Feeling Prideful

     In the past few days at work, I've been asked not once, but twice by my co-workers whether I would be going to the Pride Festival this Sunday. I reluctantly said that I wouldn't. My reason was that I would be working that night and I didn't feel like being out in the heat, taking the bus and train downtown to Halsted where they always have the parade, and rushing all the way downtown to get to work that afternoon. Reflecting on my co-workers asking me about pride, I realized just how far we've come as gay people have progressed towards equality in society.
     When I was taking a few steps coming out the closet, being gay and going to gay pride would almost feel like a secret that only a few knew about. Like every other gay person before they came out, I was afraid to let people know of this secret. Now, it's not that big of a secret anymore. Everyone knows and they seem to be ok with it. We have came far. Over the years, we have marched on to combat ignorance and hate. The world is starting to accept us.
     I see us in media. We have shows like RuPaul's Drag Race and Ellen that shows we can do things. We have characters in books and TV that represent us in all different spectrum and tell our stories. We even have our own channel, LOGO. I see us in music. Not only do we have gay rappers like Fly Young Red and Le1f to name a few, but we have people in Hip Hop like Kanye West and T-Pain, another genre that didn't accept us, that have spoken against the homophobia in the genre.
     We are in sports. In the past year, we have professional athlete like Darren Young, Michael Sam, Derreck Gordon, Jason Collins, and Tom Daley who have come out. Bravely dispelling the stigma that Sports is no place for us since we are not "manly enough" and have been given mostly support and love from fans and their peers alike. We have President Obama who seems to be the first president to not only acknowledged us, but gas been on our side. We have passed gay marriage in a total number of 19 states, including one where I live in, Illinois. We have come so far, but we have more to do and more to go.

Sports and Homophobia

   

     On Thursday, gay activist and former Minnesota Vikings player, Chris Kluwe wrote a story for Deadspin. Kluwe makes the accusation that he was fired from being punter for the Vikings for being a LGBT activist and his support for gay rights. In the article, Kluwe states that he has been called in the office several times by coach, Mike Priefer, demanding him to stop speaking for gay rights which in a course of months resulted in his termination with the Vikings.

"It's my belief, based on everything that happened over the course of 2012, that I was fired by Mike Priefer, a bigot who didn't agree with the cause I was working for, and two cowards, Leslie Frazier and Rick Spielman, both of whom knew I was a good punter and would remain a good punter for the foreseeable future, as my numbers over my eight-year career had shown, but who lacked the fortitude to disagree with Mike Priefer on a touchy subject matter."

      Further into the article, you get a story of how Kluwe was ostracized by his fellow peers (his coaches, other officials, and even a fellow teammate) for speaking out for gay rights. Reading the article, you get a look at how deep homophobia runs in the sports industry. Often, you openly hear homophobic remarks from sports fans, locker room talk among college and high school athletes, some coaches, and even some of the professional athletes themselves. This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Before we can solve the problem, we must get to the root of the problem.
      One of the many factors that contributes to homophobia is gender socialization and dominance. One of the reasons some people are hateful towards gay people is because, according to them, gay people do not fit the traditional roles of masculinity. Most of the opponents of gay rights declare that homosexuality "just isn't right." Men are suppose to act a certain way and are suppose to like women and if they don't something is wrong. This is just how they think. Dominance is big in sports. You have to be the best and being stronger and better than someone is important. Once again, gender socialization rears its ugly head as the masculinity is the ultimate form of dominance. A man is the dominate being. If you don't fit the classification of a man, you are inferior. That is usually the case where people who are gay are often bullied and viewed as being "limp-wristed" and weak. One possible solution to the this problem is if we can change the views on gender socialization. These people who are homophobic need to realize that gender roles are not so very black and white and not everyone fits into these roles perfectly. If they realize that, a lot of the problems with homophobia in sports will end.
      Luckily, there have been some progress. In 2013, there have been a athletes like, Jason Collins and Sharnee Zoll-Norman, have come out that are still playing. This is huge because you would hear an athlete coming out when they were retired and not in the sports industry. It also gives hope to people who are playing sports that are in the closet by telling them that it's alright to come out. There have been some athletes like Brendon Ayanbadejo, that are publicly in support of gay rights. In April of last year, the NHL has gotten involved in dealing with homophobia in sports. There are still some huge problems with homophobia in the sports industry, but at least we are moving forward.

Do you feel like it's getting better? Please comment.