Playing for Our Team

12/31/09

These Athletes are Family

As we close out another decade, I thought it might be a good idea to reflect on all of the incredible gay and lesbian athletes who have impacted the sports world with their remarkable courage and talent throughout the past few decades. This year, we have the pleasure of adding Gareth Thomas to that list. The reality is that Thomas might not have been able to come out had it not been for all of those gay and lesbian athletes who paved the way for him. Here’s a quick rundown of some of those athletes. Their athletic achievements and strength of character deserve to be recognized: • Bill Tilden — In 1920, Tilden won the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. He went on to win two more Wimbledon titles and seven U.S. championships. In 1950,...

Posted at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

12/23/09

Gay Rugby Player Proves He’s Tough Enough

For all of those naysayers out there who falsely believe that gay men aren’t tough enough to play professional sports, I suggest you look up Gareth Thomas.Thomas is a perennial all-star in the world of rugby—one of the toughest and most brutal sports in the world. Oh, and did I mention the fact that Thomas is also gay?Thomas, a former Wales captain, told the UK’s Daily Mail, “I don't know if my life is going to be easier because I'm out, but if it helps someone else, if it makes one young lad pick up the phone to ChildLine (a LGBT teen suicide line), then it will have been worth it.”And that’s the whole point in a nutshell. Thomas basically summed up the formidable effect a visible gay or lesbian professional athlete can have in that single quote. Not...

Posted at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

12/18/09

Transexual Sportswriter Broke The Mold

I managed to unearth this story after conducting a simple search on Google related to LGBT athletes and news. My first thought was, how come we didn’t hear a thing about this on the national level?Mike Penner was a sportswriter for the L.A. Times, which is easily regarded as one of the top-selling (and top-read) newspapers in the country. Penner made waves in 2007 when he came out as a transsexual and wrote about it in a sports column for the Times. He changed his name to Christine Daniels and began living fully as a female. I remember the column distinctly. It was heartfelt and open, and revealed years of gut-wrenching insecurity and pain. All that Daniels asked was that readers didn’t treat her any differently. She wanted to remain a respected sportswriter in a...

Posted at 06:50 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

12/11/09

Homophobic or Beautiful

That is the question that has been raised in reference to a recent women’s basketball marketing campaign by Florida State University. FSU has decided to showcase its women’s basketball team in a new light. Instead of portraying the players as tough and competitive, the campaign seeks to display them as “soft” and “beautiful.” (seminolehoops.com/teamkayli.shtml)The main point that FSU is trying to get across is that women basketball players can be both athletic and beautiful at the same time.However, some people are viewing the campaign much differently. They believe that the “glamour” shots only reinforce homophobia in women’s college basketball, because they also portray the players as being “heterosexual” as...

Posted at 02:20 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1

12/04/09

Football: A Game For "Manly" Men Only

I love football. I have ever since I was little. I would play tackle football with my brothers and their friends at the playground just to prove that I was as good as they were despite being a girl. I didn’t want them to see my sex; I wanted them to see my talent. I guess that why’s I can relate, to some extent, to those football players who are still in the closet.There is this living stereotype that football is a “man’s game” and only “manly men” can play it and play it well. This is concept that is continually reinforced by football analysts, players and coaches. It’s also pounded into our brains through NFL marketing and television commercials.That’s why I have always wondered what would happen if a popular and talented...

Posted at 05:16 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/19/09

“Training Rules” Addresses Homophobia in College Athletics

If you haven’t heard about the film Training Rules, it’s probably because it hasn’t gotten much publicity—yet. This eye-opening documentary focuses on a variety of Penn State college basketball players who were coached by Renee Portland. Portland served as head coach of the women’s basketball team for 30 years, and she required her player to follow three main rules: no drugs, no alcohol and no lesbians. According to the documentary, Portland was open with her recruits about her distaste for gay individuals. She let it be know to every player that being a lesbian and associating with lesbians was not allowed under any circumstance. If a player violated this “rule,” she would be dismissed immediately. This is what happened to Jennifer Harris in...

Posted at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/12/09

Pride House

In the past decade, more and more gay and lesbian athletes have come out of the Olympic closet. It’s wonderful to see, because these athletes make such great role models for LGBT youth. With the 2010 Olympic games quickly approaching, I’ve kept an eye out for any newsworthy stories worth mentioning.That is why I was more than pleased to come across this story. According to the Vancouver Sun, gay and lesbian Olympic athletes will have a common place to gather and socialize. It’s called Pride House, and will be provided by the Pan Pacific Whistler Village hotel in partnership with Gay Whistler.I had no idea that such gathering places existed for Olympic athletes. Apparently, Canadian athletes have the Canada house, Russian athletes have the Russian house, and so on and...

Posted at 02:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/05/09

The “Magic” of Friendship and Homophobia

Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson were close throughout their entire NBA careers, so close in fact that Magic actually named a guestroom in his mult-million dollar mansion, “The Isiah Room.”Then something happened that would alter their friendship forever. In 1991, Magic was diagnosed with HIV. Once the news was made public, everyone reacted. Sponsors dropped him, journalists speculated on how he contracted the disease, and other players avoided him like the plague. It was so awkward before and after games, that Isiah Thomas took it upon himself to show other players, and the world, that it was “nothing but a chicken wing on a string.” In other words, it didn’t matter much to him. He proved this by kissing Magic on the cheek before a game, as he had...

Posted at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

10/29/09

Why the WNBA Won’t be Coming Out of the Closet Anytime Soon

The Phoenix Mercury won their second WNBA Championship in three years last week, in a hard-fought series against the Indiana Fever. Unless you watch ESPN2 on a regular basis, you probably didn’t hear a thing about it.The WNBA is failing. The league has been failing for years, actually. For some reason, they can’t seem to fill enough seats or get enough fans to watch them on a regular basis. Part of the problem is that the regular season games aren’t aired on regular television stations. I should know—I’ve tried to find them.I’m a basketball fan, myself. I love the sport—men’s and women’s. When college basketball rolls around, I become like a giddy little kid in a candy store. I’ve tried to pump up the WNBA as much as possible,...

Posted at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

	12/31/09 These Athletes are Family As we close out another decade, I thought it might be a good idea to reflect on all of the incredible gay and lesbian athletes who have impacted the sports world with their remarkable courage and talent throughout the past few decades. This year, we have the pleasure of adding Gareth Thomas to that list. The reality is that Thomas might not have been able to come out had it not been for all of those gay and lesbian athletes who paved the way for him. Here’s a quick rundown of some of those athletes. Their athletic achievements and strength of character deserve to be recognized: • Bill Tilden — In 1920, Tilden won the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. He went on to win two more Wimbledon titles and seven U.S. championships. In 1950,... Posted at 02:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	12/23/09 Gay Rugby Player Proves He’s Tough Enough For all of those naysayers out there who falsely believe that gay men aren’t tough enough to play professional sports, I suggest you look up Gareth Thomas.Thomas is a perennial all-star in the world of rugby—one of the toughest and most brutal sports in the world. Oh, and did I mention the fact that Thomas is also gay?Thomas, a former Wales captain, told the UK’s Daily Mail, “I don't know if my life is going to be easier because I'm out, but if it helps someone else, if it makes one young lad pick up the phone to ChildLine (a LGBT teen suicide line), then it will have been worth it.”And that’s the whole point in a nutshell. Thomas basically summed up the formidable effect a visible gay or lesbian professional athlete can have in that single quote. Not... Posted at 12:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	12/18/09 Transexual Sportswriter Broke The Mold I managed to unearth this story after conducting a simple search on Google related to LGBT athletes and news. My first thought was, how come we didn’t hear a thing about this on the national level?Mike Penner was a sportswriter for the L.A. Times, which is easily regarded as one of the top-selling (and top-read) newspapers in the country. Penner made waves in 2007 when he came out as a transsexual and wrote about it in a sports column for the Times. He changed his name to Christine Daniels and began living fully as a female. I remember the column distinctly. It was heartfelt and open, and revealed years of gut-wrenching insecurity and pain. All that Daniels asked was that readers didn’t treat her any differently. She wanted to remain a respected sportswriter in a... Posted at 06:50 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	12/11/09 Homophobic or Beautiful That is the question that has been raised in reference to a recent women’s basketball marketing campaign by Florida State University. FSU has decided to showcase its women’s basketball team in a new light. Instead of portraying the players as tough and competitive, the campaign seeks to display them as “soft” and “beautiful.” (seminolehoops.com/teamkayli.shtml)The main point that FSU is trying to get across is that women basketball players can be both athletic and beautiful at the same time.However, some people are viewing the campaign much differently. They believe that the “glamour” shots only reinforce homophobia in women’s college basketball, because they also portray the players as being “heterosexual” as... Posted at 02:20 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 1
	12/04/09 Football: A Game For "Manly" Men Only I love football. I have ever since I was little. I would play tackle football with my brothers and their friends at the playground just to prove that I was as good as they were despite being a girl. I didn’t want them to see my sex; I wanted them to see my talent. I guess that why’s I can relate, to some extent, to those football players who are still in the closet.There is this living stereotype that football is a “man’s game” and only “manly men” can play it and play it well. This is concept that is continually reinforced by football analysts, players and coaches. It’s also pounded into our brains through NFL marketing and television commercials.That’s why I have always wondered what would happen if a popular and talented... Posted at 05:16 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	11/19/09 “Training Rules” Addresses Homophobia in College Athletics If you haven’t heard about the film Training Rules, it’s probably because it hasn’t gotten much publicity—yet. This eye-opening documentary focuses on a variety of Penn State college basketball players who were coached by Renee Portland. Portland served as head coach of the women’s basketball team for 30 years, and she required her player to follow three main rules: no drugs, no alcohol and no lesbians. According to the documentary, Portland was open with her recruits about her distaste for gay individuals. She let it be know to every player that being a lesbian and associating with lesbians was not allowed under any circumstance. If a player violated this “rule,” she would be dismissed immediately. This is what happened to Jennifer Harris in... Posted at 12:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	11/12/09 Pride House In the past decade, more and more gay and lesbian athletes have come out of the Olympic closet. It’s wonderful to see, because these athletes make such great role models for LGBT youth. With the 2010 Olympic games quickly approaching, I’ve kept an eye out for any newsworthy stories worth mentioning.That is why I was more than pleased to come across this story. According to the Vancouver Sun, gay and lesbian Olympic athletes will have a common place to gather and socialize. It’s called Pride House, and will be provided by the Pan Pacific Whistler Village hotel in partnership with Gay Whistler.I had no idea that such gathering places existed for Olympic athletes. Apparently, Canadian athletes have the Canada house, Russian athletes have the Russian house, and so on and... Posted at 02:00 AM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	11/05/09 The “Magic” of Friendship and Homophobia Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson were close throughout their entire NBA careers, so close in fact that Magic actually named a guestroom in his mult-million dollar mansion, “The Isiah Room.”Then something happened that would alter their friendship forever. In 1991, Magic was diagnosed with HIV. Once the news was made public, everyone reacted. Sponsors dropped him, journalists speculated on how he contracted the disease, and other players avoided him like the plague. It was so awkward before and after games, that Isiah Thomas took it upon himself to show other players, and the world, that it was “nothing but a chicken wing on a string.” In other words, it didn’t matter much to him. He proved this by kissing Magic on the cheek before a game, as he had... Posted at 08:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	10/29/09 Why the WNBA Won’t be Coming Out of the Closet Anytime Soon The Phoenix Mercury won their second WNBA Championship in three years last week, in a hard-fought series against the Indiana Fever. Unless you watch ESPN2 on a regular basis, you probably didn’t hear a thing about it.The WNBA is failing. The league has been failing for years, actually. For some reason, they can’t seem to fill enough seats or get enough fans to watch them on a regular basis. Part of the problem is that the regular season games aren’t aired on regular television stations. I should know—I’ve tried to find them.I’m a basketball fan, myself. I love the sport—men’s and women’s. When college basketball rolls around, I become like a giddy little kid in a candy store. I’ve tried to pump up the WNBA as much as possible,... Posted at 12:52 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0

Lesbian Sports blog