people always talk about the extreme no homo mentality in guys sports teams but don’t talk about the severe lesphobia in girls sports teams. growing up playing team sports really fucked me up as a kid. straight girls i’ve played with were always scared of being perceived as gay for being athletic and because of the stereotypes of lesbians in certain sports. this was universal in the 3 sports i played: volleyball, softball, and basketball.
there were always strict unwritten rules about how you presented yourself while playing. for instance the ribbon in the hair for softball and a bow in your ponytail for volleyball. if you didn’t prove your femininity while playing you were a lesbian. there was so much effort in not being seen as a lesbian and proving that you /weren’t/ a lesbian was really important.
girls would always talk shit about girls with short hair on opposing teams. “we’re playing the team with the d*ke” was something i heard often as a kid. something i still heard in high school. being a lesbian in girls sports teams is predominantly what made me feel trapped in the closet in high school. I only felt comfortable coming out after i quit sports altogether
so if we could stop acting like straight girls have less of a stake in homophobia that’d be great
!!!!
Tag: homophobia
The NHL and Bettman want an openly gay player to parade around so they can say “Look, we did it!” without actually caring about the player’s thoughts and feelings on the matter, or even if the player was actually ready to come out publicly.
Yup! Like the co founder of Outsports wonders why they don’t want to come out to the media when he describes them like this:
“All professional sports leagues are quote-unquote ready for an out player. But the gay athletes are just afraid. They’re cowards,”
Cyd
Ziegler told the Blade.
“The gay athletes in the major men’s professional sports today are cowards. And even worse than the athletes that are active in sports are the dozens or hundreds of gay athletes who are retired who won’t come out,” he said.
“I mean, they have nothing to lose in the sports world,” Ziegler said.
“At this point the most important thing any of these advocacy groups can do is identify professional LGBT athletes and work with them to come out publicly. I don’t think any of them are doing that,” he said.
That is so horrifying that the only thing they think of is how to get those players to come out, not to make them feel safer or more accepted. They want those clicks and positive press, and don’t truly care about the athletes’ comfort.
And Bettman and co. desperately want those brownie points as more athletes from the big sports leagues come out and the NHL stays silent. The only thing that matters for them is that a player comes out, so they can say they’re inclusive without having to any more to actually combat the NHL’s issues. I’m going to quote a section that article Pain and Consumption: What Society Really Wants From an Out, Gay Athlete:
White, cis, gay men are simply the most marketable athletes within the LGBTQIA spectrum – much in the way that white, cis men are generally considered to be the most valuable demographic in mainstream culture.
A white, gay, cis, male athlete in a major sports league could be consumed in a variety of ways. He could be worn like a badge by his employers and by the league he plays in, like a human version of adding the rainbow flag to a corporate logo.
He most definitely would be used to illustrate the diversity of a specific organization and league, without having that team and league do the hard work of challenging and changing the intertwined systemic issues of racism, religious discrimination, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia that are endemic to the sports entertainment industry.
Even when he doesn’t come out, he is still available for consumption, as we saw recently in the infamous and dangerous piece in which a straight Daily Beast reporter used Grindr to profit and capitalize on the sexuality of gay athletes while simultaneously jeopardizing the safety of those athletes.
And that about sums up how the media and these leagues treat and view closeted and out lgbtqia athletes and why no NHL players have come out yet.
Queer Assimilation Will Never Lead to Queer Acceptance
North American LGBTQ advocacy groups, like Athlete Ally and You Can Play (YCP), exist to make the sports landscape more inclusive – and yet, this advocacy model brings its own problems. Far too often, queer advocacy in sports is actually an argument for queer assimilation, and in pro sports like hockey, the specter of queer and trans inclusion is often a boilerplate statement, draped in rainbows, that is intended to obscure a true lack of action.
“If you can play, you can play” is an appropriate slogan for You Can Play, because it illustrates the organization’s limited mandate. The slogan frames queerphobia in sports as a question of merit while limiting the discussion of inclusion to a given athlete’s talent. However, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in sports has never actually been an issue of ability.
YCP’s slogan promotes advocacy without challenging a discriminatory culture. Such advocacy doesn’t promote inclusion, but rather assimilation. Queer assimilation will not result in the free participation of queer athletes because assimilation leaves in place the racist, hypermasculine, homophobic, and transphobic culture of sports like hockey. This is by design.
This is such a fantastic read that really sums up the problems with YCP (and other organizations like it, and how they can and must do better.
Reminder that if you have a problem with queer interpretations of Captain America, that problem is NOT shared by the cast or creators, so stop projecting.
I’ve had plenty of people tell me that it’s “disrespectful” to the authors if you interpret a character as queer without a clear textual indication. But the people who actually made these characters disagree with that.
MCU Cast & Crew:
- The Russos are cool with it and have repeatedly validated the interpretation, even noting that a lot of women who worked on the movie are invested in that relationship. (Link 1, 2, 3, 4).
- Sebastian Stan is fine with it, and thinks it’s great that people can interpret it however they want. (Link).
- Chris Evans says he didn’t deliberately put it into his performance, but he has no problem with it and thinks a romantic relationship “wouldn’t be so bad.” (Link).
- Emily VanCamp was excited to hear about it, and thinks it’s great that this is a conversation we’re having about a character like Captain America. (Link).
- Hayley Atwell is a fan of bisexual Steve Rogers, and hates pretty much every ship for Steve but Steve and Bucky. (Link 1, 2).
Comics:
- Ed Brubaker, the man who created the Winter Soldier, not only fucking loves it, but has also been known to tweet links to Steve/Bucky fan fiction. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
If you have a problem with interpreting this character as anything other than heterosexual, not only is that problem yours alone, but the character’s creator thinks you’re stupid. Stop hiding behind authorial intent, and consider why it bothers you so much that someone you thought was straight might not be.
Also, Hayley ships Cartinelli. ❤
Samuel L Jackson literally called Chris “LGBT Captain America” on a red carpet–in front of Chris, Scarlett, and a ton of press. Chris responded with a happy laugh.
For the fucking record, there’s no mention of Captain America’s creators in the above posts. Jack Kirby and Joe Simon created Captain America. SO, you’d better correct your statements as it applies to Disney’s Marvel only.
The fact that there’s no real evidence to support Captain is homosexual tells me he isn’t. Fan interpretations are just fans individualising and tailoring things they like to be more fitting for their lifestyle.
That is all.
Oh, and fuck Disney’s Marvel.
I find that it’s often somewhat difficult to ask dead people for their opinions on a topic. But I pulled out my ouija board just for you, and they told me they’re both cool with it.
They also wanted me to pass on, “F U C K Y O U”
Maybe that’s some sort of pet name you guys had for each other?
Steel Phoenix Studios 
