British tabloid The Mirror published in January a short piece today on the “Price gay sports stars paid for coming out.” It’s a bizarre choice, given that I haven’t heard a negative coming-out story in sports in over 10 years. They include Martina Navratilova (who came out in 1981) and Justin Fashanu (who came out in 1990).
But sports have changed significantly since then; Instead of showing that change, they somehow spun Amelie Mauresmo's and John Amaechi's coming out as those people having to pay a price. But the reality is Mauresmo became the No. 1 tennis player in the world after she came out, and Amaechi had a best-selling book and gained an endorsement deal because he came out. It was the people who uttered the homophobic comments, not the athletes toward whom they were directed, who suffered a price.
British tabloid The Mirror published in January a short piece today on the “Price gay sports stars paid for coming out.” It’s a bizarre choice, given that I haven’t heard a negative coming-out story in sports in over 10 years. They include Martina Navratilova (who came out in 1981) and Justin Fashanu (who came out in 1990).
But sports have changed significantly since then; Instead of showing that change, they somehow spun Amelie Mauresmo's and John Amaechi's coming out as those people having to pay a price. But the reality is Mauresmo became the No. 1 tennis player in the world after she came out, and Amaechi had a best-selling book and gained an endorsement deal because he came out. It was the people who uttered the homophobic comments, not the athletes toward whom they were directed, who suffered a price.
Forget about “the gay agenda,” this is just bad journalism. Reading the article you’d think these people all regret coming out. Certainly Fashanu’s suicide was a horrible tragedy; But athletes today face great rewards, not great ridicule, for coming out. Just look at Gareth Thomas and Blake Skjellerup, both of whom have garnered international attention and countless opportunities because they came out.
I hope the Mirror quickly runs a piece on the "Benefits gay sports stars have found for coming out!"
