Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone here is currently competing in college sports or has in the past. I have been quietly pushing for more discussion on gay athletes in our athletic department here at the U of Utah and I'm seeing minimal progress. The Student-Ahtlete mentor group just had a meeting dedicated to this topic, which is progress I suppose, but I'm looking for what other's may have experienced or are going through now. It seems like I'm getting a lot of personal support, but not much faith that addressing the topic will help other athletes. I know of no other out gay athletes out of hundreds that compete here. What does this mean? Does the sport matter? People tell me that the individual nature of my sport (skiing) makes it easier for teammates to handle. Is this a valid excuse? If anyone has any thoughts on this, I like to hear them. Thanks, Ryan

Hey Ryan,
I think there is a lot of merit to the individual sport theory. As a walk-on, I was offered a partial scholarship to a D1 school. The problem was my teammates started to suspect I was gay and began doing things like not passing me the ball in practice, elbows to the face, etc. I knew I was a good athlete but I was never a part of the team. I quit before the season started. Because of the lockerroom situation, I don't think you're going to find too many male teams comfortable knowing someone is gay. Perhaps if you've already proven yourself a positive attribute to the team, things would be different. In my case, I never had a chance. Good luck.

Z

I've found that the individual sport theory holds as well. I held my high schools record in the triple jump but never bothered going out for basketball because of the exclusive pseudo-macho clique that dominated it.

Soccer seems to be somewhat of a safe haven. Perhaps because there's usually so much space with relatively few players. It seems that the less popular a sport is in general the less threaten people are by gays, or the easier it is for gay people to feel comfortable.

I hope you aren't discouraged by the lack of interest in organizing and DON'T GIVE UP. Take pride in whatever you accomplish athletically and enjoy the thrill of it regardless of what others think.

[quote]Originally posted by rqskiboy:
I know of no other out gay athletes out of hundreds that compete here. What does this mean?

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It means you have a big burden on your shoulders. Welcome to the club.

I think it depends a lot on the people. At GT, I wasn't out, but I also wasn't in. I guess the same could be said for about 4 or 5 other guys on the team. And that's the thing. We really were a team. We lived together. We took the same classes. We ate lunch and dinner together. We worked out together. We showered together. We all went out together. Best 4 years of my life. Of course everyone knew who was gay and who might be gay. We spent entirely too much time together to not know. But we were a family. We didn't care too much about someone's personal life. Well, we did, but as long as it didn't affect your performance when you stepped on that track, we didn't care. We were just a weird, focused group that happened to have a lot of developing Olympians. Sure track and field is individual performance, but you win conference and nationals as a team. We were a family and a lot of us still keep in touch. It's hard to believe 10 years have passed already.

I had a scholarship on the Beer Bong squad, and even won a conference title. My specialty was team funneling (one mondo funnel, two spouts).
I also spent the spring season with the Wakenbake team. My gawd...all that practice! Sometimes I was up at 8am practing, and sometimes I was up til 2am doing deep breathing lung exercises.
Ahhhhh, college!

I am still not "OUT" but I joined a fraternity to prove my "straightness" I ended up kicked off the tennis team, not for being gay, but for belonging to a fraternity ranked in Playboy magazine! The basketball team was more acceptable of my fraternity! I don't know if anybody suspected me on either sqads, but I came out to a few fraternity brothers! My doubles partner was pissed when I was "let go" for "bad publicity for our college" (My fraternity got kicked-off campus, and disbarred from the Natinal!) Yet my doubles partner never knew I was "that way" even though he was at my apartment (@my ex's) and knew we slept in one bed! My ex always accused me of sleeping w/ him! I never did, and still don't know if he is gay! To basketball, they just thought I was a drunk more interested in getting drunk than getting laid! In team sports I don't think team mates care, as long as you help the team win, in individual sports it is more cut-throat with the guy trying to take your position! In my case a "little Sister" of our fraternity was areested for selling drugs in a school zone, and she also happened to be the neice of my coach! She was kicked out of school, and me the tennis team, after a player informed our coach I was a member of that fraternity! My Dad wanted me to take legal action, but I chose not to! Still a issue between us! What I am trying to say is a team mate can be a friend, or stab you in the back! No matter if you are "gay" or "straight"

LAKERSDABOMB: I see teen sex comedy - Jason Biggs, Jennifer Love-Hewitt - is Freddie Prinze Jr. too old yet to play you?

(Sorry to joke about your life story there, but you got to admit, it would make a great screenplay, played out as a gay sex farce).

my 'partner' for lack of a better term was a college wrestler---it worked out real well since we both were not out---just clicked for both of us---i think life would be a living hell for any student athlete who came out--on the other hand, it's nobody's friggin' business.

Sounds like a good idea to me Charles, a lot of my friends tease me about my life being a "soap opera" LOL