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Decathlete loves his gay fans
Romain Barras flattered by the
attention to his photos
By
Jim Buzinski
Outsports.com
French
decathlete Romain Barras doesn't mind that gay men look at
his photos -- he welcomes it.
"It is
lucky to have articles [about me] on the gay websites," the
27-year-old Barras said
in an interview with the French gay blog "A Cause des
Garcons" (translated as "Because of the Boys"). The blog had
posted a bunch of photos, mostly shirtless, of Barras under
the headline "Romain Barras: The body made in France."
We have
seen some athletes freak out recently when their photos have
appeared on gay sites, but not Barras. "I visited the sites,
I saw the photographs, the galleries. I found it to be super
flattering on these sites to be surrounded by very beautiful
guys," said Barras in comments ran through various online
translators to get the context. "I always had affinities
with the gay community. This is a world which does not shock
me."
The blog
even
added a caption to a photo from Barras' own site that
made an innuendo to his endowment, and he loved it.
"I like the
frankness and gay humor, for example, the photo where one
said that I have a pole as big as this," he said in
reference to the photo caption. The blogger asked if his
pole was that big. "No, no, it is bigger," Barras said
laughing.
It's hard
to imagine many athletes joking about such things in print
(though the wife of then-Denver Broncos receiver Ed
McCaffrey once told NFL Films that her husband's jock strap
was "a very large one. That's why the shoulder pads look so
small.")
I could not
tell from his
extensive website (all in French) whether Barras is
single, married or has a girlfriend or boyfriend, but he
certainly has no hang-ups about his body. His photo gallery
is filled with shirtless shots of him
(like
this one), and he evens posts one of him
kissing
a guy.
Barras,
among the elite decathletes in the world, may have hit upon
a new approach to get people thinking you are not gay --
embrace your gay fans. After all, only someone totally
comfortable with his sexuality would be comfortable having
gay men ogle his half-naked body and be able to joke about
it. It reminds me of that
study from the University of Georgia that showed that
gay men and homophobic straight men were turned on by gay
porn, while non-homophobic straight guys were not.
In contrast
to Barras, Swiss triathlete
Sebastien Gacond demanded that Outsports remove a
link to a photo of him competing. When the story became
public, Gacond took down his website lest mean bloggers mock
some of the photos he had posted. And French tennis player
Richard Gasquet
became indignant when asked if he was gay; "It's
absolutely obvious" that was not true, Gasquet said.
In June,
American swimmer Randall Bal demanded that the gay website
Bent Blog
remove photos of him it had posted, sending this note: "I
seriously would like to get this off your website, I have a
number of fans which a number a lot of young individuals
looking up to me as I travel around the world and give
clinics to give back to the sport. I know you are just
having fun but do not want to let this get out of hand.
First off, I am not gay. Secondly, I do not need some guys
gawking over me ... this is sick!" Responded the Bent Blog
webmaster: "I am happy to remove [the photos] from the site.
But I also reserve the right to call [him] a snotty prick if
I deem it warranted. And in this case, it is."
Go
ahead and admired the sleek, muscular physique of the 6-4,
188-pound Barras. Such as
here,
here,
here,
here,
here and
here. You'll be doing your part for the cause of gay
tolerance.
Romain
Barras photo by
Finneye / Outsports.com
Related:
Check out Barras at the World Decathlon Championships in our
photo gallery.
Aug. 7, 2007 |
