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:
- GAY LLEGE SOFTBALL PLAYER NAVIGAT AN ACCEPTG TEAM AND SILENT FAY
- PLAYG SOFTBALL PROV YOU'RE GAY
- WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
GAY LLEGE SOFTBALL PLAYER NAVIGAT AN ACCEPTG TEAM AND SILENT FAY
We know of 174 gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr athlet who have e out om the ACC, SEC, Pac-12, Big 12 and Big Ten. That’s a lot. * percentage of gay college softball players *
All my life I had been exposed to passive-aggrsive homophobia. Her supporters acced nservativ of tryg to damage her chanc by whisperg that she was gay. None of this particularly surprised a sport that has wrtled wh the issue — If you play, you’re probably gay —for s.
“It is one of those ltle touchstone thgs, ” said Rosalyn Bugg, an official wh the Greater Los Angel Softball Assn., found as a slow-pch league for gays. Several ach Southern California timate that more than 50% of the players were gay at the time.
PLAYG SOFTBALL PROV YOU'RE GAY
By Dan Woog Sports fans love trivia. But even the most obssive jock-lover might not know the answer to this query: "Who is the only openly gay male * percentage of gay college softball players *
“I’ve never seen so many gay people my life, ” said Drabecki, who now ach at Burbank High.
WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
” By then, the game had bee a central part of the culture, said Pat Griff, thor of “Strong Women, Deep Closets: Lbians and Homophobia Sport. ” Gay women uld feel accepted at the ballpark. “Softball beg a phemism for homosexual is pretty funny, ” said Bugg, the recreatnal league official.
“But not so funny to a lot of the women I play wh who are not homosexual. ” As straight players grew more worried about beg labeled gay, the gam took on a different look. “My straight teammat enuraged me almost more than my gay teammat to speak out, ” she said.
The immediate ditn is that they’re gay. ” “It’s the bone marrow of women’s sports, ” she said, “the whole issue that sports will turn you gay or sports have a disproportnate number of lbians. ” This dynamic leads to negative recg — llege ach tryg to fluence prospects by whisperg that rival programs are pervasively gay — and ncerns among parents.