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.
Contents:
- A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
- MARTA NAVRATILOVA ON MEGAN RAPOE AND THE TRAJECTORY OF GAY WOMEN SPORTS
- WHEN IT COM TO BEG GAY-FRIENDLY, WOMEN’S SPORTS ARE AHEAD OF THE GAMEWHEN IT COM TO BEG GAY-FRIENDLY, WOMEN’S SPORTS ARE AHEAD OF THE GAME
- WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
- WHY ARE MORE FEMALE PROFSNAL FOOTBALLERS OPENLY GAY OR BISEXUAL THAN MALE PLAYERS?
A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
A rerd number of out LGBTQ players make this year’s tournament a feast for gay fans. * gay women in sports *
Gay, lbian, bisexual, trans and queer soccer players who are publicly out — now at least 96 total — make over 13% of all the athlet petg the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Atralia and New Zealand, Outsports has found. Katie Sowers, offensive assistant for the San Francis 49ers, beme the first woman and the first openly gay person to ach at the Super Bowl 2020. No list of groundbreakg athlet would be plete whout Billie Jean Kg, one of the greatt women's tennis players of all time and a dited activist for gay rights and genr equaly.
Dani Roem is the first openly transgenr person to be elected to the Virgia General Assembly, challengg and featg 13-term cumbent and self-scribed "chief homophobe" Bob Marshall the 2017 special electn. She is the first Black woman, the first openly gay person, and only the send woman to be elected mayor of the cy, makg Chigo the largt U.
She was the first Lata and the first openly gay person nomated for ernor by a major party Texas, but ultimately lost to Republin Governor Greg Abbott. She rose to fame as a Black lbian cross-drsg performer the 1920s, startg her reer one of New York's most notor gay speakeasi.
MARTA NAVRATILOVA ON MEGAN RAPOE AND THE TRAJECTORY OF GAY WOMEN SPORTS
Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib publicly me out June 2021, makg him the first openly gay man to actively play the NFL. * gay women in sports *
She was married to Robert Nemiroff but had affairs wh women, and ntributed to early queer publitns cludg the lbian-oriented The Ladr and the gay magaze One. She married her wife Portia De Rossi 2008, providg an important example of a mastream gay marriage at the height of the Proposn 8 bate. Last time at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, the Netherlands lay claim to the honor of beg the team wh the most out LGBTQ players, but this year Atralia boasts 10 out players and overtak them for the tle of Gayt Team 2k23.
Ireland’s historic entry to the tournament marks another triumph for out midfielr Sead Farrelly, whose natnal team but and 2023 return to the NWSL e more than six years after retirg om soccer the wake of systemic homophobic and sexual abe wh the league, which the Athletic first reported on 2021.
WHEN IT COM TO BEG GAY-FRIENDLY, WOMEN’S SPORTS ARE AHEAD OF THE GAMEWHEN IT COM TO BEG GAY-FRIENDLY, WOMEN’S SPORTS ARE AHEAD OF THE GAME
The Netflix documentary A Secret Love tells the remarkable story of a s-long relatnship between two gay athlet and opens up a nversatn about racism, classism and homophobia the 50s. * gay women in sports *
In the 2019 Women’s World Cup, there were more than 40 openly gay players and ach; however, there were no openly gay athlet or ach at the 2018 Men’s World Cup. The imbalance remas stark throughout profsnal team sports: The WNBA is led by multiple out stars, cludg Sue Bird and Elena Delle Donne, while Jason Colls has been the only openly gay active player NBA history. Michael Sam was out to his teammat at the Universy of Missouri, and selected the 2014 NFL Draft (there were a rerd-settg eight openly gay or bi llege football players 2019).
More recently, pro soccer player Coll Mart’s teammat forfeed a match after he was lled a gay slur, stg themselv a playoff berth. A uple of months ago, three amic rearchers studied 60 g-out stori published on Outsports, and found gay male athlet are almost universally accepted by their teammat — though they’re ually aaid to e out.
WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
Insir is highlightg out and proud athlet who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, and more honor of pri month. * gay women in sports *
(This provisn of the Immigratn and Natnaly Act was dropped 1990, when was redrafted by Reprentative Barney Frank, of Massachetts, who is gay. She also told some of the other tennis players that, once she had her passport, “If anybody asks me about , I’m jt gog to say, ‘Y, I am gay. In June 2021, NFL fensive end Carl Nassib me out as gay a vio posted to his Instagram, addg he donated $100, 000 to The Trevor Project, an anizatn that foc on suici preventn LGBTQ youth after he stggled wh his sexualy for 15 years.
"Sce Febary and my big announcement, this has been a whole [lot of] speculatn of the first openly gay football player, but you know what? The athlete quickly ma a name for herself a seri of TV terviews, where she voiced her support of women's rights and LGBTQ rights as an openly gay woman. "I thk female athlet, general, are at the foreont of every prott general bee we're gay, we're women, we're women of lor, we're sort of everythg all at one time, " Rapoe told NBC news 2019.
The thgs you hear as a child—every time you hear someone say 'f----t' or talk bad about a gay guy, or see somethg on TV and make fun of that. " He scribed hidg his sexualy while playg for the Utah Jazz, but said some teammat who spected he was gay were welg about a 2007 terview on "Outsi the L, " Amaechi, who played five seasons the NBA, said he thought there were other gay players the league, but said 's "terrifyg" for some to e out. '"But a few months later, he joed the Los Angel Galaxy team and beme the first openly gay man to play a major US profsnal league.
WHY ARE MORE FEMALE PROFSNAL FOOTBALLERS OPENLY GAY OR BISEXUAL THAN MALE PLAYERS?
* gay women in sports *
Greg Louganis won four gold medals and one silver medal at three Olympic Gam om 1976 to 1988 as a diver, but wasn't until 1994 that he me out as gay. ""If I n show that I'm out and I'm fe, then hopefully the younger generatn will feel the same way, " Grer said the same year, Grer recieved a multi-ln dollar al om Nike, and beme the first openly gay basketball player endorsed by the brand, acrdg to The married her wife, Cherelle, 2019.
So, when Netflix released the documentary A Secret Love last year, I was thrilled that some of the ltle known history of gay women and sports was revealed. The s immediately after the Send World War the Uned Stat and Canada were ght wh homophobic vlence, cludg state-led purg of queer people om the ary and public service.
Neher Terry nor Pat was roughed up, extorted or arrted durg police raids on workg-class gay and lbian bars or drag balls downtown Chigo’s “black pansy” scene. ActivismNovember 20, 2019When It Com to Beg Gay-Friendly, Women’s Sports Are Ahead of the GameWomen’s leagu have bee much safer spac for queerns, while men’s sports are still trapped a culture of reprsn. This past June, as the US women’s soccer team was domatg the FIFA World Cup fals, player Megan Rapoe offered one possible explanatn for their succs: “You n’t w a champnship whout gays on your team, ” she said.