Champion cyclist Graeme Obree told the Scottish Sun this week that gay athletes should stay in the closet until they retire, like he did.
Well, it seems stupidity is in the air. Philipp Lahm, captain of the German national soccer team, has just put out a book in which, among other things, he refutes the rumors that he’s a homo and advises gay players to stay in the closet.
“First, I am not a homosexual. I am not married to my wife Claudia for appearances and I do not have a friend in Cologne with whom I really live,” Lahm—who once received an award from the Weimar Gay Triangle for speaking out against prejudice—writes in A Subtle Difference: How to Become a Top Footballer. “This speculation doesn’t matter to me… “I have nothing against homosexuals and I find that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality.”
Referencing English player Justin Fashanu, who killed himself in 1998, though, Lahm goes on to write that queer soccer players should keep the closet doors shut.
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“I would not advise any gay professional footballer to come out… I would fear that he could end up like Justin Fashanu who, after he outed himself, was driven into such a corner that he ended up committing suicide.” Lahm added that he’d have no problem with a gay teammate.
Even setting aside the fact that Fashanu’s death was nearly 12 years ago—well before bad-ass rugby champ Gareth Thomas announced he was gay—Lahm is just reinforcing the idea that coming out causes problems. Why not say it could be tough but courageous? Or talk about how wrong it is that such an environment exists? Or, we don’t know, keep his mouth shut about matters he insists he has no knowledge of?
Frankly we’re stunned: Who knew the guy could pick his knuckles off the ground and manage to type a whole book?
Image via sdhansay
MikeE
didn’t you know? they taught them to use sign language a few years back.
Thomas Maguire
er ist dumm. er sollte in der Nähe seines Mundes. für immer.
Hephaestion
Philipp Lahm is a spineless wimp. Instead of encouraging cowardice, he should be encouraging gay players to stand up for justice, equality, and sanity. And he should be saying that if any gay players came out, he would support them against any foes.
Cam
It’s a shame that a different group of minorities in Germany is being encouraged to hide with the excuse that they may be hurt or end up dead.
Seriously, I would think the guy would want to stay away from remarks like that.
steve
Thing is there are people who know who is and who isn’t gay
In the sporting industry whether it be team mates, coaches, managers, trainers, family members or even boyfriend ect there are always people who know so therefore I’m sure most players are fine with not shouting it from the roof tops.
If we’re talking about people in the public eye who are gay and not only hiding it but covering it up by the way of having fake girlfriends or even getting married to women as part of the cover up.. then I find that wrong.
However at the end of the day.. if I’m not the one getting fucked by some hot athlete then why should I really care??
Damon
Frankly with the general homophobic state of the football watching community still very much alive, coming out of the closet could be disasterous for a footballer. ALthough the Justin Fashanu incident occured 12 years ago, it’s very much possible it could happen again today.
That’s not to say that I support the advice but unless a footballer has a strong emotional state then it’d probably be best for them to remain closeted.
inoits2
Rules for a long happy career:
1. Do not believe it won’t harm your career.
2. Do not believe you will not be forever known as the “gay athlete”.
3. Do not believe that you will be welcomed with open arms.
4. Do not believe what your peers say as they don’t want to be painted as intolerant.
5. Do not believe that you have to do anything to coddle gay activists.
6. Do not believe that you owe the gay cause your livelihood.
7. Do not believe that you are wrong to stay in the closet. That’s for you to decide.
6. DO wait until you are successful and rich. Then when you come out you can have the last laugh.
Same applies to teens still living at home.
the crustybastard
Christ, what an asshole.
Queer Supremacist
Based upon history I have little regard for what a German has to say about how any minority should behave.
OhMy
Funny enough, Lahm said a few years back that he would encourage every gay player to come out. It´s easy to criticize someone if you only take a few lines out of context, and while I´m not accusing queerty to do such things, I think they fell for a german publication which is clearly on a campaign against Lahm exactly because he showcased a lot of open-mindedness in the past.
It doesn´t take a lot to join the ranks of your own worst enemy, huh?
WaterfordCT
I think Lahm is awesome, though I disagree with him on this. I think players should, if they choose, come out. But I agree with him that the Fashanu case was tragic, unecessarily so.
WaterfordCT
@Queer Supremacist: Based upon history, I think Germans have a lot to say on everything. They have the most Nobel Prizes in the Science categories, equal to the UK and the U.S. The world would be poorer without them….going all the way back to Gutenberg.
Queer Supremacist
@WaterfordCT: As a gay man and a Jew, I think the world would be a lot richer without them. I’m sure my Eastern European ancestors who sent letters to my grandfather and his family up until the early 1940s, when those letters stopped coming for obvious reasons, would agree. I will never forgive that country for Nazism.
WaterfordCT
@Queer Supremacist: Whatever. When some people have said they hate Jews I say, “But you’ll still make use of Jonas Salk for your kids.” Likewise, you still make use of every German advancement in medicine, etc.
WaterfordCT
And besides, some of our homo-greatest, from Ludwig to Frederick, are from there.
Cam
@WaterfordCT: said..
“Based upon history, I think Germans have a lot to say on everything. They have the most Nobel Prizes in the Science categories, equal to the UK and the U.S. The world would be poorer without them….going all the way back to Gutenberg”
___________________________
The Nobel Prize committee has already made it obvious that they give prizes based more on political reasons than anything else.
Additionally, you are numerically saying that the Germans are one way because of the number of awards they won. Somebody could just as easily use a few other numbers to negate that.
I will give you one simple example of some of Germany’s effect on the world to balance out the number of Nobel Prizes they won…..Look at the Middle East and all the pain and sadness that has come out of there for decades….just why do you think it was that all the European Jews fled there and began that domino effect?
So again, defending an idiotic statement by a soccer player merely because he comes from a country that has won Nobel prizes is silly.
WaterfordCT
Cam : Only the Peace Prizes are given for political reasons. Look up the winners for Medicine, Chemistry, Physics someday and it’s undeniable that the Prizes were given to the most deserved. Isn’t it really Queer Supremacist who started this with being silly by dismissing any opinion of any German?
WaterfordCT
(Actually, I might think it’s silly, but I support everybody’s right to have an aversion or dislike for any ethnicity for whatever personal reasons).
jason
Philipp Lahm is a German idiot. He might we well-meaning but he comes across as if he’s reinforcing prejudice. Instead of telling the gay guy to stay in the closet, he should be telling the bigots to fuck off.
o
@Henry: Just because Charles virtually raped a gay boy, and just because he’s had fantasies of raping women for who knows how long (maybe within the past ten years), doesn’t make him a rapist. He has to actually rape someone with penetration for it to count. It’s like the five-second rule, it doesn’t count unless food touches the ground for five seconds.
Henry
@o: I’ll tell you what. Charles Rozier is a psychopath, which means that he doesn’t have a conscience and can’t imagine consequences, so he has no reason not to do it, and he can’t see distress signs, so if he started to do it, he wouldn’t know to stop. I would be very surprised if he doesn’t go through with it. He’s already made it profoundly clear that he has no respect whatsoever for women. If Charles Rozier DOESN’T rape a woman in the next three years, I’ll eat my hat.
Talan
@Queer Supremacist: Thank you for perpetuating hatred. The Nazis have won in your case.