It’s no real secret that homophobia in professional sports remains an immense hurdle. Now a sports writer for the Chicago Tribune has publicly come out of the closet and put the NFL specifically on blast for what he says is still a culture that demonizes being gay.
In a column titled “NFL still in closet about anti-gay culture,” author Chris Hine discusses his own experience as a gay man working adjacent to the still-homophobic league, as well as recent instances that suggest football is failing to make strides towards acceptance despite an official stance to the contrary.
Related: Unsung Heroes: Wade Davis Charts A Course For Gays In Sports
At the NFL combine a few weeks ago (yes, the same one that saw a defensive lineman slip out of his shorts), Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple was interviewed by the Falcones and the first question was, “Do you like men?”
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Hine reveals: “As a 29-year-old gay man, I spent the better part of two decades agonizing over that question and finally, when I was 20, came to accept that the answer was ‘Yes.’ It took another two years before I could tell my family, another year after that before I mustered up the courage to tell my closest friends and, well, six years after that to finally write about it in the Chicago Tribune.”
Apple later explained: “(The assistant) was like, ‘If you’re going to come to Atlanta, sometimes that’s how it is around here, you’re going to have to get used to it.’ ”
Hine writes:
If you read between the lines, Manuel is essentially saying, “Hey, if we pick you, you’re going to live in Atlanta and you might be out somewhere and get hit on by a gay guy. You’re OK with that, right? But you’re also not going to go home with him, right?”
Whatever the assistant’s intention, it’s a remarkably awkward and obtuse way to begin a conversation.
It’s also a dangerous line of thinking. It is clear the assistant thinks being gay is a negative thing, something he must guard against, and that associating with gay men is a fact of life in Atlanta, but it is something the assistant is telling players they must deal with, like it’s a burden.
Hine takes it a step further, linking the assistant coach’s insensitivity to younger player’s attitudes, like a group of high school players who recently made headlines after an antigay hazing ritual turned violent.
Related: How We Leveled The Playing Field: Ten Athletes Whose Courage To Come Out Scored Big For The Cause
While the day being gay is treated no differently from being straight may still be a ways off in the NFL and professional sports in general, we commend Hine for taking his own leap of courage to make his voice heard.
Stache
They used to do that in the military. Warn us about the threats of the gay and the places to avoid. Of coarse I used that as my own damron guide to search them out.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
So an “NHL writer” writes about the “NFL’s homophobia” and doesn’t examine his own backyard. The NHL is is far behind all sports organizations in terms of gay people. There us not one gay hockey player past or present and the hockey culture is deeply homophobic. Maybe he doesn’t want to bite the hand that feeds him?
Lets hope he writes about homophobia in the NHL soon.
Jon Seay
Awesome. Thank you Chris Hines.
Daniel Buckner
Awesome!
Tracy Pope
Glad to see more people in sports, whether players, coaches or writers, being open – and calling out the the different sports leagues on their homophobia.
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey: I don’t read the Tribune and I don’t follow hockey but I’m trying to figure out where you got “NHL writer” from.
Also, Queerty, Chris Jones didn’t “slip out” of his shorts. He burst out of his shorts!
hyhybt
Like other NFL cities DON’T have gay people.
Xzamilio
The bigger impact will come when an already established player comes out… until then, it doesn’t matter as much in the grand scheme of things. But, I will never diminish the impact that one’s coming out has in their own life and career, so nothing but respect from me.
Steve318
The Michael Sam debacle shows that coming out before or during an NFL career is problematic. We have no way of knowing if Sam’s career was cut short due to skill, homophobia, or personal problems. I suspect a combination of all 3, but he showed the pitfalls that await a gay NFL player. I don’t expect the homophobic don’t ask, don’t tell culture in the NFL to end in my lifetime. I’m hope I’m wrong.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
@Tracy Pope: He writes for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Daniel-Reader
And the anti-discrimination laws in the states where they do business are doing what exactly?