CONTACT:PO Box 425034Cambridge, MA 02142Tel/fax: (617) 588-0600info@gayconference.orgwww.gayconference.org |
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Men (and women, for that matter) have been throwing objects and running out of necessity and for relaxation since humans could walk. Organized sports have been an integral part of the human experience since ancient Greece.
Today, sports---professional, amateur and recreational—permeate the world’s culture.
Among other things, it’s a big business, a way for impoverished children to pass the time and adults to bond, and a tool of diplomacy.
Here’s one thing to consider: televised sports is now the biggest part of the entertainment industry taking in tens of billions of dollars a year in the United States alone, outstripping movies, publishing and music in revenues. Unlike the 1970s, when T.V. sports was pretty much limited to the weekend, sporting events and the programs derived from them (like ESPN) can be found on the tube just about any time of the day or night.
Like nothing else sports bring communities together, from small ones like Norman, Oklahoma (University of Oklahoma football) to big ones like New England (Patriots, Red Sox and Celtics) to even bigger ones like Brazil (the country’s 2002 World Cup victory unified its rich South and poor North). A survey by Deloitte & Touche revealed that New York area residents believed that professional sports played a positive role in comforting and unifying the country in the weeks following September 11th and has played a role in helping the country recover from the attacks.
From childhood to retirement, sports play a huge role in our emotional and physical well-being. Some of the most formative experiences growing up happen on a field, court or track. As children, the interaction with team mates is often where we all learn our social skills that are then refined through out our adult years. And, besides parents and teachers, no group of adults has a greater impact on a kid’s development than coaches.
To top it off, sports terminology and metaphors permeate our politics and culture. Need proof? Here are two examples. When a politician gives a great speech or a movie has a smash opening weekend, they are said to have “hit a homerun.” How many times has somebody told you to “get on the ball” when you’ve fallen behind on a project or misplaced something?
In sum, like it or not, we live in a society obsessed with, and in important ways influenced by, sports. The implication for gays and lesbians is clear. Our full acceptance by the wider society depends in part on our making inroads into what until now has been one of the last acceptable bastions of homophobia, sports.
“Clearly, gays and lesbians have a lot of work to do,” said Mac Chinsomboon, Executive Director of the Gay & Lesbian Athletics Foundation (GLAF). “Anecdotal evidence and studies show that homophobia is rampant in sports.” Next spring GLAF is putting on their first National Gay & Lesbian Athletics Conference in Cambridge/Boston. “The annual conference will provide a forum for LGBT professional, amateur, and recreational athletes from around the world to share their stories and experiences; foster the development of inclusive and supportive athletics environments, dispel myths concerning LGBT athletes, learn from one another; a forum to build networks; foster mentoring relationships, and to promote cooperation - in essence, creating ‘community’.” He adds, “We’ve have assembled a star-studded Advisory Board of over 55 well-known athletes, academians, authors, and experts, including tennis legend, Billie; former pro basketball player, Mariah Burton Nelson; Olympians Bruce Hayes, Robert Dover, Brian Marshall, and Mark Tewksbury; former National Baseball League umpire, Dave Pallone; the still competing Triple Ironman World Champion and member of the USA Triathlon Team, Christopher Bergland and others listed on our website.”
Looking at the greater impact on society, Chinsomboon adds, “The conference isn’t just for ‘jocks’ but it’s for everyone and it’s about growing up and having positive role models, mentors, and heroes. Could we save lives in the process and at least make the coming out process less painful and less shameful? Consider stories like those of Matthew Shepard and how it could be different.”
Dan Woog, author of two books exploring the experiences of gay male athletes, agrees that the locker room is "the last closet." However, he noted, that closet door is opening rapidly. "In just the four years between the publication of 'Jocks' and 'Jocks 2,' a tremendous change occurred," he said. "Gay athletes, teams and leagues became much more visible – inside the gay community, and in the mainstream sports world as well.
Patricia Nell Warren, the author of ‘Frontrunner,’ the story that spawned gay running groups of the same name all around the world, says "While acceptance of GLBT players is gaining ground in the sports based on individual performance, like tennis, golf, figure skating and equestrian events, homophobia is still a big problem in team sports for both women and men. Traditionally, straight male teams have always gotten highly defensive, even ugly, about the presence of gay and bi men among them. But today, as a reaction to the high visibility and national controversy around GLBT rights, even women's teams -- basketball, etc. -- are increasingly defensive about their "femininity", and hostile to the presence of lesbian and bi women among them."
“Even though we have made a great deal of progress, financial sponsorship is still an uphill battle. This is why the conference is so important in helping us to achieve standing in mainstream athletics,” say Diane Gilligan, GLAF Sponsorship Director.
Two of the country’s most prestigious colleges, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are co-venues for the conference. And the list of partner organizations is impressive -- it includes the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), Federation of Gay Games, Sexual Minorities in Athletics (SMIA), Gay & Lesbian Advocates Against Defamation (GLAAD), Gay, Lesbian & Straight Educators Network (GLSEN), Women’s Sports Foundation, Outsports.com, Gay & Lesbian Medical Association, AIDS Action Committee, and others.
Conference participants will have their hands full. Here are some of the stories that will be told and discussed:
Gay bashing is still common in locker rooms from high school to college to professional sports. Not many athletes are admonished for saying “faggot,” yet God forbid they denigrate another group.
Not one athlete playing professional team sports has come out during their career. Sports experts are pretty much in agreement that there are several, if not several dozen, gay men playing in the four major sports leagues today. And women’s professional golf, tennis, and basketball (the most popular women’s professional sports) is by all accounts full of lesbian athletes.
Why then hasn’t at least one professional athlete come out?
Esera Tuaulo, who played nine years in the NFL and recently revealed he is gay, said he had to keep his sexual orientation to himself while playing because he didn’t want to jeopardize his career and was afraid of his teammates’ reaction. Sterling Sharpe, a former teammate of Tuaolo’s with the Packers, said if Tuaolo came out while he was still playing “he would have been eaten alive and he would have been hated for it.”
Ex-baseball player Billy Bean, who played six seasons in the majors, came out publicly in 1999 four years after retiring. He says it is difficult for succesful athletes to come out because “sports have to be in the forefront to keep you at the top of your game. Professional athletes have relatively short careers and it doesn’t take much to lose focus and jeopardize your career.”
Even collegiate and amateur athletes, who don’t have a career or money on the line, say it’s tough to come out. Jules Castano, a track star at the University of California Irvine, says his coach used to motivate his team by calling them “faggots and queens.” Castano found the courage to come out and tell his coach that his language was unacceptable. “Some of my teammates were freaked out, some were cool about it , and others would talk behind my back.” Castano’s coach stopped gay bashing. Castano, who says he was empowered by coming out, is running the best he ever has and will be competing in the 800 and 1,500 conference finals.
Going through adolescence is tough, perhaps more so for gays and lesbians struggling with their sexual identity. For a gay or lesbian high school athlete the challenges are multiplied. There are many powerful incentives to stay closeted. A teenager’s ever present desire to fit in, acceptance by team members and locker room awkwardness being three of them. Corey Johnson, an NGLAC Advisory Board member, became a national celebrity when he came out to his football teammates and coaches, had this to say about his experience. “I went through months of worry, depression and stress before deciding to come out.” Johnson experience was unusual in one way, however. He didn’t experience the hostility many teenagers do when they come out – but it’s certain not everyone has this luxury.
It is tough being an out sports fan as well. The doors to most gay fans of professional or collegiate sports have two doors. Often, they don’t tell their gay friends they’re sports fans. And if they watch sports live or at a bar they keep their “gayness” to themselves.
Slowly but surely, however, gay sports fans are gaining acceptance in the gay and straight worlds. It is not unusual for gay bars in big cities like Los Angeles and small ones like Lincoln, Nebraska to have televised sports on. And some bars even have “sports” theme nights.
There is even an online publication devoted to the gay sports community, Outsports.com formed in 2000, Outsports.com is a mixture of breaking news, commentary, features and discussion boards encompass sports fans, teams and leagues.
Gays and lesbians are also increasingly visible at sporting events, and not just the sports traditionally thought to be gay friendly like ice staking and diving. While it may be a while before we’ll see two guys holding hands at a Philadelphia Eagles football game, there are gay and lesbian fan clubs of a number of sports teams among them the Miami Dolphins and Seattle Mariners. In addition, several professional teams, including the San Francisco Giants, sponsor gay days and support gay related causes. In 2001, the Chicago Cubs became the first men’s professional sports team to advertise in a gay newspaper.
In the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the Los Angeles Sparks have signed a promotional deal with Girl Bar, a popular social club. The Sacramento Monarchs and the Seattle Storm each had a Gay Pride event this year.
However, homophobia lurks just below the surface in professional team sports. This past summer a controversy erupted over the treatment of lesbian fans at the WNBA’s New York Liberty games. According to lesbian fans, the team’s owner snubbed them a number of times by, among other things, refusing to broadcast lesbian couples showing public displays of affection. Liberty officials also told two fans that they would be thrown out of a game if they unfurled a sign that read “Lesbians for Liberty.” During the season, lesbian fans staged several protests kissing each other during game time outs. “ Robyn Overstreet, who helped organize the protests, said that the group was simply looking for respect. “The team wants the lesbian dollar, but don’t want the lesbians.”
It’s clear that, while gays and lesbians have made tremendous progress on the political, entertainment and business fronts the last twenty years, in the sports world stereotypes and prejudices still run deep and by and large are accepted.
Billie Jean King, tennis great and Advisory Board member for GLAF states, “This Foundation, as well as the conference, will be a forum for intellectual discussion, debate, investigation and expression and I’m very excited to give it my support.”
Chinsomboon says GLAF was formed to defeat the stereotyping and marginalizing of gay and lesbian athletes and sports fans. His greatest hope is that sports will quickly catch up and surpass how gays and lesbians are treated in the business, political and entertainment worlds – all of which are intertwined – the conference in March is the social platform that will bring LGBT and straight people together to discuss these issues. “Sports have always been a way to bring people together. Whether you’re playing on your neighborhood softball team or cheering the Patriots, it’s about having fun, doing your best, being a part of the community, and connecting with other people, not who you sleep with.”
