Australian marksman Russell Mark, who is readying to go to London for the Summer Olympics, is angry that his riflewoman wife won’t be able to bunk with him in the Olympic village—especially since gay Olympians can share hop into each others’ beds.
Did he get a shot to the head once or something?
“The stupid part of this, which I have argued to them, is that there are tons of gay couples on the Olympic team who will be rooming together,” Mark said. “We are being discriminated against because we are heterosexual.”
Even if their were tons of out athletes at the Olympics, where there aren’t, what are they odds they’d be dating fellow Olympians? That’s like saying gays in the military get to hook up in their barracks.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Mark and his wife, Lauryn—who are both competing in shooting events—say they’re also being penalized because Mark spoke out against the recent ban on sleeping pills and Lauryn appeared in a risque photo shoot for a pinup magazine.
Well, they might not have the pleasure of each others’ company, but spectators will have the pleasure of seeing Mark in a Borat-style mankini at the opening games, after he lost a recent bet.
The man does his country proud, no?
Photo: Australian Olympic Committee
Andrew
His comments are an embarrassment and homophobic as it’s only he and his wife and not all heterosexual couples who are banned. I also read on some Oz newspaper sites that he believes that he’s be persecuted due to his comments on sleeping pill usage, but hey, whhy don’t we just attack the gays while we’re here.
MikeE
“tons of out athletes” eh?
let’s see… on the OZ Olympic team there’s one male diver who’s out. And one female volleyball player who’s out. Neither of their partners are on the Olympic team. So… where are those “tons of out athletes” frolicking and fornicating in those shared accommodations?
The guy is an idiot. No surprise there.
Stuart
Its a media attention grab and a reason for what will be his own piss poor performance at the games
Dave
Having been in the military and the barracks, I can tell you there was plenty of male/female sex escapades in the barracks between military members.
Anon
And I’d just finished reading this too.
http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/8133052/the-games-olympic-village-not-televised-espn-magazine
ousslander
he did not say out gay couples, he only said gay couples.
Lifer
I’m pretty sure the Olympics have been outed as a f***fest for all, w/ free condoms for all as well.
MikeE
@ousslander: and he is outright lying. a gay couple would not have any more luck being housed together than a heterosexual couple.
Ambrose
Oh boo hoo. Like the minimal (highly unlikely) possiblility that a gay couple might share a room in Olympic Village overshadows the fact that this man was able to marry legally in his country, and same-sex couples aren’t. This man is clearly a nut job.
B
Well, in a silly way he has a point. If you figure gays are 5% of the population (the high end of the estimates of the fraction of the population that is gay – a Kinsey 6), then there is a 0.25% chance that 2 gay athletes will be roommates. Over 13000 athletes compete in the Olympics, so there are going to be a number of cases in which two roommates are both gay. Meanwhile probably no straight guy is assigned a room with a straight woman.
His assumption is that gay athletes will probably find each other to be so hot that they naturally just go and do it, whereas straight athletes never get assigned a member of the opposite sex as a roommate and are thus being “discriminated” against as hookups based on convenience are harder to arrange for them.
It would be a funny argument if the guy was simply joking. He probably isn’t.
Who Cares?
This doesn’t surprise me this is coming from an Australian – many of them are known for being VERY homophobic and racist as well. I have a few Australian friends who will even admit that.
Joan Rivers
I think he shot himself in the foot with that argument.
Chris
ousslander, you are correct. Surely there are gay couples who are not out but are rooming together at the Olympics. Probably not many. But it’s a false argument to say the athletes have to be out to room together.
scott ny'er
from a news site:
==========
Unfortunately, for the Marks, their belief system is skewed, at least according to the Brisbane Times, which reported Monday morning:
Australian Olympic Committee media boss Mike Tancred told The Age five female shooters would have been forced to share one bathroom if the Marks had been accommodated … ”Russell needs to consider his fellow athletes,” Tancred said with the first wave of Australian athletes due into the East London village today.
”Russell and Lauryn need to understand that it’s unfair to ask five other female shooters to share one bathroom because that disrupts their preparation for their events, and really he also needs to understand that it’s not a motel. It’s not some luxury accommodation where you can get Russell and Lauryn a room. It’s really tight. There are no spare beds.”
philosochick
Look, I don’t want to defend potential homophobia, but he MIGHT have an interesting point. Presumably, the sex segregation of living conditions at the Olympics is to separate the opposite sexes (…okay, I hate using that word) due to a worry of sex (ooh, scary sex! Athletes already report that there’s a LOT of sex in the Olympic Village). But Russell Mark may be right: hetero couples may be separated in the Olympic Village, but gay couples are not.
That IS discrimination. I think people’s reactions on here are responding to his heteronormative privilege. Well, discrimination is discrimination, okay? It’s not about who has it worse. Mark has indeed unveiled a problematic policy. The answer should be to desegregate living quarters in the Olympic Village.
Ken
philosochick I heard Russell Mark on the radio here today and he used EXACTLY the point you made. He apologised if the gay community took it the wrong way. Maybe a few in here owe him an apology
just saying