Gay Sportsman Comes Out

[FredPuli43]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/sports/basketball/nba-center-jason-collins-comes-out-as-gay.html?hp&;_r=0

The first active player in any major American team sport to say that he is homosexual has just announced the fact in print. Others have come out but waited until their retirement to do so.

When and why do you think any equivalent British player will do the same ?( "Why?" is more interesting than "When?")

[sp1814]

magsmay

EXACTLY!!!

Gay celebrities and gay people in general are better served by stating that they are gay because it means that their friends and colleagues don't make pronoun balls ups.

[ummmm]

Non celebrities have to come out at some point. Come out to their friends and family if they want to live any sort of public life.

[naomi24]

SP, //it's makes much more sense for a gay celebrity to be open.//

Exactly. The only way to combat the nonsense created by other people is to be who you are!!

[sp1814]

naomi24

I think it is very difficult for (for example) a gay teenager to laugh it off when their father tells them that they wish they'd had them aborted rather than he turn out gay (happened to someone I know).

I think it's equally difficult to laugh it off when you feel alone and that there's no hope (the stats for gay teen suicides show this).

[society]

I don't understand why they have to 'come out'. Why can't they just be who they are and continue on with their gay (

[society]

I don't understand why they have to 'come out'. Why can't they just be who they are and continue on with their gay (happy) lives.

[ummmm]

Very hard for teenagers. They just don't know what the reaction will be so they live in fear. Horrible times for them.

[jim360]

It's very difficult, though, to continue with your life when at some point you will want to pursue a relationship. At that point you are coming out one way or another anyway. So why not come out earlier?

[sp1814]

society

How can they settle down and enter a civil partnership without letting anyone know?

Okay...even if they don't settle down - they would have to hide the sex of their partner...from everyone. Do you think you could do that? I mean, from everyone you know...you're not allowed to use the correct pronoun to describe your partner.

[sp1814]

This is a rather excellent summary from someone responding to the story:

Jason made the front page not because he is gay, but because he is 1st.

Jackie Robinson made quite a few front pages when he joined the Dodgers.

The difference is everyone knew Robinson was black, he had no choice in letting the world know. He would be hated by many no matter what he did.

Jason's coming out was unforced, and it does matter. It will impact positive change because it is another step towards reaching the place where kids afraid to be honest with the world on who they are.

When that happens, it will no longer be news.

Thanks Jason, your a hero!

[douglas9401]

I must live in an oasis of tolerance. Daughter (16 7/8) regulaly arrives home with updates on who is the latest to come out at school.
No fuss, no drama just out.

Hang on, maybe I'M the minority around these parts. :)

[Sqad]

society

\\\\I don't understand why they have to 'come out'. Why can't they just be who they are and continue on with their gay (happy) lives. \\\

It is a symptom of our new, liberated society for which we have fought and suffered for years..."Look I am gay and i don't care who knows."

Similar with women who have had a baby and get their t1ts out in public to feed their offspring....."Look, I am a woman and have fulfilled womanhood and i am feeding my baby and i don't care who sees me"

It is an essential part of our modern demonstrative society.

[society]

"sp1814
society

How can they settle down and enter a civil partnership without letting anyone know?

Okay...even if they don't settle down - they would have to hide the sex of their partner...from everyone. Do you think you could do that? I mean, from everyone you know...you're not allowed to use the correct pronoun to describe your partner. "

Sp, I never worry about what others think about me. I live my life as I please, never hurt, be unkind or disrespect anyone intentionally.

[society]

By the way, I am not 'gay'.

[naomi24]

SP, I know that, but it doesn’t apply just to gays, or blacks. I’ve known many people who have suffered dreadfully for one reason or another, and parents who’ve told their children, for various reasons, they’ve regretted their birth. It’s something people from all walks of life go through and have to deal with.

Jim, //it's still the fault of the guy so prejudiced as to shout out horrible, cruel and totally unjustified abuse.//

That’s the point. If someone calls a black man a ‘black bastard’, the objection isn’t to the word ‘bastard’ but to the word ‘black’. Why? He is black, so the sensible objection would be to the use of the word ‘bastard’ – unless of course he is one, in which case there’s no cause for complaint. ;o)

[jim360]

Again, some people can't do that and do worry about what others think about them. Whose fault is that, though? Theirs? Not flipping likely, it's not a choice.

Also, again, the point is that would you be comfortable hiding a huge aspect of your life? For ever? From everyone?

Finally, although technically it's not really noticed, but people do actually "come out" as straight. Once a man says "I've got a girlfriend", or "I'm getting married", or even "I fancy this girl but she rejected me", you're declaring in passing that you are straight. No-one bats an eyelid because that's more usual, but it's still openly declaring your sexuality. Not necessarily in a "mum, dad, I'm straight" way, but it's "coming out" in a way all the same.

Why should gay people not be allowed to do the same?

[LazyGun]

@Sqad

"it is a symptom of our new, liberated society for which we have fought and suffered for years..."Look I am gay and i don't care who knows."

A symptom implies a disease - is that how you view liberated society Sqad? :)

Firsts are important, tolerance and equality are important. There have been and continue to be instances of people being beaten up, shunned by family,bullied in school, ostracized- because of their sexuality. Openly gay figures in the public domain act as a means of removing that stigma - a stigma which, rather like the colour of your skin, you have no conscious control over.

Are gays really oppressing you with their public flamboyance?

As for women getting their mammary glands out- I would have thought you would have been the very last person to complain :)

[society]

Why do people need to or have to announce their sexual preference? Is it to say I am interested in only 'this' particular gender or sex?

[Sharingan]

One of my oldest brothers is gay and another bi. They came out purely to avoid speculation, ie is that new lad they brought home a mate or a 'mate'. It was a total non event in our house, but it is important that people who are gay are openly gay because it gives strength to those people who are not in the happy situation of having a loving supporting family and who may otherwise be attacked or ostracised. Ideally it would matter to no-one , but it does so we all need to show homophobes that their opinions are unaccceptable and an easy way to do this is to embrace gay friends and family members who are open about their sexuality.

[jackthehat]

Society -
///Why do people need to or have to announce their sexual preference? ///

///By the way, I am not 'gay'.///

See what you did, there??