AT PROM
• ATHLET WHO ARE GAY
• COLLEGE & PROFSNAL ATHLET WHO ARE OPENLY GAY
• OUTSPORTS MALE ATHLET OF THE YEAR: 8 OUT GAY AND BI LLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYERS
• HIGH SCHOOL COACH' EXPERIENC WH OPENLY LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL ATHLET
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

GAY TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OUT TO TEAM AND STARTS A GAY STRAIGHT ALLIANCE

“The first time I ever admted to someone I was gay was ont of all 130 of my fellow teammat, ” one llege football player, who me out to teammat a ral area 2016, reported answerg the survey. “This reflects years of rearch that I have nducted on smaller sl, all showg athlet are more fortable wh gay teammat than most anyone thought possible, ” said Dr. “Athlet across sports and across genrs love their gay teammat, and they support their gay teammat, and this go beyond differenc of sexual orientatn.

“There were other gay women on the team, and they very much helped my g out procs, and watched out for me, so to speak. “I have spent s achg at the hight levels of sports, the past 16 as an openly gay ach, ” said UCLA softball ach Kirk Walker. “In later years, I realized this was bee several of my teammat were closeted gays themselv, and directed their ire toward me.

GAY HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE IN SEATTLE FDS LOVE AND RPECT FROM HIS TEAMS

“After I me out to them they were tolerant, sometim publicly supportive, of me, and reaed om g the homophobic slurs ont of me. Given the imprsn of rejectn this language reprents, ’s even more important that people across sports redouble their efforts to end language perceived to be homophobic. Gay Texas high school athlete out to team and starts a Gay Straight Alliance.

‘The realizatn h me that I was the first gay person any of my teammat had ever met, ’ Brton Majure says after he me out as gay. For high school athlete Brton Majure, g out as gay changed everythg for the better. The weight of beg gay.

Around the time I entered the fifth gra, I knew I was gay. I was the only gay person I knew a town that felt like was out to get me. Instead of alg wh all the challeng of beg gay, I cid that I would not tell anyone.

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

However, along wh beg a sred gay kid the South, I was also the No. I was shatterg rerds, wng first place at the meet of champns both years, and was htg tim close to those of a varsy sophomore. I wish I uld go back and w all of those rac as a gay athlete.

I would prove to all those kids who said words like “fag” that they jt got beat by a gay guy. That the gay guy shattered all of those rerds and ma them look stupid, but I didn’t.

I still felt that my inty as a gay man and athlete need to rema separate for the fort of those around me. ” and “Come on, you homo!

IT WAS A SIMPLE TEAM PHOTO, BUT MEANT THE WORLD TO GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER

They mt have noticed me not lgh hard enough or my face wce bee they shouted to me om halfway across the locker room, “What Majure, are you gay? I looked him ad the eye wh shakg nfince my voice said, “Yeah, I’m gay, is there a problem? Somehow they uldn’t possibly fathom that I was gay.

” “Were your born gay? ” and my personal favore, “What do gay even really mean? Brton Majure was a champn nner before g out and says, “I wish I uld go back and w all of those rac as a gay athlete.

GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER AND SWIMMER BOYIEND DANCE NIGHT AWAY AT PROM

How uld be that they didn’t even know what gay meant? At that moment, the realizatn h me that I was the first gay person any of my teammat had ever met.

In fact, I beme one of the few openly gay kids at my school of over 4, 000.

After I me out to my teammat — my soccer and cross-untry teams the same day — news about my beg gay spread around school fast. By the time the next week rolled around, there were people I had spoken to once askg me, “Are you actually gay? Although my g out didn’t elimate homophobia om my teammat and ach, I saw ls.

ATHLET WHO ARE GAY

The homophobic slurs and jok the locker room turned to teammat askg me genue qutns, and my ach’ homophobic language was, for the most part, elimated. I began to notice myself feel happier and eer as I proudly owned my inty as an athlete and a gay man on and off the field. ” It is a speech about homophobia morn sports.

I then started my school’s Gay Straight Alliance, where I now serve as the print. I ed to feel like beg gay was holdg me down, but now I know that owng my sexualy is, fact, what ph me forward. 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.

COLLEGE & PROFSNAL ATHLET WHO ARE OPENLY GAY

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.

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. 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.

OUTSPORTS MALE ATHLET OF THE YEAR: 8 OUT GAY AND BI LLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYERS

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.

HIGH SCHOOL COACH' EXPERIENC WH OPENLY LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL ATHLET

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. When Kansas State offensive tackle and NFL hopeful Stt Frantz me out to the natn as gay last week, he shared that his teammat, to whom he'd e out earlier, had warmly received the news, a sign the most alpha of locker rooms may fally be ready for equaly.

So, wh two gay players takg the field the top tier of llege football this season, has the future fally charged onto the turf? Here's a list of players llege and pro ball who have proved you n be gay or bi and still n the KopayRunng back Dave Kopay, who signed wh the San Francis 49ers 1964, would play for five teams before hangg up his jersey 1972.

Coach Vce Lombardi had apparently nfid Smh that he knew of his sexualy but would never let impact him negatively; Lombardi's brother was also gay.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

Yet he nspicuoly has never been ducted to the NFL Hall of SimmonsRoy "Sugar Bear" Simmons, an offensive leman for the New York Giants and Washgton Redsks, beme the send NFL player ever to publicly reveal he was gay. So Coach Vce Lombardi knew McDonald was gay when he took over learship of the team 1969, but ma clear there would be no discrimatn his locker room, those close to the legend say.

He would e out to HBO Sports 2002, where he discsed lghg off gay jok and slurs for years while he played DavisCornerback Wa Davis, who played preason wh the Tennsee Tans, Seattle Seahawks and Washgton Redsks and spent two seasons wh NFL Europe teams Berl Thunr and Barcelona Dragons, me out as gay 2012, nearly a after his retirement. He would later nfirm his sexualy on CNN and s down wh ESPN to discs the challeng of growg up gay Jamai and playg football while closeted. Michael SamThe world took notice 2014 when All-Amerin fensive end Michael Sam me out as gay to ESPN while still llege.