Geoff Pound
Kin 332i, S3017
Sunday, December 12, 2010
homosexuality in sport
Gareth Thomas is one of the greatest rugby players in the world. He played for the Welsh rugby union team for 12 years in which he played 100 games, and currently the Welsh rugby league team. In the rugby world, Thomas is one of the greats and even a legend. Gareth Thomas is also gay. According to Sports Illustrated, as of June 12, 2010, he is notably the only professional male athlete in a team sport to be openly gay. To be a male athlete you have to be "macho" and by no means can you be gay. Even in women's sports no one wants to hear that someone is gay. In the film "training rules" we saw what homophobia does in sport. It creates divisions between groups and even ruins lives. America, even the rest of the world, has not been ready to accept homosexuals into sports. In men's sports there is even less acceptance. Rugby is what most would call a "macho", or even barbaric sport. How could it not be? Big, powerful men hitting each other without pads. Gareth Thomas is no different. Prior to coming out, no one would have expected Thomas to be gay. He was big, strong, and an amazing athlete, but as he said "what I choose to do when I close the door at home, has nothing to do with what I have achieved in rugby." Just because he is gay, has no impact on his achievements. He has hidden his homosexuality for dozens of years and he still accomplished everything he did when he was "straight." In the UK he was voted the most influential gay person and in October 2010, he won the Stonewall's Hero of the Year Award, which celebrates the person with the most positive impact in Britain's LGBT community. If a man, that is a british and rugby wide icon, is able to achieve so much, especially as an openly gay male athlete, why is there so much homophobia in sport? He could never accept being gay "because [he] knew that [he] would never be accepted as a gay man and still achieve what [he] wanted to achieve in the game". Homophobia is a mind set that America is stuck in. As a society, we are scared to accept anything that is different, regardless if it is better or worse. Different is different and change is scary. But if more athletes like Thomas, show they can achieve the same goals a straight male athlete can, why should we hold them back. In the long run, everyone wants to win. I would rather have a homosexual teammate that is more talented and a better teammate, then a straight teammate that does not have the same potential, but to pick him purely because he is straight. Is player not reflected by what he or she does on the field? Or is he or she reflected by their personal life? What a player achieves on the field is no reflection of their orientation, it is a reflection of who they are as an athlete.
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3 comments:
I agree with this article because male athlete usually have to be “macho” or show how masculine they can be and that mean that one can’t be gay. So why does it matter if one find out if one teammate is gay or not? I just don’t understand this concept. I know that America, and the rest of the world is not ready to accept homosexuals into sports yet, but why not? The only different to me is that they’re some athletes that are out and some that are not. I know there is not a big acceptance for homosexual especially for male, because society ideology in men are dominate and they have power. Gay men are not dominant and they have no power. But this should not be a reflection of who they are as an athlete. Athlete are athlete they are good at what they do so who care what they do behind their door. Why does athlete have attention of who heterosexual and who homosexual? Does that mean that heterosexual athlete is better then homosexual because of their orientation? I don’t think so.
N.Ha KIN 332I S3200
Reading through all of the course readings and outside sources, is seems as though people keep repeating the same mistakes throughout history. We are always trying to find a group of people to blame as the cause of all our misfortunes. The finger pointing occurred with Nazis toward the Jews, it continues to happen with immigrants, also the “problem” precedes those who have different sexual preferences. The Nazis sought to destroy the Jews because they believed they were a threat to world domination in their battle of the races. Immigrants are a major problem because they interfere with our economy. How dose being gay become a problem for global status, especially in sport? Sexual preference just as gender does not make anyone more or less of an athlete. It does not interfere with our economy, with world dominance, or even athletic prowess. The athlete’s performance is irrelevant to his or her likings therefore, it should not be an issue in sport.
Pearl q
kin 3381 sec 01
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