D has an excellent blog post at his site about the homophobia that often exists in sports. It's an ugly part of the beautiful game.
As a minority female, I feel I have to fight against stereotypes all the time, and I feel a sort of solidarity with any group that is singled out by the paranoia of others for ridicule.
I remember how Larry Morgan, who covered the LA Rams back when they were here, told me how he was friends with the first female reporter to cover American football. She worked for the LA Herald Examiner and she had to go to court to get equal access to players for interviews.
Bottom line, I really hope that one day, the idea of any athlete having to hide who they are for fear of merciless heckling from fans seems as outdated.
2 comments:
the comparisons of jackie robinson to gay people is nuts. i beleive the sexual aspect of someones life should always be private, not because i am homophobic, but because it is not relevent to work, sports, etc. to me this is no different than religion or politics. do people openly talk about who they voted for or why they are a particular religion? not usually . . . is that because of hatred or bias? no, not usually. it is becuase those things are personal, and should keep that way. (getting off soap box now)
Of course it's people's right to keep their private lives personal - I'm talking about the way that that personal side of someone's life is ridiculed as a matter of course in so many ways. People use so many words associated with that lifestyle as a cutting insult, it's a wonder that those who actually belong to that group aren't walking around with open wounds.
Once upon a time, it was considered normal, if a bit in poor taste, to make such negative remarks about those of another race. Now we won't stand for that, but there's still a lot of homophobic language that is tolerated.
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