I empathize with gay athletes. In locker rooms, female sports reporters are discriminated against in a similar fashion. When New York Times reporter Robin Herman became the first woman to enter a professional locker room in 1975, the opposition feared she would -- how to put this? -- “Take a peek.” It’s the same argument some straight athletes have given for not wanting to change or shower in front of gay athletes.

Let's set the record straight (no pun intended). Female reporters are in locker rooms to work. If they had any other way of getting interviews with the athletes, they would. Women in professional locker rooms feel about as comfortable as Mike Tyson at a suburban book club.

Female reporters don't want to be in locker rooms any more than anyone else, but in order to compete with male reporters for post-game quotes, they have to be. I can thank my mother for that. Her generation protested, burned their bras and even died so I could have a job that was once held only by men. With the sacrifice of the feminists of the '60s, came many liberties I revel in today, but with equality came burden. Equal means equal. If the male reporters are going in, by golly so are we -- giving a whole new meaning to the word “exposure.”

The notion of women “checking out” players in locker rooms is false and mainly only exists in the minds of those athletes whose bloated self image leads them to believe they have something women would actually want to see. For the record, women don’t want to look because it's unprofessional. And, well, who wants to “check out” the backside of a 350-pound lineman who just wrapped up windsprints in the summer heat? It ain’t pretty.

The same applies to gay athletes. They are professionals. And like dozens of straight athletes, they see what they do as a job and where they work as a workplace, not a dating service. The perception that homosexuals are perverted or sex addicts is an outdated stereotype bred of fear and ignorance. “Hitting on” co-workers or teammates is not what they are there for.

Honestly, perhaps there's a deeper issue here, an explanation that can only be found in the depths of masculinity. Think about how it must feel to be tackled by the kicker, taken yard by an American League pitcher who gets a rare interleague at-bat or dunked-on by a 5-foot-6 point guard. Okay, now multiply that embarassment by 10. Get the drift?

Maybe all this has nothing to do with the locker room at all. Maybe, just maybe, the real problem is on the field. A place where athletes are tough enough to endure bone-crushing hits, but find the emasculating prospect of getting beat by a gay guy just too intimidating to handle.

I was waiting for the Round 2 opinion pieces, and I am not to be disappointed. Film critic and professional culture-war whiner Michael Medved 'weighs in.'

Gay Men Akin to Profoundly Unattractive, Morbidly Obese Women, or 'Where Hardaway Was Right'



[I'm not linking to a hate site, but if you're all that interested, Mr. Medved's screed is on Townhall.com.]

I find it amazing that those who hate us can so casually find us homos variously and incumbently perverse while simultaneously (and accidentally) imbuing us with what they demonstrably see as a super-human control over our otherwise all-consuming perversion.

What *can* I mean, you ask?

Well, I grew up in boys' dormitories where there were no openly gay residents-- not even me. Funny thing, I managed never to pitch wood in the showers. In all those years, there was never a scandal (and a scandal it would have been, too) that alleged that one of the other boys had done so either... yet the idea that I was the only gay kid in the building is absurd.

So, since str8 people like Medved admit that *they* wouldn't be able to control themselves when confronted by a potential object of lust-- and since we fags obviously can-- which group is the 'morally deficient' one?

Those who suggest that a guy could shower with young female athletes without risk of arousal, or that a gay guy could shower with young male athletes with problems or discomfort, don’t merely defy common sense. They ignore human nature.

Yes, there are jerks on every team -- and a few outright homophobes -- but my experience as a veteran sports journalist leads me to believe that if an active, professional male athlete did dare come out, most of his teammates would accept it, and the predominant peer pressure would force the numbskulls to go along.

Evidence? OK, I personally know well two absolutely outstanding gay athletes who starred for many years -- one in a team sport, one in an individual sport. No, neither ever came out. But, yes, everybody knew they were gay. After a while, it just wasn't an issue.

So I believe that the reason gay male athletes stay in the closet has far more to do with the public than with the locker room. What player would dare risk giving the beered-up Neanderthal creeps in the cheep seats a chance to scream vile personal insults every time he missed a basket or struck out?

Isn't it revealing that not a single American leading-man actor has ever admitted his homosexuality when he was still a star? And yet we all know that the theatre is institutionally welcoming to gays. Obviously, it is fear of the audience, not of their colleagues, that keep gay actors playing straight.

Male athletes can be boors and bullies. You bet. Teams and leagues themselves can be hidebound. (Consider that when the Toronto Maple Leafs recently sanctioned the use of their logo and game action in a new movie about a former player who is gay, the decision somehow became front page news.) So yes, professional sports is not the most progressive environment.

But to hear, every time a former athlete comes out, that athletes are quintessential bigots, is simply a canard. The villains are the ones cheering -- and booing. The bad guys, in short, are us.

... Alone with his secret, the college lacrosse coach sat down at his computer seeking others like himself: gay men who played and coached competitive, high-level sports but remained trapped in the closet.

"I am totally closeted, not married, totally gay and no one would guess," he wrote in an online chat room for gay athletes, coaches and fans. "My family, my team, my university and my career are not even remotely gay-friendly."

Over the next two years, Frustrated Coach revealed his hopes, fears and secrets with his trusted, but similarly anonymous peers on Outsports.com.

The 33-year-old coach shared his regrets about pursuing "serial one-night stands" with strangers as he grappled with his identity. He disclosed a recent bout with colon cancer. His upbringing in a fundamentalist Baptist church that scorned homosexuality. The emotional void he felt in hiding. How a psychologist urged him to date women to make sure he was truly gay. Alcohol binges he sought to dull the pain. The 24-hour involuntary commitment on suicide watch in a psychiatric hospital.

Gradually, the coach grew more comfortable in his own skin. On Halloween 2004, he told his parents, both devout Baptists and the children of missionaries.

The coach's parents were devastated. So were his older brother and sister. The family's youngest child was a sinner, an abomination in the eyes of God. Communication stopped.

Frustrated Coach returned to his computer, gaining more confidence even as his family shunned him. Over the ensuing 18 months, he began to confide his secret to a select group of friends - but no one connected to lacrosse.

On June 10, 2006, Frustrated Coach again logged on to Outsports . This time, he signed his online post using his real name: Kyle Hawkins. Head coach, University of Missouri men's lacrosse.

I wonder where they lifted it from...

John Amaechi hasn't heard a word from any former NBA teammates since becoming the first former league player to acknowledge his homosexuality.

"Not one," he said Thursday night.

It's the exact opposite when it comes to his former Penn State teammates. The ex-Nittany Lion said he's received messages from every former college teammate.

"Every single one," Amaechi said during a 90-minute appearance at the campus student union, speaking in front of a banner that read "Welcome Home John. Penn State's Finest."

[...]

Amaechi was critical of former Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland, who resigned last month. Portland and the university in March settled a lawsuit from a former player who claimed Portland had a "no-lesbian" policy on her team.

"She, anyone like that is incongruent with what this university and society ... should stand for," Amaechi said, drawing applause.

THE only Welsh ref to be selected for the Rugby World Cup has revealed he considered suicide as he prepared to admit: "I'm gay."

Pontyberem official Nigel Owens spoke yesterday of his anguish over coming out as a homosexual man in the macho sport.

"It's such a big taboo to be gay in my line of work, I had to think very hard about it because I didn't want to jeopardise my career," said Nigel, 35, who is to become the 54th Welshman to officiate at the tournament in France this autumn.

[...]

... he believed things may have been easier had he been a player.

"The fans love them for what they do and are a lot more prepared to accept them for who they are. I mean, refs aren't exactly the most popular people in the world at the best of times," he said.

But he maintains the reaction has been largely positive: "I might get someone shout something about me being a 'bent ref', but they usually realise what they've said and go, 'Oh, sorry Nige, didn't mean it like that'."

News that Dublin is to host an international gay rugby tournament has already been met with “crouch, touch, hold and engage” euphoria.

The International Gay Rugby Association (IGRAB) — don’t complain about the acronym it could have opted for GAA, the Gay Athletic Association — has chosen Dublin above Paris and Sydney for the 2008 Bingham Cup, one of the largest international rugby competitions of its kind.

An expected 36 teams from around the world are expected to visit Dublin. Endorsed by the IRFU, what is fast becoming the Eurovision of the oval ball has been confirmed for the DCU sports complex in June of next year.

A CHARITY fundraiser has set up Scotland's first gay football team. Kevin Rowe, 34, says he created Hotscots FC because gay players were not comfortable in "straight" teams and had suffered discrimination.

He said: "It's for gay people who like football but who feel a little intimidated playing in straight teams. The social side is very important. "It's not like we play in pink strips or anything. It is not blatantly obvious."

Hotscots have a squad of 20 and compete in tournaments in their home city of Edinburgh. They are planning training sessions in Glasgow and games against other gay sides in England.

Kevin, a fundraiser for the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, knows the players may have to get used to jokes about "playing for the other side" but he insists they want to tackle stereotypes.

Kevin, of Edinburgh, added: "Footballers can be testosterone-fuelled and it can be an aggressive game. There will be people who feel uncomfortable about being the only gay on the team. Some of them feel they have to keep it secret.

"It 's nice to have an environment where it's not a big deal, because there's a lot of banter and I know players who have suffered abuse. We'd like to play against gay teams in England. There's a fair few down there.

"Before this, I did not know any gay people who were interested in football."

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.

It was a different story on land.

The teenager with the powerful build and close-set eyes had to be careful. He hung back ever so slightly when teammates shot the breeze, talking about girls.

"You get tired of constantly watching what you say, constantly watching how you act," he said. "You're almost paranoid."

Goodman felt so uneasy that he finally told the Green Lake Crew his secret: He is gay.

The 18-year-old belongs to an emerging generation of openly gay and lesbian athletes on high school and college campuses across the country. These young men and women are quietly venturing where no pro football or baseball star has gone, challenging the conformist, if not downright homophobic, tradition of the playing fields.

Their numbers are difficult to gauge because many confide only in peers. Experts chart the trend anecdotally through athletes who join gay rights clubs at school, e-mail gay rights advocates for advice or announce their sexual orientation on websites such as Facebook and MySpace.

"This is an issue that's in transition even as we speak," said Jay Coakley, a noted scholar and author on sports culture. "We're looking at how the world is changing."

It is not a place where homosexuals have felt particularly welcome. In the fall of 2002, as Castro started high school, the big local news involved an eighth-grade girl expelled from gym class by teachers who suspected she was a lesbian.

Ashly Massey faced insults from classmates and derogatory graffiti on campus.

The ACLU and the National Center for Lesbian Rights took up her cause, suing the school district, which eventually agreed to provide diversity training for teachers and students.

Against this backdrop, the stillcloseted Castro was fighting his own battles.

His father was in prison, and relations with his mother had deteriorated. He left home. His grades faltered.

A friend steered him to Phil Takacs, a school counselor, who is also gay. They formed a bond and Takacs realized the teenager needed a stable home.

It was a tricky situation — a counselor taking in a student, both of them homosexual. Takacs conferred with district officials and, with the help of Castro's grandmother, went to court to obtain educational and medical rights on behalf of the teen.

In the months that followed, Castro's grades improved and his dark moods subsided. Takacs rewarded him with shopping trips because Castro had showed up at his home with only a garbage bag full of clothes.

"Phil is one of the best dads I've ever seen," said Jim Broncatello, who recently retired as Banning High's principal. "There's no doubt in my mind that Anthony considered Phil his father."

[...]

That final year of high school, Castro played three sports, participated in student leadership and was on the yearbook staff. Classmates knew him as upbeat, quick with a joke, and Broncatello saw him fit in easily with groups that ranged from teachers to jocks to kids who considered themselves outsiders.

Other gay students — boys and girls — took note.

"They started being much more themselves," Takacs said. "I had three kids come up to me and say, you know, Anthony made it OK to be gay in Banning."

[...]

Jensen, who resigned as the school's football coach after last season, said he used to espouse a version of "don't ask, don't tell," figuring that discussions of sexual orientation had no place on the field or in the locker room. Castro changed his view.

"I can see the courage of these players to come out," Jensen said. "They're just trying to lead a normal life, and that's to be commended."

On a Sunday afternoon in January, about six months after graduating, Castro and some friends were riding in a pickup near Beaumont. The truck lost traction and rolled into a ravine. At 19, Castro was killed.

As many as 600 students and teachers showed up for his memorial service at the Banning High gymnasium. Reichling, who had succeeded him as football team captain, had "RIP Castro" stitched into his letterman's jacket.

It was a tricky situation — a counselor taking in a student, both of them homosexual. Takacs conferred with district officials and, with the help of Castro's grandmother, went to court to obtain educational and medical rights on behalf of the teen.

In the months that followed, Castro's grades improved and his dark moods subsided. Takacs rewarded him with shopping trips because Castro had showed up at his home with only a garbage bag full of clothes.

"Phil is one of the best dads I've ever seen," said Jim Broncatello, who recently retired as Banning High's principal. "There's no doubt in my mind that Anthony considered Phil his father."