There is hope!

According to the article “Year of the Gay”,  Dan Woog writes a compelling piece saying that 2011 was the “Year of the Gay”, in his article he discusses that more athletes had come out of the closet, and that pro players were asked to film “It gets better” videos for young LGBT athletes.  They are taking a stand to band homophobia in sports.  LGBT athletes have even gone as far as demanding that same –sex couple be featured in promotional videos and gay pride parades.  These young athletes want to be recognized by their talent and not the sexual orientation.  This article also discusses how even professionals in the corporate part in professional athletics have taken a stand.  For example many of the LGBT fans have stopped going to the New York Rangers game because the “anti-gay atmosphere is so bad in Madison Square Gardens”.  Another example of this is when Kobe Bryant called an official a “faggot” and had to pay a fine of  $100,000 to the NBA because of the comment.  They are definitely eliminating the amount of slander on the gay community in the sports world.

 However even though there are many people fighting against the homophobia in Sports there are also people that are keeping it alive.  Many of us do not realize the kinds of pressure that we put on our athletes and the pressure is doubled for the young LGBT athletes.  It is not easy to come out at all and especially when you are an athlete.  Many of the coaches and even teammates may treat you differently.  According to the article titles “The College Sport Closet”  Dwight Slater a college football star was recruited to Stanford University, where he thought that he could be comfortable and rid of his insecurity.  After coming out to his teammates and his coach, he felt so uncomfortable that after the first year he quit.  This was unfortunate because many of the fans don’t understand the  trials that these LGBT athletes go through not only in the competition, but in the locker rooms with their coaches and teammates as well.

Works cited

Woog, Dan.  “Year of the Gay”.  Between the lines. 2001 vol. 745 (2012). www.proquest.com/genderwatch. 05 March 2012.

Bull, Chris. “The college Sports closet”.  The Advocate vol. 853 (26-31) 2002. Print

-Lauren Tucker