Gay athletes, mostly in the closet and often shunned, have gotten a boost in recent weeks. This reversal joins transformations in other fields where fairness has been mostly accomplished or continues as work in progress, as civil rights are extended.
Team sports have been laggards in acceptance of homosexuality. Several recent breakthroughs are a welcome change. Most recently, Rick Welts, president and chief executive of the Phoenix Suns basketball team, disclosed that he was gay and planned to go public. In a New York Times interview, he said he was already beginning to pierce the silence about homosexuality in male team sports, mentor gay people with doubts about a sports career, and make himself feel whole and authentic. (He seemed to neglect lesbian athletes.)
Others who have taken up the cause include New York Rangers ice hockey star Sean Avery who publicly advocated same-sex marriage. Grant Hill and Jared Dudley of the Phoenix Suns recorded a public-service announcement denouncing gay slurs in sports. Ben Cohen, an English rugby star, and Hudson Taylor, a three-time all-American wrestler, stand out as heterosexual athletes tackling the issues of bullying and homophobia in sports.
Kobe Bryant, the all-star basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers, apologized and was fined $100,000 after yelling a homophobic slur that was caught on television. YouTube showed him calling a referee a “faggot.”
A former National Basketball Association star, John Amaechi, wrote in the New York Times that sports stars can carry more weight than senators and described this impact: “I challenge you to freeze-frame Bryant’s face in that moment of conflict with the referee Bennie Adams. Really examine the loathing and utter contempt, and realize this is something with which almost every lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender person is familiar. That is the sentiment people face in middle and high schools, in places of worship, work and even in their own homes across the United States.”
If America is making some progress toward civil rights for gays, it has gone much farther in women’s rights and racial relations. In sports, athletes such as Jackie Robinson in baseball, Kenny Washington in football, and Joe Louis in boxing are among those who assured blacks a respected place after a half-century of mostly Jim Crow athletics.
Many Americans still think of their country as sexually straight, white, Christian, and male dominated. It is far more diverse than that. The emergence of gay athletes is just one of the changes that are taking place and should continue.