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U.S. professional sports called the ‘last closet’

40 years after Stonewall, no ‘out’ player in major league baseball, football, hockey

Published

11 years ago

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Brittney Griner, Wade Trophy, gay news, Washington Blade

Brittney Griner, seen here accepting the Wade Trophy, came out as a lesbian but didn’t receive a lot of media attention, even though she is recognized as the best woman basketball player to enter the WNBA draft in 2013. (Photo by Sphilbrick; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

LGBT sports enthusiasts were thrilled earlier this year when professional basketball player Jason Collins and pro soccer player Robbie Rogers came out as gay, becoming the first two out gay men to emerge as current players in the professional leagues for the two sports.

Around the same time, Brittney Griner, the top-rated 2013 college basketball player in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) draft, came out as a lesbian. Her coming out made no difference to the Phoenix Mercury WNBA team, which quickly signed her on as a player.

The decision by Collins, Rogers, and Griner to disclose their sexual orientation followed coming out stories last year of another women’s pro basketball player, Seimone Augustus, and a women’s pro soccer player, Megan Rapinoe.

FIND MORE OF THE WASHINGTON BLADE SPORTS ISSUE HERE.

While these developments are viewed as encouraging signs by LGBT sports fans and activists, they come at a time when no open gays have ever emerged as players in three of the nation’s most popular professional sports — baseball, football and ice hockey. And though the NBA’s Collins came out four months ago, he remains a free agent.

No male professional golfer has ever come out as gay anywhere in the world and just one pro tennis player who is male has ever come out, according to Cyd Zeigler, editor and publisher of OutSports, a widely read online publication covering LGBT people in sports.

“People call it the last closet. And I think that’s what it is,” Zeigler told the Blade in discussing the lack of LGBT people in professional sports. “I think homophobia for decades has been more entrenched in sports than it has in most other areas in our culture,” he said.

“It starts when these kids are young. And they’re five years old and 10 years old and playing sports and the coach calls them a faggot and tells them not to be a sissy and this idea that being a faggot is less than being a man,” he said. “It starts there.”

Zeigler and other experts in the field of gays in sports say they are optimistic that cultural and political changes that opened the way for LGBT rights advances in recent years, including the approval of same-sex marriage in a growing number of states, will soon spill over into the realm of professional sports.

Forty-three years after the Stonewall riots in New York sparked the modern LGBT rights movement, LGBT activists say they are hopeful that baseball, football and hockey along with other professional sports will soon join the ranks of other professions in becoming more welcoming for LGBT people.

Zeigler said nearly all professional sports leagues have policies that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation along with other categories such as race, religion and ethnicity.

Earlier this year, at the request of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the National Football League and Major League Baseball agreed to strengthen their non-discrimination policies pertaining to sexual orientation.

In a statement released in April, Schneiderman said he pushed for the strengthened policies after his office learned of complaints by at least three prospective NFL players that they were asked questions about their sexual orientation at the league’s recruitment scouting meeting held in February in Indianapolis.

“According to one prospective player, representatives of NFL teams asked prospects if they had a girlfriend, were married, or liked girls,” a statement released in April by Schneiderman’s office says.

Nationals Park, Washington Nationals, Major League Baseball, gay news, Washington Blade

The NFL and Major League Baseball adopted non-discrimination policies on sexual orientation in 2011 as part of collective bargaining agreements with the NFL and MLB and their respective player’s associations. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The statement and a follow-up statement released in July says both the NFL and Major League Baseball adopted their initial non-discrimination policies on sexual orientation in 2011 as part of collective bargaining agreements with the NFL and MLB and their respective player’s associations, which act as player unions.

The statements say that in response to Schneiderman’s request, the NFL and MLB agreed to adopt a workplace code of conduct specifically addressing sexual orientation discrimination and to post the policy document in all team locker rooms among other places.

“Both on the field and away from it, Major League Baseball has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation,” MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement related to the code of conduct document.

It couldn’t immediately be determined whether the new non-discrimination policies would encourage gay baseball or football players to come out. But experts familiar with LGBT people in sports say factors other than homophobia and anti-LGBT bias may be playing a role in discouraging LGBT people from coming out in professional sports.

“I think the athletes themselves are ready to have an openly gay teammate,” said Patricia Griffin, Professor Emerita in Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Griffin, a former swimming coach and author of the book “Strong Women, Deep Closets: Lesbians and Homophobia in Sports,” told the Blade that concern over media attention may be keeping some LGBT athletes from coming out.

“I think one of the things that keeps athletes in the closet is not necessarily that they’re afraid of the homophobia of their teammates, but that it’s still such a news story, especially for the men,” Griffin said. “You have to be prepared to deal with all of the media attention. And I think there are a lot of gay athletes and that’s not what they want to do,” she said.

“They would like to be out. They want to be out. But they don’t want to have to deal with the attending media crush as well as probably requests from every gay organization in the world to be a spokesperson and so on,” she said.

Zeigler said he, too, believes reasons other than anti-LGBT bias have prompted many LGBT athletes in professional sports to stay in the closet. He noted that in the NFL, the average career often ends after three and a half years. The average baseball and hockey career is likely to be longer, but most players are ready for retirement by their late 30s, he said

“These guys from high school are working essentially full-time jobs and going to school,” he said. “And a lot of them say they don’t have time to explore their sexual orientation. Their idea of coming out in the middle of the pressure of trying to make a college squad, trying to get playing time, trying to make an NFL squad, trying to get a good contract” is not something that appeals to them, he said.

“So coming out is a complication, an unnecessary complication for some of them,” said Zeigler.

Robert McGarry, senior director of education and youth programs for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), said his organization is working with public schools and teachers, including physical education teachers, to curtail anti-LGBT bias among youth.

“What you see at the pro level really starts in kindergarten and on the playground on recess time,” McGarry said. “The kind of exclusion of kids who step outside of what society expects of their gender fuels that. What fuels it also is educators not addressing anti-LGBT language and bias.”

He said GLSEN retained Patricia Griffin to develop a GLSEN sports project called Changing the Game, which is designed to address homophobia and trans phobia in school sports programs from kindergarten to the 12th grade.

“We’ve been doing training across the country with mostly high school coaches and physical education teachers who seem very receptive and anxious to have this kind of training because it’s not something that they get in their preparation and they don’t really know what to do,” he said. “So we’re trying to fill that gap.”

Griffin said educational programs like GLSEN’s sports project and the changing attitudes throughout the country on LGBT equality will soon lead to more openly LGBT professional sports players, including players in the NFL and MLB.

“I think one of these days there’s going to be a quarterback from some college football team, Division 1, who gets recruited up high in the draft and he’s going to come in to the NFL as an out gay man,” Griffin said. “I actually think that’s more likely to happen than having an established star come out after he’s been playing for a while.”

Added Griffin, “They never knew what it was like to be ‘in,’” she said of the up and coming young athletes. “They are out and that’s how they live their lives. That alone is going to change the face of sports in the next few years.”

McGarry of GLSEN cautioned that although it will help the cause of LGBT people in sports if more big name stars come out, that alone won’t address the underlying cause of homophobia in sports.

“It’s a shame that everybody is sort of waiting for the first NFL player to come out,” he said. “There are many people who think that’s going to be the great solution – to have a football player come out of the closet. I think there’s a lot more work to be done.”

D.C. Police Sgt. Brett Parson, the gay former head of the department’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, is a longtime amateur ice hockey player and former referee with the National Hockey League who says he witnessed firsthand the culture of professional hockey players.

“While we’ve come a long way, football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey – those sports still have the machismo that inhibits people from coming out and disclosing they’re gay for fear of being ostracized,” Parson said.

“I think we’re maybe not a generation away but we’re still a few years away before more people feel comfortable doing that,” he said.

Griffin said more women’s professional athletes have already come out than male professional athletes, but this often goes unnoticed because historically the public and the sports media pay more attention to men in sports.

She noted that Brittney Griner didn’t receive a lot of media attention when she came out this year, even though she is recognized as the best woman basketball player to enter the WNBA draft in 2013.

“Part of that is because it’s sort of like a weird kind of sexism, where we always think men’s sports are more important and we pay more attention to men’s sports,” she said. “So it makes sense that if a gay man comes out in men’s sports we pay more attention.”

According to Griffin, the less-noticed coming out by Griner may be the better path for all LGBT athletes going forward.

“With women it’s not such a surprise because people assume that there are lesbians in sports,” she said. “But when she came out it wasn’t like a giant announcement. She was just very matter of fact. It’s who I am. I’m proud of who I am and, you know, let’s move on,” said Griffin.

“And I think that’s going to be the future of more athletes who come out rather than having this be this giant, traumatic announcement that they make and feel like they’re risking their career by coming out,” she said.

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Controversy grows over member of Calif. university’s women’s volleyball team

Coach suspended, NCAA sued, more rivals forfeit

Published

4 weeks ago

on

November 13, 2024

By

(Photo by muzsy/Bigstock)

San Jose State University’s women volleyball team has collected yet another W by forfeit — its seventh so far this season — as controversy swirls around one player on its roster. She’s one of the seniors, and she has been dragged in the media by her own co-captain, who outed her as transgender. 

The Washington Blade is not naming this student athlete since neither she nor the school have confirmed or even commented on her gender identity.

SJSU visited San Diego last weekend for a match before the Aztecs’ biggest home crowd of the season — including protesters waving “Save Women’s Sports” banners and booing one player on the Spartans team in particular: The woman who is reported to be trans. 

Security was tight, with metal detectors and extra guards and police officers present. Video posted to YouTube by a right-wing sports media site — which names the player — shows an angry fan arguing with security about his First Amendment rights. 

Video recorded during Nov. 9’s game shows a player for San Diego was injured following a spike by the player rumored to be trans, and had to be helped off the court. However, the video clearly shows that player was injured by landing poorly on one foot, not as a result of the spike. 

The Aztecs defeated the Spartans 3-1, but San Jose has still punched its ticket to the conference finals, thanks to its record number of forfeits. 

Wyoming was set to visit SJSU Thursday, but for the second time is joining other universities that have forfeited games against the Spartans, all without providing a reason. Boise State announced it will forfeit an upcoming match set for Nov. 21, its second forfeit against SJSU. 

In September, the Spartans’ co-captain, senior Brooke Slusser, outed her own teammate, the player at the center of this controversy, in joining a federal lawsuit against the NCAA spearheaded by anti-trans inclusion activist and former college athlete Riley Gaines.  

Slusser said in the lawsuit and in subsequent interviews that the player in question shouldn’t be on her team. The suit claims the NCAA’s policy on trans athletes violates Title IX by allowing “men” to compete in women’s sports and use women’s locker rooms where they display “full male genitalia.”  

The NCAA policy for trans athletes participating in women’s volleyball aligns with that of USA Volleyball, which requires trans female athletes to suppress their testosterone below 10 nmol/L for a period of one year before competition. That is also how the NCAA determines eligibility. SJSU has stated repeatedly that all its players are eligible. 

The lawsuit also asks the NCAA to revoke any titles or records won by trans female athletes in women’s competitions, which seems to be specifically aimed at stripping out trans NCAA champions Lia Thomas and CeCé Telfer of their titles in swimming and track and field, respectively. 

Prior to this season, the player rumored to be trans did not attract any attention other than being a successful starter, like Slusser. But now that she is in the media spotlight, Slusser has come forward to tell right wing media, including Megyn Kelly, why she feels another woman two inches taller than she is poses a danger. 

“I don’t feel safe,” Slusser said on “The Megyn Kelly Show” last month. “I’ve gone to my coaches and said I refuse to play against [her] … It’s not safe.”

In the video, both Kelly and Slusser refer to the player as “him” and a “man,” and name her. 

Now comes another twist: San Jose State University suspended associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose with pay, indefinitely, after she filed a Title IX complaint against SJSU. She claims the player Slusser identified as trans conspired with an opponent to help the team lose a match and injure Slusser. Batie-Smoose named the player in question in her complaint and on Sept. 23, joined the same lawsuit that Slusser is now a part of. 

“Safety is being taken away from women,” Batie-Smoose told Fox News. “Fair play is taken away from women. We need more and more people to do this and fight this fight because women’s sports, as we know it right now will be forever changed.”

Media reporting on the suspension, including Fox News, continue to name the athlete in question, with some also reporting what they say is the athlete’s birth name. 

San Jose State released a statement following the suspension of Batie-Smoose: “The associate head coach of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter,” the team said.

SJSU Coach Todd Kress told ESPN that reports saying that any member of the Spartans colluded with their opponent are “littered with lies.” 

The Spartans are currently among the top six finishers in the Mountain West Conference that will qualify to compete in the conference tournament scheduled for Nov. 27-30. 

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Sports

University of Nevada forfeits game rather than play possible trans athlete

Women’s volleyball team cites ‘not enough players to compete’

Published

2 months ago

on

October 27, 2024

By

(Public domain screenshot from University of Nevada, Reno, website)

For the fifth time, a women’s volleyball team has chosen to forfeit instead of play against San Jose State University, because of rumors that one of its players is a transgender woman. 

The University of Nevada, Reno, officially announced on Friday that it would forfeit Saturday’s game against the SJSU Spartans. This followed an announcement by Wolf Pack players who said they “refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes,” without providing further details.

Originally, Nevada’s athletic department had said the program would not back out from the match, citing state equality laws, but also said that no players would be disciplined if they chose to not participate.

“The vast majority of our team decided this is something we wanted to take a stand on,” Nevada team captain Sia Liilii told Fox News. “We didn’t want to play against a male player.”

“In all of our team meetings it just kept coming back to the fact that men do not belong in women’s sports. If you’re born a biological male, you don’t belong in women’s sports. It’s not even about this individual athlete. It’s about fair competition and safety for everyone.”

Outsports and several conservative and right-wing websites have identified the player who is rumored to be trans, but the Washington Blade has opted to not do so since she herself has not come forward to either acknowledge or deny she is trans. 

As ESPN reported, Nevada follows Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming, and Utah State in canceling games against the Spartans. Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State, and Nevada are all members of the Mountain West Conference, so those contests are considered forfeits and count as valuable wins in the league standings for San Jose State.

Riley Gaines, the anti-trans inclusion activist for the Independent Women’s Forum has joined the chorus in claiming the Spartans’ roster includes a trans woman.

Despite this, neither San Jose State nor any of the other forfeiting teams have said the university’s women’s volleyball team has a trans player. SJSU issued a statement defending its roster.

“Our athletes all comply with NCAA and Mountain West Conference policies and they are eligible to play under the rules of those organizations. We will continue to take measures to prioritize the health and safety of our students while they pursue their earned opportunities to compete,” the statement read.

The governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming — all of whom are members of the Republican Party — have issued public statements supporting the cancellations, claiming it’s in the interest of fairness in women’s sports. This week, Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee and former president, spoke at a Fox News televised town hall when asked about trans athletes in women’s sports. 

“We’re not going to let it happen,” Trump said. “We stop it, we stop it, we absolutely stop it. We can’t have it. You just ban it. The president bans it. You don’t let it happen. It’s not a big deal.” 

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Sports

Homophobes threaten lives of WNBA star and wife

New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart and Marta Xargay received anonymous emails

Published

2 months ago

on

October 17, 2024

By

(Photo courtesy of Xargay's Instagram page)

While the New York Liberty are focused on defeating the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA finals, one of its stars has come under attack from anti-gay bigots who made death threats against that player and her wife, according to the Associated Press.

The homophobic death threats targeted forward Breanna Stewart and her wife, retired Phoenix Mercury guard Marta Xargay. Stewart said they arrived in Xargay’s email inbox. 

“The fact it came to Marta’s email is something she (had to) see. The level of closeness was a little bit different,” she said. “Make sure that myself and Marta are okay, but that our kids are the safest.”

Stewart, the two-time MVP known to teammates and on social media as “Stewie,” told reporters Tuesday she notified her team about the emails, The Liberty then escalated it to WNBA security.

“We’re taking the proper precautions,” Stewart said, noting that she felt the Liberty’s winning streak was only encouraging more threats. New York is leading their opponents two games to one after Tuesday night’s 80-77 win in Minneapolis. “We love that people are engaged in our sport, but not to the point where there’s threats or harassment or homophobic comments being made.”

Xargay filed a complaint with the New York Police Department at the advice of the team and security, said Stewart.

“Being in the finals and everything like that it makes sense to file something formal,” she said.

The NYPD confirmed to the Associated Press that it received a report of aggravated harassment involving emails sent to “a 33-year-old victim,” said a police spokesperson. The department’s media relations team added that the NYPD hate crimes task force is investigating the threats. 

Although Stewart told reporters she has an agency that reviews most of the messages she receives, she was stunned to learn from her wife about the hateful messages that wound up in Xargay’s inbox. She said that’s why she decided to let fans know there’s no justification for hate. 

“For me to use this platform to let people know it’s unacceptable to bring to our sport,” she said.

Last month, WNBA players and their union representatives called out league commissioner Cathy Engelbert for failing to condemn a spike in racist attacks on players. It’s been a long-standing problem exacerbated by the rivalry between Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark and the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese. The league has never been more popular than it is now, and with that success, fans have escalated their criticism of players. 

Since then, Engelbert has addressed the rise in player harassment on social media in an address prior to Game 1 of the WNBA finals one week ago. 

“It just is something where we have to continue to be a voice for this, a voice against it, condemning it, and making sure that we find every opportunity to support our players, who have been dealing with this for much longer than this year,” Engelbert said.

In her address, Engelbert pledged the league will work with the players’ union to figure out what they can do together to combat it. 

“We continue to emphasize that there is absolutely no room for hateful or threatening comments made about players, teams or anyone affiliated with the WNBA,” a league spokesperson said in response to questions about the death threats made against Stewart and Xargay. “We’re aware of the most recent matter and are working with league and team security as well as law enforcement on appropriate security measures.”

The Liberty play the Lynx again Friday night in Minneapolis. 

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