A Voice for the Silent

This week, I was following Pat Griffin’s LGBT Blog and one post in particular stood out to me. She talked about Sean Avery speaking out in favor of homosexual hockey players and the call for more heterosexual women and men to stand up to anti-gay discrimination, specifically in women’s sports.

I found this really interesting because it was a point I had not really thought over before. Sure, there are a lot of athletes speaking out against anti-gay discrimination if they are homosexual. But where are the straight men and women to defend them as well? There are probably millions of straight athletes, men and women, that have gay or lesbian teammates… So the question remains: Why can’t we hear their voices?

People assume that in women’s sports, it is easier for athletes to come out. This assumption doesn’t even make sense. If anything, it should be the other way around. Women’s sports have not been around as long as men’s sports. And it goes against the norms of femininity to be tough, strong athletes. If a man is gay, but still tough, it would be more easily accepted. In women’s sports, their sexuality is already questioned because of their athletic ability and talent. There does not seem to be any support for them to come out, especially after hearing about the situations we discussed in class (Caster Semenya).

These types of situations all go along with the “female apologetic” that we discussed in class. This is defined as the tendency for women to apologize for their sport involvement by emphasizing their femininity. A woman

is already going against her “feminine standards” by competing at elite levels and training, so to speak, like a man. They are told to be overly heterosexual. So if there is a homosexual female athlete with no support, it seems ridiculous that it would be easier for them to come out.

And this is why Pat Griffin is asking for more celebrity athletes to speak out against anti-gay discrimination in women’s sports. Because although it may seem easier to come out for a woman, in our sport culture that we have become so socialized to accept, it really is that much harder.