LGBTQIA+ Representation in Men’s Pro Sports: Where We Are & Where We’re Going – Young Hollywood

It’s Pride
Month, which means the spotlight is shined on the LGBTQIA+
community. And while rainbow insignia can now be seen on just about
everything, I wanted to take a look at one segment of American life
that still lacks adequate LGBT+ representation: the sports world.
Sure, our society at large has come a long way at showing allyship
and support toward this community, but “gayness” is still not
necessarily associated with male athletes, particularly those in
the Big Four. We see a lot more representation in women’s leagues,
with such past and present stars as soccer’s Megan
Rapinoe, the WNBA’s Diana Taurasi, and
tennis’s Billie Jean King leading the charge on
social activism and awareness. And in other sports, we see
representation all over the place, with diver Tom
Daley becoming an Internet sensation during his medaling
run in the 2012 London Olympics (remember they made that app after
him?), figure skater Adam Rippon having wowed us
all in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, and UFC powerhouse Amanda Nunes holding her own as arguably the GOAT
of MMA.

 

So, what can
be done to up the representation in the four major sports –
basketball, football, baseball, and hockey?

For one
thing, I think the digital age we live in, while giving people of
all different backgrounds, creeds, sexual orientations, gender
identities, and so on, a platform to connect with others in their
respective communities, has simultaneously made it harder for
people to feel safe when revealing private or personal information
due to the nature of trolling and cyberbullying. And the effects of
that are no clearer than in the world of male professional sports.
Per Outsports, there is currently not an
active openly gay player in any of the four major sports combined.
While a lot of that may be due to the outdated views of masculinity
and queerness that have become synonymous with being an athlete, I
wonder if the issue of LGBT+ representation in sports has more to
do with outside the locker room than in the clubhouse.

Jason
Collins, who became the first – and, to date, only —
openly gay NBA player in 2013, pointed out how, in the world of pro
sports, “There is that fear of stepping forward.” He went on to
state that it is the responsibility of not just those directly
involved with a given team or sports organization, but also of fans
– particularly in this digital age – to “create that environment
where those closeted athletes out there know that when they do
choose to step forward, that they will be supported and championed,
and continue to play the sport, continue to evolve, and not feel
that they have to hide who they are.”

Like Collins,
I too believe that players feeling comfortable enough to live
proudly in their own truths starts with not just those around them,
but with the fans, whose shoulders it would fall upon to rally
around the athlete in question if and when they were to officially
come out. The Internet can be a hotbed of turbulence and strife,
but how great would it be if a queer athlete experienced the flip
side of that – people from all over the world coming together to
show their love and unrelenting support for these larger-than-life
athletes at their most vulnerable moment? I’d like to note here
that, again, we’ve come a long way as a society in showing love and
acceptance to the LGBTQIA+ community, with Pride symbolism at the
corporate level pervading just about everything from clothing
brands to school supplies, shoes, and just about everything else
under the sun. But to me, what’s even more impressive is that Pride
Nights have become the norm throughout professional sports, a
concept that would have been basically unheard of even a decade
ago.

And even
though there are no active male athletes who identify as LGBT+ in
the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, everyday we see glimpses of change that
I believe will only trend in the right direction. Basketball legend Dwyane Wade’s unwavering acceptance of his
daughter Zaya, who recently came out publicly as
transgender, has been so wonderful to witness, and I’m sure such an
inspiration for so many in the trans community. And in 2019, on the
same night that one man proposed to his boyfriend during the
Washington Nationals’ Pride Night, Sean Doolittle – himself a long-time ally to the LGBT+ community — could be seen
with special Adidas cleats honoring both the queer community as a
whole with the traditional rainbow flag, as well as the trans
community and its flag.

So yes, I
think the future looks bright for male professional athletes, and
society at large, who identify as LGBTQIA+, as this community has
only continued to grow at an exponential rate. According to The Williams Institute, as of 2011,
3.5% of adults in the United States identified as gay, lesbian or
bisexual, while approximately 0.3% of adults identified as
transgender. Back then, that meant that 9 million Americans fell
under one of these four categories, a number that is still akin to
the entire population of New Jersey. But today, that number is even
larger, as sources have estimated that up to 7% of adults currently
identify as LGBT. And this doesn’t even include other forms of
queerness!

So where do
we go from here? Well, to put it briefly, I think we follow the
lead of Jason Collins and athletes who have yet to come out
publicly. Of course, we remain patient and hope that closeted
athletes will feel freer to live in their truths at some point in
the near future, but that comfort starts with us, as we
must do everything in our power to make queerness just as much the
norm in sports as it is in many other walks of life. Coming out is
ultimately a personal decision that should be done at a time when
the person in question feels comfortable enough, but I hope we
eventually live in a world where people always feel comfortable to
be out and proud, no matter how old they are, where they live, what
sport they play, or anything else. And for athletes that have yet
to come out or that will continue to blaze the LGBTQIA+ trails for
future generations, know this: We support you. We love you. We are
proud of you. And we still think you’re a world-class athlete no
matter who you love or what you identify as.

The progress
we’ve seen so far excites me, and I can’t wait to see what the
future holds for LGBTQIA+ athletes in the years to come. Happy
Pride, everyone!