Hey folks: Want some opinions on whether or not a story would be big news, national news, or whatever.

Let's say, let's just say, that a sports writer from a major metropolitan city were to come out. A guy with 20 years experience, plenty or radio and television experience, in short, a well known and respected guy at least locally.

Would this be:
A) A local story only
A national story
C) It depends on how he came out and what he wanted to do with the information
D) Who cares at this point, he's a freakin' sports writer...

Please explain your answer, tell me why you say this. Any intelligent discussion would certainly be helpful.

Bill K.

A pretty big story IMO. If he's so well known through television, etc., then he's as much a celebrity as anyone else who is in the public eye on a regular basis.

Add to that that he's associated with sports and you have another angle.

The fact that he's local might limit the impact especially if he's from a large, relatively liberal northeast city. The "ho-hum, so what else is new?" factor might kick in. Also if he's retired that would diminish it for the general public - but it would make it more interesting to me.

I don't think it would be much of a story. It might be on the local level -- depending on how well-known the guy was and how much of a following he has among his readers.

But I think it'd probably play out like a minor league version of the Esera Tuaolo story: Huge in the Outsports community, mentioned a lot by the gay press, a discussion point for the mainstream sports punditry to debate, but most of the world at large wouldn't know about it, and even when they did, they wouldn't give it much thought.

(I'd be interested to know if Tuaolo story has played any differently for others than it has for me. A couple of co-workers have mentioned it to me, but more as a "Did you hear about this?" conversation topic if they know I'm gay and like sports, not because it's something they actually give a damn about.)

It might affect the way others view his sports reporting, but probably not that much, and really, is that much of a story?

wait, that story WAS a national story a few years ago...i guess i shouldnt use his name but wasn't there that sportscaster who bit the back of the woman during sex and wanted her to bring men to the bedroom for action? or was the men part of the story never really hyped up???

just a thought...

Hmmm... I like the story. I think it's interesting to folks like me. Is it a big news story? I guess that depends on how big a profile he has. The last three cities I've lived in have had gay news reporters on TV. A couple anchors, several weather men, but I can't recall any at the sports desk. And not all these cities were large. So, it wouldn't be a major news story if it's just a local newscaster coming out. The sports angle may be of interest as it relates to the larger gays-in-sports story that has come up a few times this year.

I think if it were someone with more national recognition, it would be of interest to more people. If one of the sunday NFL commentators came out, i believe a lot of people would call that a big news story.

The gay community will look at it as an important story regardless of how big a star the person is. But whether the rest of the world will pay attention, is another question. Maybe the best question is if it's an important story to the audience you are going to address.

There are a couple of local sportscasters here that I've heard rumors about, so I'm trying to imagine if they did come out. It would be a huge local story on sports talk radio (which is about all I listen to), and probably in the printed press, but I can't see TV making a big deal on the 6 o'clock news, maybe just a small story. Too many variables though, on how the person came out. He'd get plenty of grief and I would bet would lose work locally, but if he was good and well-respected, he'd hopefully get work elsewhere, maybe on a national level.

I just got around to reading the OUT magazine where the closeted baseball player wrote his article, and the point that stuck with me from that is that MLB is ready for a player to come out, but he the player isn't ready. Seems to me the same for the sports world in general. The world is ready, but no individuals are ready.

C) It would depend on how he came out

If he holds a press conference or invites 500 to his commitment ceremony, it's a big deal. If coming out just means deciding to live his life unedited, without shame or embarrassment, it's unlikely to even blip the media's radar.

Here in Boston we have an openly gay newscaster, a weatherman, the area's most popular talk show host (His coming out was a drama. He'd been closeted until he was diagnosed with hiv and became an overnight sensation.), a number production people behind the scenes... We're just everywhere.

Sexy Randy Price, who anchors at 6 and 11 on the bigtime if-it-bleeds-it-leads news station, just kind of started showing up places with the same guy, endorsing causes, hosted a couple of the big benefits. He'd apparently been publicly out for three or four years, when he received an award from HRC and I finally went "D'oh! Is he like, gay or somethin'?" The entire populations of Malden and Revere had figured it out before I did.

Wasn't that a cool way to come out? Call him. Randy Price, WHDH.


PS- There has never been a news story about any of these folks. It's just taken as a matter of fact, as it should be. Granted we're a liberal city, but really, it's totally non-news.

I think it would get discussed on sports talk radio where they have all that time to fill with anything having to do--even remotely--with sports (heard some discussion of the OK race merely because of Largent) but beyond that I doubt there'd be much notice. After all, there are openly gay news broadcasters at many stations around the country and at the networks & there hasn't been a lot of discussion of their sexuality.

But I'm not a big fan of public "I am gay" statements by anyone. Just live your life honestly enough so you can hold your head high during the day and sleep soundly at night. Just live honestly and no announcement would be needed.


By the way, if it's Rick Reilly: we don't want him.

~Adam

When I lived in Louisville (about 5 years ago), one of the local sports anchors stations was gay. As far as I know, he wasn't politically active or anything, but my partner and I would occasionally see him at the bars with his partner, out at dinner, or at shows at the theatre my partner worked for.

It seemed to be one of those things that everyone knew but that no one mentioned. If he had been more vocal about it, I'm not sure how the area would have reacted, but as it was, it was a non-issue.

I think it would definitely be a local story. Whether it would become a national story depends on the circumstances: if he's a beat writer or a columnist, and if he's a beat writer, would the team he covers then bar him from the locker room or would individual players complain? If he's done some national TV work (as so many writers seem to) then that might also make it a national story.

If it's a sports anchor, unless he has a national profile it probably would just stay local.

I'm confused! Didn't YOU (original poster) already come out? Wouldn't that lessen the impact of #2?


redsoxbreath: Gay weatherman in Boston? I didn't know that... Fox25 perhaps?

Popular gay talk show host... in Boston? We HAVE talk show hosts? Or is this from before my time (1996)?

Have I been living under a rock?

Orsino, sad to say, but perhaps you have. His name is David Brudnoy, and he's been on Boston radio for about 15 years or more. He was a vitriolic homophobe before he we was outed by his HIV, which has caused him a couple of severe health crises since that he seems to have weathered.

Is he popular? yes. But do I like him? NO. He's a reactionary of the worst kind, and a sensationalist of the first order. He is openly contemptuous of his callers and guests, and generally favors ad hominem attack over rational argument.

I still like the OCM (On Camera Meteorologist) from The Weather Channel who is gay. He hasn't officially came out, but I saw him a lot with his boyfriend when I lived in North Carolina. I am not sure if that would be a big story, but The Weather Channel is broadcast to all markets. It might be news worthy.

There is a Weather Channel guy who is about as out here in Atlanta as he can be, in his personal life. But he never called a press conference to announce it. So back to the Sports Writer question, again, it would depend on how it's done. If he called a press conference or wrote an article on it, yeah, it would be a story and maybe a big deal. If he just lived openly in his private life, no, it wouldn't be a big deal.

I'm inclined to agree with most of the above posts.

If the person just starts to live openly and doesn't have any big Coming Out press conferences, then it likely wouldn't be much of an issue. It likely would be talk radio fodder, small pieces on the wire services and internet sports sites.

It could become a bigger issue if he got flak from coming out--adverse reaction from his employer, local athletes, for example.

Or he could make it a bigger issue himself if he chose to write a column in a paper/magazine, or reveal his identity on TV.

The Brendan Lemon story was big when Lemon first introduced it... yet a year later when the baseball player HIMSELF writes a piece in the same publication--it's non-newsworthy. (That still surprises me: that a rumored boyfriend was bigger news than the actual one.)

As for the gay media, I don't think the story would merit much more than a mention (unless the person wanted to make it a bigger deal). Sadly, the gay press isn't terribly interested in sports, much less sports writers.

I think it's important in that it gives people a different point of comparison.

There are several sportscasters that I THINK are gay, but cannot say with certainty.

When someone in ANY profession comes out, it sets a new bar, and forces the question to people who are (somewhat obviously) in the closet: Why do you need to remain closeted?

BTW, it's (IMHO) becoming almost impossible to be "happily" closeted. In the near (I hope) future, I think it will be a matter of how integrated you are with your sexuality, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS.

bill, I think for me it'd have to be "C".

I think about the guys here in Phx and I know they are well-thought of by many of the jocks; if any of them came out, it would become big news just because Phx is essentially still a small town. As for national impact -- it might make the news in some cities but not all, simply by virtue of his longevity in the business puts him in touch with sportscasters in other cities.

Now, if Brokaw or Jennings turned out to be homosexual, or say Howie Long or Terry Bradshaw --that would be national news of sorts because of their increased visibility.

I'll tell you what though, if mark curtis decided to come out, I wouldn't stop him.

Although I'm not sure about the sports reporter deal, I was wondering what is up with all the Gay Weather guys?

Even here in Montana, there are 2 gay weather guys on the same station. Both the weekday weather guy, and the weekend weather guy are gay. I talked to the Regular weekday guy, and he said that when he was in school for that profession, that he actually found a lot of gay guys in that profession. Is there a link?????

Gay guy = Weather man?

You braggin or complaining?

Well, of course there's the, ahem, "queen" of the gay weathermen, our very own Sam Champion here in NYC. Sam is the weatherman Mike Piazza was rumored to be running around with, thus precipitating Piazza's "I'm NOT gay as a barn dance" news conference. Sam has gone from being closeted, to openly-rumored, to "kick down the closet doors and step out in a tiara and slingbacks" gay......

Not your daddy's Weather Girls