Professional Athletes and Homosexuality

Professional Athletes and Homosexuality

After reading the article “Double Lives on the Down Low” by Denizet-Lewis, I could not help but thinking of a very similar example to being on the down low – men having secret sexual lives with other men. The example being gay professional athletes.

Male professional athletes are seen in our culture as the epitome of what a male should be: strong, competitive, and tough – which is exactly the opposite of what mainstream culture portrays gay men to be. This hyper-masculine image is similar to the façade that men on the DL are forced to convey - inner-city gangster-thugs.

There are numerous reasons as to why gay athletes do not come out during their career: disapproval from teammates, loss of endorsements, loss of scholarships, being exploited by opposing fans.. the list can go on and on. For example, if an athlete is sponsored by Under Armour, and he comes out, Under Armor may reconsider their contract with this athlete because the image of being gay doesn’t coincide with the image Under Armour is trying to portray: strength and toughness.

The locker room situation is one of the first things that come to mind when the topic of gay athletes is brought up. When heterosexual males think of being in the showers naked in front of potentially homosexual teammates, the heterosexual males become very uncomfortable at that thought. However, Michael Muska, an openly gay athletic director at Oberlin College, says, "a gay male has been probably made so uncomfortable that the last thing they're going to do is look at someone: for most gay male athletes, that's their biggest fear – of discovery." Openly gay Australian Ian Roberts, one of the all-time highest paid rugby league players in the world, has a similar take on this topic: "I take offence at the old locker room argument which assumes a man cannot, in any circumstances, control his urges. Any self-respecting human being can respect the rights and ways of another human being. The idea, then, that gays want heterosexual guys is ludicrous. We want to play the game, not the field.” But, because the overwhelming majority of athletes are heterosexual, they don’t consider these aspects of a gay athlete trying to conceal his sexual orientation, and continue to view them as outcasts.

The insensitive words of Garrison Hearst, former running back for the San Francisco 49ers, sum up what most people think, but do not say in such blunt terms, “I don't want any faggots on my team. I know this might not be what people want to hear, but… I don't want any faggots in this locker room.” That was Hearst’s reaction in 2002 when he heard that one of his former teammates, Esera Tuaolo, announced he was gay. It is comments similar to those made by Hearst, which make it nearly impossible for gay athletes to come out of the closet.

The constant effort to try to be someone who one is not takes a toll on a person. It isn’t that gay athletes want to come out in an attempt to get all over the media and to cause drama – they do it because they are not mentally and physically able to deal with the effort and stress associated with living two separate lives (a public life and a personal life). When Tuaolo came out to the public on an HBO show called “Real Sports” he is said, "There's this joke [teammates used to tell]. 'Esera, man, he did 20 shots of tequila.' By doing that, I became their drinking buddy: 'Gosh, he's such a stud.' But to me, it was more to ease the pain." The pain became so intense, that Tuaolo would sometimes drive down the road and fantasize about "turning the wheel and ending it all.'' After informing the public of his sexual orientation, he said, “I feel wonderful. I feel like a burden has been lifted.”

There do seem to be signs of hope for gay athletes. Gay and lesbian athletes were provided with their own housing in this past summer’s winter Olympics in Vancouver. A total of 12 athletes, which only included one male stayed at the lodging called the PRIDE house. Separating gay athletes from heterosexual athletes may seem like segregation. However, the act of acknowledging the existence of gay athletes is a step forward in reducing the negative stigma associated with gay professional athletes.