http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/co...mark&id=2043177
any read this article? here are the first few paragraphs.
It was upon the occasion of the premiere of "Ring of Fire," a boxing documentary that at points addressed the sexual orientation of former welterweight champion Emile Griffith, that the Human Rights Campaign this week debuted a television ad supporting "a level playing field" for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender athletes "who have played to the highest level."
Concurrent with that advertisement came a press release that touted the HRC's pro-acceptance stance. And along with that came the results of a recent poll, which found that 86 percent of the respondents felt openly gay athletes should not be excluded from team sports -- but 68 percent believe an athlete's career can be harmed by that acknowledgement.
Benny Paret questioned Emile Griffith's sexuality before his fatal match in 1962. Forty-three years later, the subject of homosexuality in sports ignites controversy.It's an interesting number, 68 percent. It is also genuinely irrelevant if the point of the conversation is gay and lesbian athletes performing on the national stage at the elite professional level.
The number you want? It's the one that no one will ever actually post. It's the one that likely shows -- and I'm tossing a figure out here based strictly on my own lifetime of experience covering professional athletes -- that more than 99 percent of the people in professional sports believe, and believe strongly, that being openly gay would harm their careers, if not outright threaten them.