As LGBT rights progrs, why do gay athlet rema the closet?

Contents:

• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
• EACH OF AMERI’S BIG 5 SPORTS CURRENTLY HAS AN OUT GAY MAN THE PROS. THAT’S NEVER HAPPENED
• ATHLET WHO ARE GAY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• ADAM RIPPON MA HISTORY AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY AMERIN MAN TO W AT THE WTER OLYMPICS
• OPENLY GAY ATHLET
• 9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY
• A NVERSATN WH T.J. CALLAN ABOUT THE HISTORY OF GAY BLACK MEN G OUT SPORTS
• UMASS' DERRICK GORDON SAYS HE'S GAY
• A HANDY GUI TO ALL GAY MEN
• WHAT ABOUT THE GUYS WHO DO F THE 'GAY STEREOTYPE'?
• AS LGBT RIGHTS PROGRS, WHY DO GAY ATHLET REMA THE CLOSET?

WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS

The Bachelor star and former football player (who was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted ee agent and was on the practice squad of the Oakland Rairs and the Philalphia Eagl) me out as gay April, sayg he had fally e to terms wh his sexualy and the "next step all of this was sort of lettg people know. Corey Walsh, the 27-year-old pro BMX rir and Vans spokperson, said he isn't normally the type of person to "let people " on his personal life, but felt was important to e out as gay a March Instagram post bee "there are a lot of people still stgglg wh the same suatns" and he "jt wanted to let people know that they are not alone.

EACH OF AMERI’S BIG 5 SPORTS CURRENTLY HAS AN OUT GAY MAN THE PROS. THAT’S NEVER HAPPENED

She has been a relatnship wh Atralian soccer player Sarah Walsh for three 38Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Reddg, CaliforniaTeams: Chigo Red StarsTennis great Billie Jean Kg beme the first proment female profsnal athlete to e out as gay back 79Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Long Beach, California, Uned Stat of AmeriOlympic diver Greg Louganis is openly gay. Age: 52Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Brownfield, Texas, Uned Stat of AmeriTeams: Hoton Comets, Uned Stat women's natnal basketball team, Texas Tech Lady Rairs basketballNBA player Jason Colls me out as gay an terview wh Sports Illtrated magaze 2013. His announcement provoked mixed reactns om his fellow players and the 44Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Northridge, Los Angel, CaliforniaTeams: Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Washgton Wizards, Memphis Grizzli, Brooklyn NetsAmerin soccer player Abby Wambach is openly 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. " 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.

""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. 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.

ATHLET WHO ARE GAY

Elissa Alarie (Canada)#Brt Benn (Canada)#Kelly Brazier (New Zealand)Gayle Broughton (New Zealand)#Isadora Cello (Brazil) Lren Doyle (USA)#Mara Fravanti (Brazil)#Megan Jon (Bra)Alev Kelter (USA)Ghislae Landry (Canada)#Kaili Lan (Canada)#Celia Quansah (Bra)Kristen Thomas (USA)Ruby Tui (New Zealand)#Sharni Williams (Atralia)Portia Woodman (New Zealand).

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

For a variety of reasons, n be extremely hard for profsnal athlet to e out as LGBTQ+ their personal one, sports are largely domated by straight cis men who have been notorly homophobic and transphobic acrdg to numero stori om LGBTQ+ athlet. The 25-year-old athlete and former Richmond Flyg Squirrels player revealed to his fans and followers that while he is no longer playg for the team, which is part of the San Francis Giants system, he is thankful for the time he had and isn't givg up on his love of baseball, pecially as an out, gay man.

-- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar 's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn.

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

A total of 186 publicly out gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr, queer and nonbary athlet participated the Tokyo Gam, acrdg to Not only was that the most at any Olympics ever, but was also more than triple the number of LGBTQ athlet at the 2016 R Gam. Health InsurancePaid VatnRemote Work OpportuniDental Insurance401k Wh MatchgVisn InsurancePromote From WhFlexible Work HoursPersonal Sick DaysPerformance BonCalculatg your job g out, the fact that he’s gay seems to acpany his name virtually every story wrten about him.

Sce returng to the stat, he’s been terviewed by a slew of publitns, appeared on The Ellen DeGener Show, attend the Osrs, -hosted the Trevor Project gala, received the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibily Award, been honored at the Natnal Gay and Lbian Chamber of Commerce’s Bt of the Bt gala, supported the GLAAD Camp Ambassadors Program wh an onle fundraiser, been named to the TIME 100 List of Most Influential People and posed for ESPN’s Body Issue.

ADAM RIPPON MA HISTORY AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY AMERIN MAN TO W AT THE WTER OLYMPICS

"Owens, who often roomed wh Smh, said that Smh lived fear and never me out bee he worried if people knew he was gay, his reer would be died two months after revealg he had AidsIn 1986, Smh beme the first profsnal athlete to announce he had been diagnosed wh Aids. 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.

OPENLY GAY ATHLET

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.

9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY

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 did end up playg two years wh the Montreal Alouett, makg him the first openly gay player the history of the Canadian Football BryantA Purdue alum who gaed more yards than any other non-Heisman Trophy wner Big Ten history, Dorien Bryant failed to get drafted 2008. He would later move to San Francis and jo the Fog, a gay gby team, and pen a g-out blog post GallagherA Universy of Ptsburgh offensive leman om 1977 through 1979, Ed Gallagher reprsed his sexualy until 1985, when he had his first sexual enunter wh a man, then attempted to kill himself 12 days later.

While he said he never kept his sexualy a secret, a "nspiracy of silence" left the matter unspoken the GendreA kicker for four seasons wh the Middle Tennsee Blue Rairs, Alan Gendre, openly gay om age 16 on, would end his llege reer as the lead srer Sun Belt nference history.

A NVERSATN WH T.J. CALLAN ABOUT THE HISTORY OF GAY BLACK MEN G OUT SPORTS

He ma the cisn to announce he was gay, the first active Divisn III player to do so, after nnectg wh Conner Mertens through You Can Play, he SarafArizona State leman Chris Saraf 2014 me out as gay to lol LGBT publitn Compete, makg him the first Divisn I player out of the closet. The move quickly brought msag of support om the athletic partment and universy officials, and the wrer for Compete told The Arizona Republic that the school fact approached him about breakg the SimsBrian Sims 2000 was named -pta for the Bloomsberg Universy football team Pennsylvania, makg him the first openly gay llege football pta NCAA history, acrdg to Outsports. He's now pursug a ont-office job profsnal JohnsonMy-Kg Johnson, a recent grad of Tempe High School Arizona, is set this fall to be the first openly gay scholarship player reced to play major-llege football, takg the field wh the Universy of Arizona.

He said he wanted to enter his fal season of llege ball livg openly and hontly, and emailed the newspaper shortly after Kurdzlek, a iend and opponent on the field, me out PertetWyatt Pertet, a special teams player and receiver for Capal Universy, will be a sophomore this season. Derrick Gordon, a sophomore starter for the Universy of Massachetts men's basketball team, stepped forward Wednday as the first openly gay player Divisn I men's llege basketball, sharg his story wh ESPN and 22-year-old shootg guard me out to his fay, ach and teammat jt a few days at the begng of April. But people should also be acceptg of men, gay or straight, who don't nform to tradnal genr Los Angel Galaxy midfielr Robbie Rogers took the pch on Sunday, he beme the first openly gay man to play on a major profsnal team the U.

UMASS' DERRICK GORDON SAYS HE'S GAY

There have been 29 reported this year, up om 14 the same perd last year, even as hate crim overall have cled durg that time by almost 30 recent uptick anti-gay vlence also durg the same month that three more stat passed laws legalizg same-sex marriage and jt weeks after NBA veteran Jason Colls revealed that he is gay—and was largely greeted wh open arms by the sports world. But Ayanbajo got to the heart of why the importance of a figure like Jason Colls extends beyond the celebry factor: "People thk gayns has somethg to do wh femy when really we jt need to erase that stereotype om our mds, " he said.

A HANDY GUI TO ALL GAY MEN

And sce for women, we thk gayns "has somethg to do wh" masculy, we hold the opposg set of assumptns about female athlet: "In sports right now, there are two different stereotyp—that there are no gay male athlet, and every female athlete is a lbian, " Patrick Burke of the gay sports advocy group You Can Play explaed to the New York Tim. The news that Grer, who wore a whe tux on her 6-foot-8 ame at the WNBA draft, is gay didn't fundamentally challenge our notn that sexualy has somethg to do wh genr—and jt nfirmed the stereotyp we had about women who excel sports. "Homophobia, then, is not simply social disapproval and discrimatn agast gay people, but an entire cultural stcture that disqualifyg all but the "most vilent repudiators of femy" om "real manhood"— the procs upholdg genr equaly and matag a hierarchy of men based on sexualy, race, class, abily, and so 's entirely unrstandable, then, why Colls took pas to highlight his masculy his Sports Illtrated article announcg the news.

About two-thirds of the public thks that gay and lbian upl n be as good parents as heterosexual upl and that they should have the same legal rights as their straight young people, pecially, anti-gay views are cidly the exceptn. Ever sce we've been askg about public opn polls, men have been more likely than women to poe anti-gay views—a fact that buttrsed the theory that masculy is timately nnected wh homophobia, says Tristan Bridg, assistant profsor of soclogy at The College at Brockport, SUNY.

WHAT ABOUT THE GUYS WHO DO F THE 'GAY STEREOTYPE'?

Though homophobia is by no means eradited—after all, Bridg pots out, straight men pecially still seem be far more fortable wh gay inty than actual gay sex—the largely supportive rponse to Colls and Rogers g out would seem to reflect a real and rapid change anti-gay attus, which should certaly be 's far ls clear is whether this shift is actually changg the way homophobia is ed as a weapon for matag tradnal masculy. And don't get much better for adults: Nety percent of the trans and genr non-nformg people surveyed by the Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force and the Natnal Center for Transgenr Equaly reported experiencg harassment, mistreatment, or discrimatn on the job, or hid their inti to avoid .

AS LGBT RIGHTS PROGRS, WHY DO GAY ATHLET REMA THE CLOSET?

And though steppg too far outsi of acceptable genr norms is seen as a problem for everyone, to a gree, women may even be reward for distancg themselv om femy at is not to say that clg homophobia don't have the potential to lead to a ser reimagg of masculy more broadly.

" But if they still shout "cunt" and "psy" as they physilly abe their athlet, that will be superficial progrs fact, if the associatn between gayns and femy is broken whout more fundamentally expandg masculy, may even make thgs worse. Apart om the large ternatnal quantative studi, small-sle quantative and qualative studi a wi range of sports settgs have provid evince that LGBTQ+ athlet regularly experience discrimatn and excln the form of homo- and transnegativy (e. Physil asslts have been reported as well, but on a far lower sle, wh rponnts who had personally experienced homo-/transnegative vlence rangg between 3% (Atralian Capal Terrory [ACT] Government, 2014; Symons, Sbaraglia, Hillier, & Mchell, 2010) and 19% (Denison & Kchen, 2015).

The quantative fdgs are nsistent wh a growg number of qualative studi based on terviews and group discsns (Greenspan, Griffh, & Watson, 2019; Hargie, Mchell, & Sommerville, 2017) experience of homo- and transnegativy society and sports is equently ed to expla mechanisms of (self-)excln, such as the lower participatn rat of LGBTQ+ dividuals sports (Cleland, 2018; Greenspan et al., 2019; Sndurra, Brcci, Bochicch, Valer, & Amoedo, 2019). The fdgs have nsistently shown a higher rate of gay men pared to lbian women who feel exclud (Denison & Kchen, 2015), whereas the fdgs ncerng the perceptns of transgenr dividuals have been mixed (ACT Government, 2014; Denison & Kchen, 2015; Symons et al., 2010).

Wh regard to sports participatn Germany, Krell & Olmeier (2018) intified a lower sports participatn rate for LGBTQ+ persons aged 14–27 years pared to non-LGBTQ+ dividuals, wh transgenr femal havg the lowt participatn unrstand homo- and transnegative attus and actns towards LGBTQ+ athlet and the rpective experienc and feelgs of the targeted dividuals, Cunngham’s (2019) multilevel mol and Meyer’s (2003) mol of mory strs offer eful analytil ameworks.

From another perspective, there is evince that mographics and (salient) inti play a role wh regard to homo-/transnegative attus; particular, Bh, Anrson, & Carr (2012) intified how mal and athlet who closely intify wh petive sports culture exprs more sexual prejudice than athlet wh a weaker athletic different levels, however, should not be nsired as operatg isolatn. In addn to this multi-level perspective of social stctur fluencg the experienc of LGBTQ+ persons, Meyer’s (2003) mory strs mol intified different typ of strsors among LGBTQ + dividuals due to their experienc of homo-/transnegativy.

First, wh regard to distal strsors of homo-/transnegativy sports, what micro-level factors (sexual orientatn and/or genr inty) and mo-level factors (anizatnal ame, type of sports, and performance level) affect the wnsg of homo-/transnegative language and the prevalence of homo-/transnegative cints rponnts’ sports activi? Statistil methodsThe rults are prented wh regard to the associatn of the pennt variabl (sexual orientatn, genr inty, and sports ntexts) wh the pennt variabl (wnsg homo-/transnegative language, havg negative experienc, and feelg exclud om sports).

A multiple lear regrsn was lculated to predict the equency of wnsg homo-/transnegative language based on rponnts’ genr inty and sexual orientatn and the sports ntext variabl (anizatnal ame, performance level, and type of sport; F(11, 564) = 4. Controllg for all other variabl, the anizatnal ame was not found to be a signifint predictor of equency of wnsg homo-/transnegative language (Table 2) 2 Multiple lear regrsn analysis of variabl predictg wnsg homo-/transnegative language (HTL); n = 575) and feelg offend by HTL (n = 289)Full size tableOf those who wnsed homo-/transnegative language their ma sport, the vast majory (78.

A bary logistic regrsn was nducted to predict the likelihood of a homo-/transnegative cint based on rponnts’ genr inty, sexual orientatn, and sports ntext variabl (anizatnal ame, performance level, and type of sport; Table 3). Controllg for all other variabl, no signifint effects of any sports ntext variabl were 3 Bary logistic regrsn analysis of variabl predictg homo-/transnegative cints (n = 576)Full size tableAthlet documented a variety of different negative experienc. 1%) nonted the dividual(s) rponsible for the homo-/transnegative 4 Reactns to a prr homo-/transnegative episoaFull size tableDiscsnThe current study aimed to asss whether and to what extent LGBTQ+ athlet Germany are exposed to distal and proximal strsors sports due to their sexual orientatn and/or genr inty.

However, parisons of ncrete equenci and percentag are problematic bee studi e different signs and time referenc for the distal strsors reflect external events and ndns of homo-/transnegativy, proximal strsors are more subjective “perceptns of self as a stigmatized and valuated mory” (Meyer, 2003, p. This approach revealed that wnsg homo-/transnegative language was signifintly rrelated wh the ntext of the sports activi, whereas the extent of personal negative experienc was siarly prent all sports ntexts but signifintly rrelated wh dividual LGBTQ+ stat. Practic that do not follow the norms of hetero-masculy, such as those attributed to gay men, are associated wh weakns and femy and are often a soundg board for homonegative language (Sms, Knoppers, & Ellg-Machartzki, 2020).

MacDonald (2018) exemplified this mechanism her rearch on young ice hockey players Canada by revealg that homonegative disurs are expected even om players and high proportn of rponnts who felt offend and discrimated agast by homo-/transnegative language emphasiz s harmful impact, irrpective of the tentns (i.

A possible explanatn for this discrepancy might be the wispread and normalized homo-/transnegative talk team sports and the relative anonymy of LGBTQ+ athlet wh this group, as most of them chose not to disclose their sexual orientatn or genr inty. In ntrast, ntexts where homo-/transnegativy is ls mon and LGBTQ+ people are more exposed as dividual athlet, the offence might be taken more regard to micro-level factors that have an impact on the experienc of LGBTQ+ athlet, the data reveal a signifintly higher impact of social mory strs on non-cisgenr athlet pared to cisgenr on.

They also nfirm Butler’s (1990) -pth theoretil analysis of the genr orr, which elaborated how non-cisgenr dividuals thoroughly challenge the tradnal bary genr orr at the macro level of societi and evoke irratn and aggrsive negative reactns for not beg properly the group of non-cisgenr rponnts, those who experienced homo- and transnegativy were most often female transgenr (assigned male at birth and unrwent a transn to female), non-bary transgenr, and non-intifyg dividuals. Although there is some rearch on the growg acceptance of homosexualy sports and changg attus towards clive masculy (Anrson, 2009), our data dite a high level of homonegativy towards gay athlet pared to lbian athlet, which is le wh rults found by other scholars (e. Campaigns to bat homo-/transnegativy should be expand, and antidiscrimatn tn should vt raisg awarens regardg how homo-/transnegative language is not only discrimatn but also a potent means to support and uphold the heteronormative genr orr.