In the history of sport there are few instances where athletes who are gay come out. In male sports there is lots of physical activity. If a male athlete were to come out in a team sport I believe they would be ridiculed by teammates, fans, and the media. I believe there still are people in the world who dislike people who don’t go down the “correct” path. These fans would be ruthless towards a gay athlete. The way fans boo an opposing team’s players could easily be doubled if they had a gay athlete on their team. I don’t believe the media would rip on an athlete for being gay, rather they would talk about the athlete way too much and blow it out of proportion.
While I was playing sports, locker room activity and comments were pretty outlandish. Some of the older kids would do rather cruel things to the freshmen players, which if there were a gay athlete involved these things could have been crazy. The language that is used in a locker room would definitely offend the homosexual community. In my high school there were a few gay males, but none of them played any team sports that I can remember. If there were a gay athlete on my football or baseball team, I feel this guy would have quit before he even got started. The reason I say this is because he would be getting picked on every single day and I don’t know if he would be able to make it.
When it comes to professional athletes there are only one male athlete, John Amaechi, who I can think of who was a homosexual. He came out after his career. I feel the only way males will ever come out while playing their respected sport is if there is a Jackie Robinson type player who comes out. This player would need to be one of the better players as well as well-spoken and someone who would want to get the information out about homosexuality.
I agree with what you say here. High School locker room talk is already pretty edgy because it is a private type they can get away with it. THat would make somoeone who is homosexual maybe feel very uncomfortable as well as him maybe making his teammates feel uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteActually, John Amaechi was the most recent male athlete in U.S. team sports to come out, but the articles spoke of several others, including: Dave Kopay (NFL); Esera Tuaolo (NFL); Billy Bean (MLB); and Glenn Burke (MLB).
ReplyDeleteI agree. I order for a homosexual athlete to come out before they retire and still recieve the same amount of respect is if they are a dominant player.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you, an athlete that comes out while playing will be torn apart by everyone from the media to the fans. I agree with the way you look at a gay high school athlete, they would not have a chance in most schools. They would get made fun of way to much.
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