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Buzinski
to moderate 'The closet doors of the NFL'
New York, Friday, September
21, 2007 – The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD),
the New York Gay Football League, Gay Superbowl 7 and Gym
Sportsbar today announced a first-of-its-kind public forum
titled The Closet Doors of the NFL. The
groundbreaking event will address the role of the lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the
National Football League (NFL). Openly gay former NFL
players Esera Tuaolo and Dave Kopay, as well as Jackie Lepow,
an out lesbian who works in the New York Giants’ front
office, and CBS Sportsline columnist Mike Freeman will
participate in the forum. Jim Buzinski, co-founder of the
sports Web site Outsports, will moderate the event scheduled
for Thursday, October 4 at 7 p.m. in the screening room at
the Time Warner Center in New York City.
“The Closet Doors of the
NFL will shed light on the grim realities gay athletes
face when trying to play professional sports,” said GLAAD
President Neil G. Giuliano. “By giving voice to the struggle
against anti-gay prejudice, we bring visibility to an
important cultural change happening in the world of American
sports.”
Participants will talk
candidly about the role the LGBT community plays in the NFL,
the difficulties of being openly gay as a player and
employee, and the role media play in addressing homophobia
in football and sometimes perpetuating anti-gay sentiment.
Both Tuaolo and Kopay will discuss their battles with the
NFL Players Association (NFLPA) in acquiring same-sex
partner benefits. Lepow and Freeman will offer many insights
on the current state of the league and its players. In
addition to his work at CBS Sportsline, Freeman wrote the
book Bloody Sundays: Inside the Dazzling,
Rough-and-Tumble World of the NFL, in which a closeted
player claims that there are over 100 gay or bisexual
players in the league.
“Gay equality in football has
come a long way since Dave Kopay came out in the
mid-1970's,” said Gay Superbowl 7 Marketing Director Derek
Reyes. “His current struggles with the NFLPA 30 years later
are just one small piece of the conversation that needs to
happen more often, and that this event will bring to light.”
The forum will take place on
the eve of Gay Superbowl 7, a tournament that is the
national gay flag football championship and will feature
teams from a dozen cities. Games will take place at
Manhattan’s East River Park, October 5-7, from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. each day. The tournament is hosted by the New York Gay
Football League, which was founded three years ago and today
hosts over 200 gay, lesbian and transgender people playing
football every year.
"With a spectrum of voices
from players to the media to the front office, the forum
will be an insightful conversation that sheds light on some
of the challenges, as well as strides forward, for gay
people in professional football,” said forum organizer Cyd
Zeigler.
The Closet Doors of
the NFL is the
first event for GLAAD’s newest program, Sports Media,
directed by Ted Rybka. The Sports Media desk was created to
ensure that the stories of LGBT athletes, coaches and sports
reporters are included in media as a way to combat anti-gay
prejudice in American sports culture.
The event is free and open to
the public, but registration is required. Those wishing to
attend should e-mail
gaysuperbowl7@yahoo.com.
About GLAAD
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is
dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and
inclusive representation of people and events in the media
as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination
based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more
information, visit
www.glaad.org.
Sept. 25,
2007 |
