2012
was a significant year for LGBT sports community. Professional athletes, but
gay and straight stood up for marriage equality and against homophobia, and
some helped knock down stereotypes by proudly coming out of the closet while
still participating in the sport they love. Advocacy by athletes took a front
row seat at the game, making it easier for LGBTQ youth around the world to have
a voice and a role model:
The San Francisco
Giants
baseball club proudly claimed their seventh World Series title this past
October, but the team made history for a different reason. Last year, the
Giants became the first professional sports team to participate in Dan Savage's
It Gets Better campaign, giving LGBTQ youth a hopeful message against gay
bullying and homophobia. The Giants' video message was very well-received by
the press and their fans and it got the ball rolling for dozens of teams around
North America to do the same.
Hudson Taylor, founder of Athlete Ally, an organization
which advocates respect for all
individuals involved in sports. Hudson's father taught him a very valuable
lesson early on in his life: "Athletes
become worthy of the greatest respect not when they win at their sport but when
they stand up for the dignity of others and represent something bigger than
themselves." Hudson applies that lesson to his work as he travels
around the United States speaking with athletes of all ages.
Patrick Burke, co-founder of the You Can Play project
has spent most of 2012 zipping around the United States and Canada to speak
about homophobia in professional sports. His
efforts not only work to eradicate homophobia within the locker room, but on
the rink and on the field. In his own words, “Sportsmanship -- it’s treating
your teammates, opponents and fans with respect.”
Brendon Ayanbadejo, a linebacker on
the NFL's Baltimore Ravens voiced his support for marriage equality when the
issue was being put to a ballot initiative in Maryland earlier this year. His
response drew strong criticism from Emmett C. Burns, a Maryland State delegate
who urged the team's owner (Steve Biscotti) to "inhibit such expressions
from your employee." Burns also stated that no other player in the NFL who
supported Ayanbadejo. But he was wrong.
Chris Kluwe, a punter with the
NFL's Minnesota Vikings challenged Emmett Burns by sending him an open letter
which stated, "Your vitriolic hatred and bigotry make me ashamed and
disgusted to think that you are in any way responsible for shaping policy at
any level." Kluwe's letter called the state delegate out for violating
Ayanbadejo's right to free speech, and it also contained such entertaining
phrases as "narcissistic fromunda stain" and "mindfuckingly,
obscenely hypocritical."
On
October
19, 2012, Orlando Cruz faced Jorge Pazos
in the boxing ring on a warm October evening in Kissimmee, Florida. Cruz’s
mother was in the crowd cheering him on, along with thousands of fans at the
arena. Two weeks earlier, Cruz issued a press release announcing he was a
“proud gay man”. During a post-fight interview, Cruz told ESPN," I was
very happy that they respect me. That's what I want -- them to see me as a
boxer, as an athlete and as a man in every sense of the word.” Oh, and he won
the fight.
23 Openly Gay
Olympians:
In July, just five days before the Opening Ceremony at the London 2012 Olympic
Games, 11,000 athletes arrived in the foggy city. Their arrival is attributed
to a massive influx of new subscribers (and temporary crash) on the social
networking smartphone app Grindr. We don’t know how many of the athletes
scored, but 10 of the 23 won medals, four of them gold.
In November 2011,
professional Rugby player Ben Cohen launched Stand Up
Magazine, a national quarterly publication which hopes to showcase “the
importance of positive role models, fairness, character and leadership across
all levels of sports.” Ben is spreading his message not only through his new
magazine, but also through The Ben Cohen Stand Up Foundation which works to
fight homophobia and bullying against children.
NFL
player Wade Davis was a defensive
back for the Tennessee Titans several years ago. At the time, he struggled with his
sexual orientation, but kept hidden the fact that he was a gay man playing in
professional sports. Now retired from
football,
Davis spends his days as a staff member at the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which
serves LGBTQ youth in New York City. He
works as the Assistant Director of Job Readiness, preparing teens to go out
into the work-force.
Corey Johnson made national news
back in 1999 when the linebacker and captain of his high school football team
came out of the closet. After moving to New York and co-founding the New York
Gay Football League, Johnson became the Board Chair of Manhattan’s Community
Board 4 working to better his community. He now has his eye set on politics throwing
his in the ring and hoping replace term-limited Christine Quinn on the New York
City Council in the 2013 election.
