Sports are gay
A story in the Globe and Mail yesterday bemoans the fact that only 10 Olympic athletes are openly male lover in a widespread enough way to be counted by the website Outsports.com (don’t ask me about their methods–not much on that over there). This includes nine lesbians and one same-sex attracted man, and for whatever reason does not count one bisexual woman.
Given that there are about 10,000 athletes, the story reasons, ten gay athletes is so small that many more athletes must be lgbtq+ and closeted…but how many? They undertaking a guess:
Outsports said this must be way short of the real figure and argued that a more reliable estimate could even reach 1,000.
Hmmmm…this seems very high to me. The Outsports people are basing this estimate on shaky premises.
The first premise:
Researchers such as Eric Anderson of the University of Bath in England (and a longtime Outsports contributor) say that the percentage of gays in sports mirrors the percentage in the entire population (estimated at between 2% and 10%).
A quick check of Anderson’s CV doesn’t indicate that he’s published anything on this topic, and I don’t recognize why we’d consider that this would be
Statistics on Homophobia and Transphobia in Sport
This page shares the results from Out on the Fields (2015) and OutSport (2019), the first and second international research on homophobia and transphobia in sport. You will find statistics on gay athletes and trans athletes.
- Many of the results for gay athletes and bisexual athletes were identical or similar;
- The data comes from 12,000+ lesbian, same-sex attracted, bisexual, transgender participants from all EU countries and the United State, Canada, Australia, and NZ;
This page also links to other high-quality studies to encourage researchers, LGBTQ leaders, media, and sports organizations understand and write about homophobia and transphobia.
You will find links to data from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.
We only link to studies which are free to read (no paywalls/open access). Contact us to have your study listed.
I'll say it: sports are gay
In trying to decide what the "un-manliest" sport is - I came to the conclusion that it has to be wrestling. I’ll state just a couple of my many reasons:
• Men oil themselves up
• Men handle each other all over
• Men wear very tight spandex, some of which leave nothing to the imagination
• Men, at certain points, literally have their crotches in each other’s faces
• Men are celebrated for pinning other men down to the floor for extended periods of time
I rest my case.
This? This is what being a "man" is? This is what we instruct young boys they should struggle to be like? And yet two men holding hands down the street is too much?
When you’re Mexican, you kind of just know about Lucha Libre. It's a form of professional wrestling where contestants often wear masks. It’s such a vast part of the Mexican customs. Although I wasn’t necessarily a fan, or deeply knowledgeable before starting this process, I was by no means unfamiliar with it; I went to one or two matches growing up,
Bill Tilden, who does not hide his homosexuality, wins the men's singles title at Wimbledon. He goes on to win two more Wimbledon titles, seven U.S. championships, and leads U.S. teams to seven Davis Cup victories. In 1950, a survey of sportswriters names Tilden the greatest tennis player of the half-century. He dies in 1953.
Tom Waddell, a 30-year-old Army physician, places sixth in the Olympic decathlon. Waddell, who is openly queer , becomes increasingly involved in gay politics. In 1976, Waddell and his loved one Charles Deaton are the first gay men to be featured in the "Couples" section of People magazine. Five years later, Waddell forms San Francisco Arts and Athletics to plan the first "Gay Olympic Games."
David Kopay, an NFL running back who played for five teams (San Francisco, Detroit, Washington, New Orleans, Green Bay) between 1964-72, becomes the first professional team-sport competitor to come out -- doing so three years after retiring. He admits his homosexuality during an interview with the now-defunct Washington Star.
Billie Jean King is "outed" when ex-lover Marilyn Barnett sues her for "galimony" whi