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Jacquelene Tarrah

Ms. Meindl

ENG1101-EY3

16 November 2019

Why Do Some Athletes Fear Being Open on Homosexuality?

In a day and age many more people are open about their sexual preference, why are we still

experiencing so many Athletes who are still not open on their Homosexuality? Should sexuality have to

be disclosed in sports, since it has no barring on the players athletic ability? Unfortunately, we are

seeing it still matters because the fear and misconceptions some players, coaches and fans have.

Homosexuality has been around since beginning of time any many still can not get passed or see the

false truth in stigmas that are associated with being a gay athlete.

The misperceptions of the gay male play a big part on why a lot of people whether it be the players,

coaches, even fans have the idea that a gay male athlete is not acceptable. A male athlete is considered

to be one who should be very masculine, which is the furthest thing from what the stereotype of a gay

male is. According to[ CITATION Mur17 \l 1033 ]

(:” Part of the reason this myth about the “femininity” of gay men survives is because

many of the most masculine gay men are not necessarily open about their sexual orientation and/or it is

not “assumed” by others that such men are gay. In this regard, the most visible gay men are often those

who superficially meet the stereotype of femininity, not those who challenge it.”)

Cyd Zeigler, one of the founders of outsports.com also had an example of how stereotypes of males in

sports are a factor

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(:” We’ve been trained so much when we were kids that gay is soft, 'smear the queer' and you don't

want to throw like a girl or a fairy," Zeigler said. "It's so ingrained in us that there's a disconnect between

that and homophobia."

But those ideas create confusion in gay athletes that they must put on a strong facade so as not to

appear weak and to conform to societal norms of what it means to be a tough man.”)[ CITATION

Chr16 \l 1033 ]. With the extra pressure added to the gay male athlete one could almost understand

why staying in the closet, is felt like the only option a player has. (“One study of five Division I campuses

in fact explored how athletics teams respond to diversity, including race, gender, socioeconomic level,

geographic region and sexual orientation. The authors noted that “questions about sexual orientation

brought about the most highly charged responses.” Many also denied that LGBT individuals were

members of their teams or expressed negative reactions to the idea of having LGBT team members. The

overall message from the findings was that hostility toward gay men and lesbians exists on nearly all

teams and at all the case study sites.”)[ CITATION Sus \l 1033 ]

Gay players in the NBA or NFL really work hard to keep their privacy due to fear of backlash, with most

of the players never coming out at all. The first active player in the NBA to come out and openly admit

his homosexuality was Jason Collins in 2013. NFL has yet to have an active gay player according to

Wikipedia while few have openly come out after leaving the NFL for good.

(:“There has never been anyone who has been publicly out as gay or bisexual while playing in

the NFL.[1] Six former National Football League (NFL) players have come out publicly as gay after they

retired.[1] Michael Sam was selected by the St. Louis Rams in the 2014 NFL Draft, and thus became the

first publicly gay player drafted in the league, but was released before the start of the regular season.”)

The NFL which allows 53 players on each team and 32 teams so roughly 1696 men total play in

NFL. With the percentage of gay men at 3.9 nation wide according[ CITATION wik \l 1033 ] LBGT
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demographics of the United States. If you go of the percentage given when trying to account for how

many players might be gay but not disclosing it, would equal roughly around 66 Give or take. With the

one-hundred-year anniversary of the NFL coming up in 2020 it makes you wonder what the true number

of gay male players afraid to ever admit their homosexuality, even after retirement. I am sure it is more

than the few that have came out.

The locker room and what obstacles it presents with people of different sexual orientin. The

locker room is used before and after games to get dressed, shower among other things. Many gay

athletes might fear that if the sexual preference was revealed it could change the whole dynamic of the

locker room for them and their team mates. Would the strait players exclude me? Some strait player

state the would not be comfortable getting dress in front of a gay teammate as stated by Adrian

Peterson in 2013 “Simple things, as far as showers and things like that, you know, of course, anyone

would be uncomfortable,” Why would someone like Peterson, who says he’d welcome a gay teammate,

assume discomfort because there’s an out gay man in the shower?”). Many men feel that the locker

room could be the place their teammates might notice the true difference between them. The locker

room talk tends to always lead to the topic of woman and or what players have done or what they

would like to do with these women. Not engaging in these conversations could make on a player seem

like an outsider or not belong. The report found that 80 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual athletes

and 82 percent of transgender athletes kept their identity hidden from their coaches. Eleven percent of

LGBT young people reported they never felt safe in a locker room.[ CITATION Sus \l 1033 ]

The effects of coming out and what happens after? The risk of scrutiny is something that effects

everyone decisions at one time or another. Imagine being in the public eye, would you take every step in

trying to insure your not viewed in way that would make it any harder than it already is. Many athletes
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fear the loss of position on their team or even in their sport ,which could result in the end of their career

any endorsements they might have.(“ Though there are protections for gay, lesbian, and bisexual

athletes in professional sports, LGB athletes still have a hard time maintaining their positions in the big

leagues once they come out.”)(Polish) Look at Michael Sam the only active NFL player to come out. It is

safe to say it ended his career.

(:” The reality of Sam's 2014 season is this. Not only did he never make an active roster last

season, but after Week 7 he wasn't even on a practice squad. Not only did he not make it back onto a

practice squad, but he never even got a try-out - Teams can have players in for try-outs without signing

them.

Even more surprising, since the season ended, he has not gotten a single phone call from a

single team about a futures contract - a simple agreement that locks up the player for an interested

team and doesn't cost the team a dime. Not even a phone call.” (Zeigler).

Not only their career could feel the effect, what about their family and friends? With so many

protesting gay rights in general it is not hard to believe that not only gay players would feel the backlash

but possibly their family and friends would be at the brunt end of harassment and or scrutiny of the

public but by other families in the sports industry, friends and even other relatives.

Isolation what role it might play in not wanting to come out openly about being a gay athlete.

Many find playing on a sports team to be a social building experience. They also feel a sense of

belonging. What about those athletes that don’t fit in to the locker room talk of girls, or sex. For many

the fear of isolation is one of the biggest factors holding them back from being open about their

sexuality. (“Most LGBT students opted not to play sports at all. Seventy-six percent of LGBT respondents

said they refrain from athletic competition, compared to 32 percent of non-LGBT people.”)[ CITATION

Ary18 \l 1033 ]. According to Wikipedia (“only 1% of the participants believed that lesbian, gay, and
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bisexual athletes were 'completely accepted' in sport culture, while 80% of respondents said they had

witnessed or experienced homophobia in a sporting environment. The rates and occurrences of

discrimination based on sexuality in sports are high with 62% of survey respondents claiming that

homophobia is more common in team sports than any other part of society.”)[ CITATION Hom19 \l

1033 ] The mental stress of having to pretend to be something your not could most defiantly bring about

the feeling of isolation even before the non-acceptance would. With all these factors it is easy to see

why no matter what your opinion of gays in sports are, whether you are for or against you can not argue

that it defiantly matters whether your gay or not, like it or not.