Speaking up for LGBT equal treatment

After reading Pat Griffin’s blog post “A Call for Heterosexual Women and Men in Women’s Sport to Stand Up to Anti-Gay Discrimination,” I was able to make several connections to points we made during class, specifically the heterosexual matrix.

Dr. Griffin makes the point that recently, as in the past year, several high-profile male athletes have stood up in the fight against LGBT discrimination and harassment in sports. These athletes have used their status in society to advocate for something they feel is the right thing to do, and Dr. Griffin is happy about this.

However, these athletes were all men who participate in male sports. Dr. Griffin uses the forum of her blog to call for heterosexual women in sports and heterosexual men who coach women’s sports to come forward and speak up about fair LGBT treatment. She believes the current sports landscape is stuck in the heterosexual matrix.

The heterosexual matrix is the pressure for consistency among categories of sex, gender and sexuality. All three terms are different: sex is a biological classification, gender is a social construction and sexuality is one’s sexual orientation or preference. The heterosexual matrix is the assumption that all humans are hetero in these categories, ie. male/masculine/heterosexual orientation or female/feminine/heterosexual orientation. In reality, people are all different combinations of these three areas. Just because a teammate is a different combination than another doesn’t mean they are any less of an athlete or less important to the team’s success.

I agree with Dr. Griffin that it is important for athletes to speak up on this issue because they have more power in society, and their message means more. But I believe there are certain times and places where it is appropriate to touch on the LGBT issue. Sure, many athletes that are silent on this issue certainly have an opinion, but when is the right time to voice it? To be honest, I think we are further along in this fight than Dr. Griffin makes it seem.

Her point is that one doesn’t have to be LGBT in order to speak out on the subject. Heterosexual athletes have the ability to raise awareness as well. Sports are a mirror into society. Sexism exists in sports as it does in the rest of society, privileging and normalizing traditional performances of gender. If LGBT discrimination and harassment can be put to an end in sports, hopefully it can end in society.

By Robbie Lehman