Sports
Branding, marketing a complicated issue for out athletes
Changing demographics among millennials bode well for endorsements, sponsorships
‘Being the absolute truest brand of myself has been the greatest career asset I’ve had,’ said figure skater Johnny Weir. (Photo by kathclick; courtesy Bigstock)
Just 16 years old, Johnny Weir was already one of the world’s top international figure skaters. The sport was a lucrative business and Weir’s talent amassed attention from agencies worldwide.
“The first agency that approached me said, ‘We really want you, but you can’t be gay if we represent you,'” Weir says. “I hadn’t even come out to my mother.”
Sports marketing is a $70-plus billion industry and one in which gay athletes are still finding their footing with balancing their personal brand and their sexuality. But it wasn’t long ago that being out wasn’t widely accepted by the sports community or its stakeholders.
“When we won the World Cup in 1999, the networks were very curious about where I was running to celebrate,” says recent National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee Briana Scurry. “The cameras followed me. But when they realized it was to my girlfriend, they cut away.”
Presentation and representation of an athlete dictates the career. In most cases the majority of an athlete’s lifetime earnings and social impacts come by way of sponsorships and marketing opportunities so branding is the most important game many athletes will ever play. But it’s not simple. And for gay athletes, finding an identity that appeals to teammates, fans and sponsors alike is an even more complex facet of the business.
Though agencies and corporations weren’t always open to partnering with gay athletes, augmented acceptance has alleviated constraints on their opportunities within the industry. “Demographics have changed,” says Hudson Taylor, founder of Athlete Ally. “Younger generations are very accepting. Sponsors and agencies have seen both internal backing and increased support from consumers.”
Now, 18 years since Briana Scurry and Johnny Weir were penalized for their sexual orientation, it’s one of the key aspects considered when developing an athlete’s personal brand.
Dan Levy, a senior vice president with sports marketing firm Wasserman suggests, “People get excited when athletes come out, so players feel pressure to present their orientation publicly. It’s a piece of the puzzle; it’s a variable you have to take into consideration when trying to create opportunities.”
But there’s still no clear-cut approach to branding for the gay athlete. As restraints faded with mounting cultural approval, new challenges emerged. No longer fixated on the industry’s consent, gay athletes must consider the degree to which they represent and champion their sexual orientation through their branding.
“Abby [Wambach] felt really strongly that true progress was not having to come out and talk about it publicly,” says Levy.
Wambach, whose first public confirmation of her sexual orientation was her 2013 marriage, told the Associated Press, “I never felt like I was in a closet. I’ve never been asked a question about my relationship — rightfully so, because it shouldn’t matter.”
Laina Cohn, partner at Cohn Torgan Management and representative for Johnny Weir suggests that not every athlete is equipped to lead the charge. “Johnny wasn’t an activist, he was an athlete. His whole world was about getting on the ice and winning. He never stepped onto the ice because he was gay.”
Some athletes view their branding as a responsibility. Joanna Lohman, one of the National Women’s Soccer League’s most outspoken advocates, embraces the position. “I am admired for being out and proud. I realize how special it is to be viewed that way — it’s why I take advocating so seriously. It’s important for me to use the platform and brand that I have as a professional athlete to elevate the community.”
Similarly, Megan Rapinoe utilized her visibility and personal brand to represent the LGBT community after inking a healthy deal with Nike. “Megan was the first athlete I really dug in with on a coming out,” Levy says. “She felt really strongly after the World Cup that she wanted people to see that there are a lot of gay athletes out there.” Rapinoe in 2014 served as guest editor of the Washington Blade’s Sports Issue.
But it’s a different world for men, a view shared by many.
“There’s a lot of social pressure on the male side,” Lohman submits. “It’s not a very supportive environment. There are labels and stigmas associated with being a gay man in sports, so you just don’t see that represented very often. On the women’s side it’s much more accepted, if not assumed.”
Scurry says that hesitation on the part of male athletes stems from existing in a different culture. “For female athletes now, it doesn’t seem to hinder them. But with male athletes, it’s different. There are a lot of male athletes that have chosen not to come out until after their career was over.”
Biases against gay males have been integrated into the actual structure of sports perpetuating stereotypes and suppressing awareness. “Sport is a gendered space, an institution that teaches masculinity and femininity and it does so in a very binary way,” Taylor says. “That masculinity is often wrongly reinforced with homophobic language.”
But representatives like Cohn are optimistic. “I hope things change. I hope that by having stories told, by sharing experiences through television and social media the culture will eventually be different.”
Levy recognizes the shift in the acceptability of promoting gay athletes. “It mirrors our culture and what has changed. The progress we’ve made as a society is showing up in the world of sports. Maybe it’s at a different pace, but progress has been made.”
Briana Scurry sees a new landscape for the gay athlete’s public persona.
“There’s a huge difference in athlete presentation now,” she says. “One of the most memorable moments of the 2015 World Cup was Abby running to her partner after the final match. Nobody looked away. Eighteen years since the camera swung away from me, it stayed right on them. It’s a clear differentiator between how gay athletes could present their brands and themselves then and now.”
For Weir, presenting himself authentically was empowering.
“I could’ve signed with that first agency at 16 years old and completely whitewashed myself. But I would have been boring. I would have never had the career I’ve had. I stuck to my guns and we created this brand and my agency, they support me as a human being. … Being the absolute truest brand of myself has been the greatest career asset I’ve had.”
Sports
Brittney Griner, wife expecting first child
WNBA star released from Russian gulag in December 2022
One year after returning to the WNBA after her release from a Russian gulag and declaring, “I’m never playing overseas again,” Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and her wife announced they have something even bigger coming up this summer.
Cherelle, 31, and Brittney, 33, are expecting their first child in July. The couple shared the news with their 715,000 followers on Instagram.
“Can’t believe we’re less than three months away from meeting our favorite human being,” the caption read, with the hashtag, #BabyGrinerComingSoon and #July2024.
Griner returned to the U.S. in December 2022 in a prisoner swap, more than nine months after being arrested in Moscow for possession of vape cartridges containing prescription cannabis.
In April 2023, at her first news conference following her release, the two-time Olympic gold medalist made only one exception to her vow to never play overseas again: To return to the Summer Olympic Games, which will be played in Paris starting in July, the same month “Baby Griner” is due. “The only time I would want to would be to represent the USA,” she said last year.
Given that the unrestricted free agent is on the roster of both Team USA and her WNBA team, it’s not immediately clear where Griner will be when their first child arrives.
The Griners purchased their “forever home” in Phoenix just last year.
“Phoenix is home,” Griner said at the Mercury’s end-of-season media day, according to ESPN. “Me and my wife literally just got a place. This is it.”
As the Los Angeles Blade reported last December, Griner is working with Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts — like Griner, a married lesbian — on an ESPN television documentary as well as a television series for ABC about her life story. Cherelle is executive producer of these projects.
Next month, Griner’s tell-all memoir of her Russian incarceration will be published by Penguin Random House. It’s titled “Coming Home” and the hardcover hits bookstores on May 7.
Sports
Applause and criticism for Staley’s trans-inclusive stance
South Carolina Gamecocks women’s coach made comments on Sunday
If not for a conservative transphobic blogger, this moment should be a celebration of NCAA women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley and the women of the South Carolina Gamecocks.
On Sunday, they concluded their undefeated season with a decisive win and a championship title. But when Staley faced reporters before that big game, Outkick’s Dan Zakheske asked her an irrelevant, clickbait question about transgender women in sports, referring to them as “biological males.”
Staley could have ignored the question, or stated she had no opinion, but instead the legendary coach offered a crystal clear endorsement of trans women competing in women’s sports, something outlawed in her home state of South Carolina for girls in kindergarten through college.
“I’m of the opinion,” said Staley, “If you’re a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. That’s my opinion.”
Zakheske clearly wasn’t satisfied with that declaration of allyship and Staley swiftly cut him off.
“You want me to go deeper?” she asked.
“Do you think transgender women should be able to participate,” he started to say, when the coach stole the ball and took it downtown on a fastbreak. “That’s the question you want to ask? I’ll give you that. Yes. Yes. So, now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I’m okay with that. I really am.”
Staley is herself a Hall of Fame player a leading voice for diversity.
Reaction to her comments were swift, from LGBTQ rights organizations, athletes and inclusion opponents.
“Coach Staley simply spoke the truth that trans women are women and should play if they want,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, in a post on Instagram. “All of us can take a page from Coach Staley’s playbook as a sports leader and as a person of high integrity guided by faith, compassion and common sense.”
A White House pool reporter revealed President Joe Biden called Staley Sunday evening to congratulate her and the Gamecocks on their championship win. But it’s not clear if she and the president, an outspoken supporter of trans rights, discussed her remarks on trans athletes.
A number of Black leaders in the LGBTQ movement applauded Staley for taking a stand.
“Coach Staley has always been a trailblazer, but she’s also shown that true leadership is about advancing justice and equality for everyone,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. “By expressing her full-throated support for transgender athletes’ inclusion in sports, she’s sending an important message — our shared humanity matters.
“Coach Staley showed courage and vulnerability, in choosing to answer the question and make a powerful statement of support for trans people on one of the biggest days and biggest stages in sports history,” said Kierra Johnson, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, in a statement. “Not only does that make her a leader we can all aspire to like, it makes her a class act. She has etched her legacy in the history books with her play, her coaching, her heart and her smarts.”
In congratulating Staley on her championship title victory, Dr. David J. Johns, the CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, also commended her for “her unwavering advocacy and support for transgender people in sports.”
“In a time when transgender athetes face unjust scrutiny, discrimination and exclusion from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, her courage to speak truth to power and in support of inclusion and fairness sets a powerful example for us all, and is a testament to her integrity and compassion.”
The NBJC leader was referring to Monday’s announcement by the NAIA, the governing body of athletic programs at small colleges nationwide, voting 20-0 to essentially ban trans women from competing with other women beginning Aug. 1, as ESPN reported.
“It is a shocking and devastating development that the NAIA, an organization that has done so much to open doors, is now slamming those doors shut on transgender athletes,” said Sasha Buchert, Lambda Legal’s senior attorney and director of the organization’s nonbinary and trans rights project.
“Instead of standing up in support of transgender young people, the NAIA has simply turned its back on them — permanently depriving them of the benefits of competition. Would that they had the courage of victorious University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, who didn’t miss a beat in clarifying that transgender women should be able to play.”
However, praise for Staley’s stance was not universal.
Riley Gaines, failed former college swimmer and paid shill for the anti-inclusion organization, Independent Women’s Forum, called Staley “entirely incompetent or a sell-out” on Fox News. “Personally, I don’t think she believes what she said.”
Gaines has turned her fifth-place tie with out trans NCAA champion Lia Thomas into a career as a crusader against inclusion and a former advisor to the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Val Whiting, a former Stanford University and professional women’s basketball player, tweeted her strong disagreement with Staley. “A lot of my basketball sisters feel differently but trans women do not belong in women’s sports. It’s not fair nor safe for biological women. There has to be another solution for trans women to be able to compete athletically besides having them compete against biological women.”
A lot of my basketball sisters feel differently but trans women do not belong in women’s sports. It’s not fair nor safe for biological women. There has to be another solution for trans women to be able to compete athletically besides having them compete against biological women.
— Val Whiting (@iamcoachval) April 7, 2024
Zaksheske’s Outkick colleague, anti-trans pundit David Hookstead, also went all-in with a transphobic post.
“Dawn Staley says she supports men who identify as women competing against real women in sports. Her view could literally destroy women’s basketball forever. Why won’t more people stand up for women?”
Dawn Staley says she supports men who identify as women competing against real women in sports.
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) April 6, 2024
Her view could literally destroy women’s basketball forever.
Why won’t more people stand up for women? pic.twitter.com/2A59KTqvHb
Hookstead then boasted that Staley blocked his account.
Republican South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace retweeted Zaksheske’s account of his interaction with Staley, calling her support of trans athletes “absolute lunacy.” That in turn won praise from Caitlyn Jenner, who retweeted Whiting and posted her thanks to Mace, along with this comment: “There is nothing complicated about this issue!”
What is complicated is that Jenner has never explained why she has competed with cisgender women in golf ever since her transition almost a decade ago.
You’re a hypocrite. pic.twitter.com/42DKwA9jmF
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) April 7, 2024
Caitlyn Jenner flew from Malibu to New York this week to join her fellow Republicans in their nationwide quest to keep transgender girls and women from competing in sports with other women.
“Let’s stop it now while we can,” said the Olympic gold medalist, at a news conference carried live by Fox News Channel.
Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman organized the event so that Jenner could speak in support of his February executive order banning trans athletes at more than 100 county-owned facilities.
“Trans women are competing against women, taking valuable opportunities for the long-protected class under Title IX and causing physical harm,” said Jenner without providing supportive evidence of her claim. Jenner said the ban would defeat “the woke agenda.”
Her comments drew praise from former NCAA swimmer and paid shill Riley Gaines, who represents the Independent Women’s Forum and has also worked with the failed presidential campaign of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on his anti-trans athlete platform.
We stand with Executive Blakeman as he faces shameful retaliation from @TishJames for merely protecting sports on the basis of sex
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) March 18, 2024
Thanks to you both, @Caitlyn_Jenner @NassauExec !!👏🏼 https://t.co/vAsWfayI7l
“If the left wants to fight this battle on this hill, it’s a losing battle,” said Jenner. “We will win the battle.” She claimed she spoke on behalf of women and girls, contradicting her past statements in support of trans girls competing according to their gender identity and despite the fact she herself still competes in women’s sports.
Shortly after the ban was announced last month, New York State Attorney General Letitia James and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, denounced it and accused Blakeman of “bullying trans kids.”
James called the order “transphobic and deeply dangerous,” and argued that it violates the state’s anti-discrimination laws. The state attorney general challenged it in court March 1 with a “cease and desist letter,” demanding that Blakeman rescind the order, saying it subjects women’s and girls’ sports teams to “invasive questioning.”
As the Los Angeles Blade reported, Blakeman’s legal team countered with its own lawsuit on March 5, claiming her cease and desist letter violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.
“Not only was the executive order legal, but we had an obligation to defend it,” Blakeman said Monday.
The order has also been challenged by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit last week on behalf of a women’s roller derby league based in Nassau County that welcomes trans women and would be barred from using the county’s facilities by Blakeman’s executive order.
Just days before the Long Island news conference, Jenner joined Olympian Sharron Davies, who also campaigns against trans inclusion in sports, for an conversation with a British newspaper, the Telegraph, which has been outspoken against trans inclusion.
They recalled that in their day, tests to determine sex were mandatory in order to compete, and Jenner said she has been “pushing” for sex tests to return to sports, decades after sports organizations around the world abandoned the practice because they were unreliable. “If they continue down this road, it will be pretty much the end of women’s sport as we know it.”
“I can still hit a golf ball 280 yards,” Jenner continued, not mentioning she plays from the ladies’ tee. She did however opine about not being “a real woman,” acknowledging that many trans women disagree with her view.
“They keep saying, ‘Oh, I’m a real woman, I’m a real woman,’ and I’m going, ‘No, you’re not,’” said Jenner. “I will use your preferred pronouns, I will treat you as a female, you can run and dress and do whatever you want, I have nothing against that, it’s fine, but biologically you’re still male.”
She added: “Let me explain — I am biologically male, OK? I’m XY. There’s nothing I can do to change that. If you believe in gender dysphoria, and I think most people do realize it’s not a disease, it’s a mental condition, just like some people are left-handed and some people are right-handed, it’s kind of the way you’re born and I’ve dealt with it my entire life.“
“I consider myself a trans person, I am still genetically male, I changed all of my ID right down to my birth certificate so technically yes, I am female, but on the other hand I know I’m not.”
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