Young and out on the field

[NaperVic]

This was an interesting article about 'out' gay athletes. It came out in the LA Times this past weekend.

 

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Young and out on the field

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An emerging generation of gay athletes in high school and college is changing the rules.

 

By David Wharton

Times Staff Writer

 

July 28 2007

 

Seattle: The guys in his boat took to calling him "Badger" because of the grimace he wore during races. Part of a junior rowing club that ranked among the fastest in the nation, Lucas Goodman was relentless on the water.

 

The complete article can be viewed at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/l...1,5154552.story

 

Hope you enjoy it!

 

Take Care®,

 

Vic

 

Edited August 2, 2007 by NaperVic

[Conner]

That was an excellent article, particularly the uplifting effect it had on me. Once again, it is our youth who will bring about change.

 

Thanks for posting that, Vic.

 

Conner

[Graeme]

By some strange coincidence, The Age newspaper in Melbourne had a large article on Wednesday in the business section on gay and lesbian business people.

 

Work closet keeps talented gays, lesbians hung up

 

It also had a number of positives about how the younger generation is changing things

 

A quote from the article which I think is applicable to the sporting field as well:

 

But a work environment can only be as comfortable as the people who populate it, and there is good reason for nervousness about coming out to colleagues. A recent study by the University of Queensland found homophobia was the most prevalent prejudice, with 25 per cent of Australians saying they would rather not live next door to a gay couple.

 

Reticence may be understandable, but it is also self-perpetuating. The fewer gay success stories there are, the greater the fear of standing out.

[Krista]

Hey,

 

Those were both interesting articles. I read a few coming out stories where professional, high school, and college athletes are coming out and the problems they face.

 

 

Krista

[BeaStKid]

Nice read...great articles...Thanks Vic and Graeme...

[AFriendlyFace]

By some strange coincidence, The Age newspaper in Melbourne had a large article on Wednesday in the business section on gay and lesbian business people.

 

Work closet keeps talented gays, lesbians hung up

A very good article indeed, Graeme. I had a comment/question about the article though:

 

Also in the US, 48.6 per cent of all ads last year were "gay-specific", according to The Gay Press Report, a study sponsored by New York agency Prime Access and Rivendell Media Company. In 2002, "gay-specific" content accounted for just 9.9 per cent of advertising.

 

That doesn't make sense to me! There's no way that nearly 50% of the ads in the US last year were specifically about or directed towards gay people (and I certainly wouldn't expect them to be given that our numbers are no where near 50%). So unless "gay-specific" means something else in this context than what I'm intuitively assuming I'm completely nonplussed.

 

Also:

 

One in three people in the GLBT community still changes their behaviour at work because they fear they may be discriminated against, according to a report published last year by La Trobe University's Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society.

 

That actually seemed like a good thing to me. What I mean is that the reciprocal of that is that two in three people in the GLBT community don't change their behaviours at work! That's actually much higher than I would have estimated! That should mean that 2/3 of the GLBT community are not only out at work, but also not altering their behaviour at all! Quite impressive if you ask me.

 

Heck, I myself am out at work, and yesterday I still changed out of the clothes I initially put on because on second thought I decided my outfit was a little too "fabulous" for work. So you might say I'm one of the "one in three" who does change his behaviour. Actually though that wasn't my only consideration, I was also thinking that the outfit would work better on Sunday when I'll attend a couple of gay functions and then go into work, but it'll be "casual Sunday" and we can basically wear whatever (the outfit in question is actually quite dressy, but it'll probably still go over better on the "anything goes" day).

 

Anyway point is, if 2/3 of gay people are comfortable being out and behaving completely normally at work, I think that's cause for celebration.

 

Have a fantastic day all and take care!

Kevin

Edited August 4, 2007 by AFriendlyFace

[Graeme]

A very good article indeed, Graeme. I had a comment/question about the article though:

That doesn't make sense to me! There's no way that nearly 50% of the ads in the US last year were specifically about or directed towards gay people (and I certainly wouldn't expect them to be given that our numbers are no where near 50%). So unless "gay-specific" means something else in this context than what I'm intuitively assuming I'm completely nonplussed.

I thought the same thing, so I went to the Gay Press Report 2006 itself (the tinyurl link at the end of the article) and that quote was taken out of context. The report is looking at advertising in the gay & lesbian mainstream (ie. not predominantly sexually based) press. What this is saying is that in the gay "mainstream" media gay-specific ads have increased to almost 50%. In other words, companies are spending the money to develop gay-specific ads, rather than just recycling their other ads in the gay media.

 

Also:

That actually seemed like a good thing to me. What I mean is that the reciprocal of that is that two in three people in the GLBT community don't change their behaviours at work! That's actually much higher than I would have estimated! That should mean that 2/3 of the GLBT community are not only out at work, but also not altering their behaviour at all! Quite impressive if you ask me.

Not necessarily. After all, I don't change my behaviour at work, but I'm not out. I'd like to think you're right but I don't know whether that one third is only one third of the ones who are out elsewhere in their lives.