Sports Figures and Equality

[pat grimshaw]

That last picture has been photoshopped into unbelievability

 

[pat grimshaw]

OK, they've all been photoshopped into unbelievability.
I spend my time looking at the skin tones instead of asking myself if I'm a homophobe or not

 

[Queerwitch]

Pretty cool that these guys are so willing to speak out. I'd guess it doesn't exactly win them popularity points with their teammates and many of their fellow professional athletes.

 

[Yves]

Great thread. The NYTimes has a good article on Ben Cohen & Hudson Taylor:

Two Straight Athletes Combat Homophobia
John Branch
New York Times, May 13 2011

Ben Cohen is a world-class English rugby star, and Hudson Taylor is a three-time college all-American wrestler. They live on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. They barely know each other.

But they have something quite unusual in common. They may be the only two high-profile heterosexual athletes dedicating their lives to the issues of bullying and homophobia in sports.

The question that each one frequently gets — besides “Are you gay?” — is why are they involved in something that does not directly impact them, or so it would seem.

That is just the point, they said. In much the same way that the hockey player Sean Avery’s recent endorsement of gay marriage resonated in large part because it came from an unexpected source, their sexual orientation helps the message cross to broader audiences, Cohen and Taylor said.

“It’s massively important,” Cohen said Friday in New York, a stopover on a cross-country campaign for his fledgling Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation. “Massively. Of course it is. I’m the other side of that bridge.”

Gay slurs have emerged into the public consciousness recently. The Los Angeles Lakers’ star Kobe Bryant used one against an N.B.A. referee and was fined $100,000. The Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell was said to have made homophobic gestures and remarks to fans in San Francisco, and was suspended by Major League Baseball for two weeks. Widespread criticism of both men was seen as cultural progress by gay-rights supporters.

But in a world where no active American athletes in a major male team sport has declared his homosexuality, it remains rare for athletes to chime in on the issue of gay rights. Recent exceptions, beyond Avery, include Grant Hill and Jared Dudley of the Phoenix Suns, who recorded a public-service announcement decrying gay slurs in sports.

(...)

Earlier this year, Taylor launched Athlete Ally, asking athletes of all ages to sign a pledge to help end homophobia in sports:

http://www.athleteally.com/


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/sports/two-straight-athletes-combat-homophobia.html?src=recg&pagewanted=all

 

[pat grimshaw]

Not sure why I keep posting here. I'm the only one reading it....

i love your work, mr H.

 

[LoveDragon]

Here is about a former MLB player Ryan Klesko speaking about gays in baseball.


http://www.outsports.com/baseball/20020730glt.htm

 

[ncboy85]

There has been a lot of buzz all of a sudden lately in the sports community on this topic and it's great to see because a couple years ago it seemed like you could count the number of outspoken allies on one hand. This is a huge barrier and I commend these guys for being some of the first to take it on.

 

[ddeell]

Here is about a former MLB player Ryan Klesko speaking about gays in baseball.

thanks for posting this