The Deafening Silence of the Gay Athlete

A few months ago I listened to this podcast that was hosted by Bill Simmons on ESPN.com. Simmons’ guest that day was LZ Granderson, a very talented sportswriter who also happens to be a gay man.

The podcast was very informative and I recommend that everyone take the time to listen to it. The part that I was most intrigued by was Granderson’s revelation that he is aware of a number of professional athletes who are currently playing in major sports leagues as closeted homosexuals.

After listening to the podcast I remember simply thinking, “Wow, that is really interesting! I wonder who those gay guys are!” And then I went back to doing something really important like playing video games or picking at my dead toe nail.

Recently though I’ve been thinking a lot about these anonymous gay athletes, and I’ve come to realize how absolutely insane it is that they are in a position where they feel it necessary to conceal their sexuality for fear of the scorn and ridicule that their homosexuality would bring them.

Imagine for a minute that we lived in a world where African Americans did not feel welcome in professional sports. Now imagine that there was some kind of easy, painless medical procedure that could temporarily turn a black person’s skin white. Now imagine that there was a large number of African American athletes who had undergone this procedure as children and were currently playing professional sports while appearing to be Caucasian. Finally, imagine that this massive, persistent denial of identity was common knowledge, and yet the leaders of the major sports leagues were doing nothing to remedy the situation.

Sounds ridiculous, right? I’m sure that a nice, reasonable person like yourself would refuse to tolerate such an egregious breach of justice and lack of action on the part of Bud Selig, David Stern, Roger Goodell and whoever the hell the commissioner of the NHL is.

In short, this kind of bullshit wouldn’t be tolerated; except that this kind of bullshit is tolerated every day by fans, media members and athletes when it becomes homosexuals who are forced into living a double life.

Worse still is the fact that all of the major sports leagues have been unabashedly aggressive in their attempts to attract a more diverse demographic of both fans and players while completely ignoring the homosexual community.

The NBA has made great strides during the Stern era in its attempts to create a more global game. There are more foreign born players in the league than ever before, and the league has begun marketing itself heavily to the Hispanic community with the launch of its “Noche Latina” program.

Major League Baseball has fully embraced the influx of Latin born players into the league and continues to try and increase the number of African American professional baseball players by funding various outreach programs in inner cities which are meant to attract young, black athletes to the game.

The NFL has its own marketing campaign that is geared towards attracting more Hispanic fans and players, and has also attempted to globalize by holding regular season games in Europe.

All of these things have been done in the name of creating a more diverse and inclusive league, which should be applauded. Yet it is unfathomable to me that Stern, Goodell and Selig can claim to be committed to achieving this goal while there are DUDES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEIR LEAGUES WHO FEEL IT NECESSARY TO HIDE THEIR OWN HOMOSEXUALITY FOR FEAR OF BEING DENIGRATED BASED ON THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION.

I believe that is the responsibility of every sports league to make it abundantly clear that homosexual athletes will not only be tolerated but embraced.

I say this because this isn’t a situation in which one gay athlete is going to come out and drag the sports world kicking and screaming into a realm of tolerance a la Jackie Robinson, who fortunately for us didn’t have the option of concealing his race. After all, what would be the incentive for a gay athlete to come out now? They certainly aren’t going to be inspired by the blatant homophobia that continues to characterize professional sports.

During his conversation with Simmons, Granderson mentions John Ameachi, a former NBA player who revealed himself to be gay years after retiring. Granderson claims that Ameachi is one of the most knowledgeable, well spoken and engaging former NBA players that he has ever met, and points out that he would make a fantastic broadcaster or analyst.

And yet, where is John Ameachi now? Despite his knowledge and eloquence, he hasn’t been heard from at all since coming out, and this doesn't appear likely to change any time soon.

A gay athlete who looks at Ameachi's example will most likely see two possible consequences of coming out. At best, he will be relegated to obscurity like Ameachi. At worst, he will find himself suffocating underneath a mountain of intolerance. More likely, he will experience both. I imagine that it feels much safer to continue living a double life, however heartbreaking and maddening that may be, than it is to stick ones neck out in such a way.

Perhaps if these leagues attempted to make the same kind of inroads into the gay community that they have into the black, Hispanic and international community, some of these closeted players would be more willing to embrace their homosexuality rather than hide it.

Perhaps if the NBA reached out to John Ameachi and used him as an ambassador to the gay community, young gay athletes would finally have a role model to look up to and be inspired to live their lives openly.

Perhaps if league offices did more to educate players about the harm that homophobia can cause, gay players would begin to see the world of professional sports as one in which they can exist safely.

And don't try to tell me that eliminating homophobia in sports is something that league commissioners don't have the power to achieve. If Stern can attempt to eliminate his league's "thug" image by instituting a dress code and ramping up the NBA Cares program, and if Goodell can attempt to eliminate his league's dog murdering and strip club shooting problem through the institution of a draconian personal conduct policy, something can be done about homophobia.

The road to acceptance in the sporting world for homosexuals isn’t going to be an easy one, but it’s one that we need to start walking right now.

Feel free to contact the author of this post at leyt345 at gmail dot com.