One reason there has been so much attention lately to statements about homosexuality, supportive and derogatory, from prominent male athletes is that they inhabit a stubborn bastion of reductively defined masculinity, and many impressionable kids take their cues from it. If its heroes make clear that being gay is O.K., the impact could be profound: fewer adolescents and teenagers bullied, fewer young and not-so-young adults leading stressful, painful double lives.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Out at the Old Ball Game
Frank Bruni, one of the NYT regular op-ed columnists, has written three pieces for tomorrow's edition on gays in sports--and why it is still so hard to come out (just this week we had the suspension of a major league baseball player after he wrote a gay slur in Spanish on his face). Also there's a timelime on athletes coming out, starting with NFL player Dave Kopay--I recall when he profiled him at Crawdaddy around 1977. The key piece is a profile of a former big league owner, Kevin McClatchy, who finally comes out in talking with Bruni.
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2 comments:
And lets not forget - having some openly gay heroes such as these will also impact those kids who feel there is no life out there for them, and can possibly cut down a bit on the suicide rate of LGBT youth!
Yessss!
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