Homosexuality in modern sports

Now more than ever open homosexuality is becoming more common and more accepted in the sporting world. With outspoken homosexual athletes, including Sheryl Swoopes, Billy Jean King, Dennis Rodman and Billy Bean, in the limelight, the stigma has begun to slowly fade away. In the 1980’s Tom Waddell, an Olympic decathlete hosted the first Gay Games in San Francisco . Since then many homosexual sporting organizations have been founded along with sporting events that feature homosexual athletes . While progress has been made, homosexual athletes still face many challenges. Most locker rooms have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, and there are few openly gay male athletes in hyper masculine sports like football. On the other hand, female athletes in sports seen as masculine are often assumed to be gay. As the gay community continues to become more widely accepted in the U.S. we can expect that more homosexual athletes will openly speak out and demand fair treatment in the sporting world.

The History of Homosexuality in Sports

It can be assumed that for however long sports have been played, there have been individuals who were homosexual participating in them. However, in ancient times homosexuality was not the taboo that it is in contemporary America and sexual orientation was not an issue. In the last century, athletes began to identify themselves as homosexual. Still, we must wonder how many athletes of the 20th century kept their sexuality a secret in fear of the negative reaction they might have received. With this in mind, here is a timeline of the key homosexual athletes and events.

1920:

Bill Tilden: An openly gay American tennis player. Tilden won the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. He went on to win two more Wimbledon titles, seven U.S. championships, and seven Davis Cups. In 1950 he was named the greatest tennis player of the first half of the 20th century. Despite his excellence on the court, Tilden was a controversial figure after being charged on two separate occasions for having immoral relations with minor aged males.

1968:

Tom Waddell: An openly gay Olympian, places 6th in the Olympic decathlon. He uses his athletic success as a platform for his involvement in gay politics. In 1981 he starts San Francisco Arts and Athletics to plan the first “Gay Olympic Games”.

1975:

David Kopay: The first professional team sport athlete to officially come out. Kopay played for in the NFL for 5 teams from 1964-72. Kopay admits his homosexuality during an interview with the Washington Star 3 years after he retired from the NFL.

1981:

Billie Jean King: An American Tennis Player, King is outed by her ex-lover, Marilyn Barnett, who sues her for “galimony”, while she is married to Larry King. King went on to start the Billie Jean Foundation that supports gay and lesbian youths.

Martina Navratilova: Reveals that she is a lesbian during an interview with the New York Daily News.

1982:

The first Gay Olympic Games is held in San Francisco.

1983:

Bob Paris: Winner of Mr. American and Mr. Universe titles. He publically comes out during an interview with Ironman magazine in 1989.

1985:

Ed Gallagher: An offensive lineman for the University of Pittsburgh from 1977-79. Twelve days after his first homosexual encounter he jumps from a dam in a suicide attempt. He does not die from the attempt but becomes paralyzed. He admits that the suicide attempt was driven by his difficulty to deal with himself as a gay athlete.

1987:

Jerry Smith: A tight end for the Washington Redskins from 1965-77, he dies of AIDS complications. He never admitted to be a homosexual but in David Kopay’s biography he is named of Kopay’s first lover.

1988:

Dave Pallone: A Major League Baseball umpire who was fired after allegations were made that he was involved in a teenage sex ring. The allegations are dropped after they are deemed groundless. Pallone claimed that the reason he was fired was because he was gay. Pallone had privately come out to Bart Giamatti, the National League President, who fired Pallone at the request of Nation League owners.

Bruce Hayes: An Olympic swimmer who won a gold medal in the 1984 olympics as part of the 800-meter freestyle relay. He publicly comes out at the Gay Games in which he wins seven gold medals.

Justin Fashanu: The first team sport athlete to come out during his playing career. Fashanu, a soccer player in Britain, committed suicide in 1998 at the age of 36. At this time he was wanted in the U.S. on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage in Maryland.

1991:

Rene Portland: Penn State women’s basketball coach, becomes the center of controversy when she publically states that she has a policy that prohibits lesbians from playing on her team.

1992:

Matthew Hall: a figure skater on the Canadian National Team, comes out .

Roy Simmons: an offensive guard for the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins from 1979-83, reveals he is gay during an appearance on The Phil Donahue Show. Years later, after discovering he is HIV positive, Simmons returns to his Christian faith and turns from his past homosexual lifestyle .

1993:

David Slattery: general manager of the Washington Redskins in the early 1970's, comes out.

Glenn Burke: A former MLB athlete who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland A’s comes out during an interview. Burke claims that the Dodgers traded him because they suspected that he was gay. Burke died of AIDS complications in 1995 .

1994:

Gay Games IV: Held in New York city, the event is the largest athletic competition in history with over 11,000 participants and 31 events. In order for HIV-positive individuals from outside the United States to compete, Attorney General Janet Reno grants a waiver allowing them to enter the country.

Greg Louganis: four-time Olympic gold medalist in diving who becomes HIV-positive, comes out in public at the Gay Games .

Missy Giove: an openly lesbian mountain biker, wins her first world title. Considered the Michael Jordan of her sport, she subsequently wins back-to-back world titles in 1996 and '97. After her career, she ran into legal troubles when she pleaded guilty to marijuana distribution .

1995:

Ian Roberts: A popular rugby player in Australia. He poses nude for a gay magazine and comes out during an interview in the same issue. He is the first major sports figure in Australia and first rugby player to come out .

1996:

Muffin Spencer-Devlin, an 18-year LPGA veteran, speaks about being a lesbian in the March 18 issue of Sports Illustrated .

Rudy Galindo: the national men's skating champion, discusses being a gay man in the book Inside Edge: A Revealing Journey Into the Secret World of Figure Skating. Doug Mattis, another professional skater, comes out not long afterward .

David Pichler and Patrick Jeffrey: two openly gay U.S. divers, compete in the Atlanta Olympics .

Dennis Rodman: Famed NBA bad boy, admits to being a bisexual in his autobiography "Bad as I Wanna Be" .

1998:

Michael Muska: a former track-and-field coach at Auburn and Northwestern, is named athletic director at Oberlin College. Muska is the first openly gay man to hold such a position in college sports .

Paul Priore: a former New York Yankees clubhouse assistant, files a lawsuit on July 29 against Yankee pitchers Jeff Nelson and Mariano Rivera and former Yankee pitcher Bob Wickman. Priore claims that he was humiliated with gay-bashing remarks, harassed and threatened with sexual assault. He also says he was fired because he has contracted the AIDS virus .

Greg Louganis: in a special Goodwill Games edition of New York 1 News' nightly sports program, says that several athletes in professional team sports have asked him for advice about going public with their homosexuality.

Brian Orser: former world figure skating champion and two-time Canadian Olympic silver medalist, is revealed in November as gay in a palimony suit filed by an ex-boyfriend. In an affidavit in which he argued to keep the suit's documents sealed, Orser says, "Other skaters, both Canadian and American, guard their gayness closely because of the likely impact of public disclosure on their careers. "

1999:

Billy Bean: A MLB player who had kept his sexuality a secret for years comes out publically in 1999. The stress of keeping his homosexuality a secret while playing baseball was too much and he decided to leave the game. He was so worried about being outed that he did not even attend the funeral of his first lover. After coming out, Bean has made appearances on MTV's Made, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Fraiser, and Arli$$.

2001:

Kazuhito Tadano: A minor league baseball player in the Indians farm system, Tadano admittingly was involved in a gay porn video while in college. Tadano was shunned by Japanese baseball teams and was not drafted so he came to America to play baseball. After a short career in the minor leagues, Tadano was drafted by the Nippon Ham fighters of Japan where he currently plays.

2005:

Sheryl Swoopes: A 4-time WNBA champion, 3-time MVP, and 3-time Defensive player of the year, Swoopes came out during an interview with ESPN the magazine in 2005. Swoopes has supported other gay athletes and claims that there are gay athletes currently playing in the NFL, NBA, and MLB.

2007:

John Amaechi: A NBA player, Amaechi comes out during an interview with ESPN's Outside the Lines and in his book Man in the Middle. Amaechi was the first NBA player to openly be gay. Amaechi's coming out sparked controversy in the NBA with mixed reactions from fellow players. Most notably, Tim Hardaway made harsh comments about having a gay teammate.

Organizations supporting homosexuality in sports

Atlanta Gay Sport Alliance

As the movement of homosexuality in sports becomes more open to the public, organizations such as the Atlanta Gay Sports Alliance have been formed to give an opportunity for homosexual athletes to compete in a welcoming atmosphere outside of criticism. The Atlanta Gay Sports Alliance provides links to nine different organizations that openly support homosexuality in sports.