After spending one season in the Minor Leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals, pitcher Tyler Dunnington quit the team upon hearing teammates and a coach talk about wanting to kill gay people.
He tells Outsports, “I wanted to share my story with you.”
My name’s Tyler Dunnington, and I was a 28th-round pick by the St Louis Cardinals in the 2014 MLB Draft. I was one of the not-so-many players to be given a chance to pursue my dream of being a Major League Baseball player.
I was also one of the unfortunate closeted gay athletes who experienced years of homophobia in the sport I loved. I was able to take most of it with a grain of salt but towards the end of my career I could tell it was affecting my relationships with people, my performance, and my overall happiness.
I experienced both coaches and players make remarks on killing gay people during my time in baseball, and each comment felt like a knife to my heart. I was miserable in a sport that used to give me life, and ultimately I decided I needed to hang up my cleats for my own sanity.
After a little over a year of being gone from the game I’ve come to realize I thought I was choosing happiness over being miserable. That is not necessarily the case. My passion still lies in baseball, and removing myself from the game didn’t change that. Most of the greatest memories I have are with this sport. After gaining acceptance from my friends and family I realized I didn’t have to quit baseball to find happiness.
I not only wanted to share my story but also apologize for not using the stage I had to help change the game. Quitting isn’t the way to handle adversity, and I admire the other athletes acting as trailblazers.”
According to ABC News, the St. Louis Cardinals are taking the allegations “very seriously.”
“This is very disappointing and our hope is that every player, staff member and employee feels that they are treated equally and fairly,” said Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak in a statement. “Given the nature of these allegations, I will certainly look into this further.”
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Watch Dunnington discuss the incident below.
Grant Mealey
Oh my, well good
Harlan Snyder
Taking a stand! Well done!
Kelly Florida
ok so which teammates?
bottom250
I will never quit being a catcher.
spemat
I am bi and was the breadwinner in my state and won Judo tournaments. Maybe it is me being less of a threat because I like both but I was outed at 7 on valentine’s day for making valentines for a few crushes… not all one or the other and got scolded and embarrassed and I was always called a switch hitter and part time homo etc for years but took that on early because I was the outsider and had no clue why. I heard homophobic remarks but they would direct it at femme gay dudes. They feared me and I sucked off quite a few too and fucked 4 of the 6 girls and they still bashed femme gays.
I ended up finding goth to fit in best regarding bisexuality so I had no relations whatsoever with gay men at all because they hated me and I used to flaunt the hot bi dudes I dated in the hall and made out etc. I also had 2 girlfriends a couple times to rub it into straight men but that was hell. I tried it once after with another dude in my 19-21 age and the women were hypocrites, always wanted alone time and fucked etc but my ex and I had to let them know to watch or join in and they were on the rag at the same time and fought the whole time. The few times we took off and had taking turns being daddy away from the war zone, they flipped. The last time they found us still on their period.
It could have been just guys and locker room talk. Maybe being able to beat their asses was a diversion but when I got sick of the “is it gay if I” questions and flipped and said I am both gay and straight and neither gay and straight. I have facefucked and deepthroated and been with two guys etc and the guy and girl or two girls all the time but I can suck and fuck til I am blue in the face or eat enough pussy to brag with any of you but I will never be gay or straight. I regret not doing anything about homophobia even when kissing all over my man while they did it just to rub it in. I tried to be friends though and they shit on me.
It’s the gayness, specifically femininity. I had some punk kids who thought they were cool in gym class start pushing and shoving a real weak queen type, who when he got in one fight with another just pulled hair and scratched and I yelled, “we gotta peeping tom in gym… he’s hiding to meat gaze.” got everyone laughing and said with a Perez voice, “Throw on those pumps and hop on that rainbow party and come out. No need to be creepy and make us all wonder if you are peeping at our junk!! It’s no biggie!! I suck dick and the ones who worry, change somewhere else”… he left that class after crying and changing in the stall.
It is cultural. But I found that when it clicked what bisexual was, they were not threatened. Gayness is the threat to them. To a lesser extent us too but only because we want both gay and straight qualities to be noted and if not, we get pissed. Many will settle for straight and I give them shit for it but that trend is lessening now. They were talking smack. Often-times many would offer to kiss and feed me to get in on a girl/girl deal but I shot them down. It is femininity and weakness that is the whole gayness issue. I am 35 and I was fine in high school. Bullying, reputation and once goth, I was the top dog in my school so I had other factors. I am trying to be the middle ground here.
Goth was my bi outlet though because it was accepted there and not anywhere else. Even with gay kids. I was asked to be the GSA president for 2 years due to my movie trope public bisexuality and lack of issues but I didn’t know what it was and said, “What do gay and straight people getting along have to do with me?” I was also in that, voice classes, went to music festivals, took foreign languages and was in clubs for 2 out of 4 I knew, Honor’s society, debate club. I understand his fears and concerns but macho locker room team talk is always just that, talk.
Frank Keene
Good for you, most people would congradulate you
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
@spemat: What on earth are you talking about?
GC1985
@spemat: I didn’t bother reading most of this diatribe, but simply ignoring what people say isn’t going to help change anything. “Simply locker room talk?” Wow. Nice excuse. I didn’t realize it was okay talking about killing people. If you’re going to excuse bad behavior, we don’t need your life story validating your illogical stance.
Terrycloth
Confusing read i had to re read some of it twice. Rambles.hope he finds what has looking for.
captainburrito
@spemat:
“I understand his fears and concerns but macho locker room team talk is always just that, talk.”
Says the state Judo champion who despite being able to take care of himself had to pretend to be bi to get by.
Louis
Good for him I always love it when people in this community take a stand especially against stuff as disgusting and inhumane as the talk these macho sports athletes have in the locker rooms.
I cant get over how even in 2016 there are still these kinds of archaic and barbaric attitudes and even more pathetic is half these people who are saying these sickening and disgusting things about us and wishing us physical harm or death is they also have gay friends or family members.
It just turns my stomach truly.
Louis
@spemat: it’s exactly your kind of derogatory and prejudiced attitude that continues to be a big part of the problem within the LGBT community .
Years ago in high school I was very closeted and I knew it there was a very bright and very openly gay classmate of mine in music class I had nothing against him whatsoever and he was never really mean to me nor I him.
However one day I stupidly laughed when my now THANKFULLY ex friends giggled and whispered about him and I felt like absolute shit after because it was my own self loathing the fact that this guy was openly himself and comfortable and at that time I hated myself and I was constantly bullied for my perceived sexuality, how I spoke, how I walked , how I carried myself etc…
I still wear glasses and still feel insecure about myself however I am also a lot more empathetic then I was then.
Yes I was still empathetic then but also misguided and made my own fair share of mistakes and sometimes it takes growing from your own mistakes in order to make you a better person .
I say all this to say we have no idea what anyone is going through or what they have experienced and the femme comment you made and the comment about femininity and the one where you referred to someone as the weak queen type is completely uncalled for as well as insensitive and prejudiced .
Instead of projecting an attitude of superiority based on your own masculinity instead you should embrace the differences instead of doing what bigots do to us all the time which would be discriminating against us and persecuting us over ridiculous things that aren’t wrong nor WEAK to begin with .
Femme means men who are in touch with their feelings and sensitivity people who always exemplify warmth , love, and empathy and I have always been so grateful and proud to have dozens of those gay men as my friends and my brothers .
I’ve actually noticed that most gay men who profess machismo and arrogance are the ones that are harder to find a common ground with and of course I am not referring to ALL gay men considering there are great ones who are macho but also kind and loving .
But this is the problem when you discriminate against these men it makes you look just as petty and ignorant as those who are straight who also try to persecute or stereotype us as Americans .
There are some gay men who are athletic there’s who are not which neither are bad things nor signs of weakness .
There are some gay men who like to shop , watch Bravo (as I do for example) design clothes , create art, write poetry etc…
If you constantly have this attitude that you are above others who are gay then you are the problem not the people you are showing prejudices towards and discriminating against .
It’s even more ironic your attitude considering the prejudices some within this community profess in regards to bisexuals in this country.
Before you judge you really should get to know people better and understand them better .
Judge people by their character not by what they watch, wear, the sports they do or do not participate in, how they look, how much they weigh, who they love, their gender identity, etc…
I prefer to wear my heart on my sleeves and I respect everyone who stands up for themselves especially against prejudices or hypocritical attitudes within OUR community .
That’s my feelings anyways .
Louis
@spemat: oh I almost forgot you can’t just dismiss someone talking about killing people whether based on the color of their skin, their gender, their sexuality, the gender they are attracted to, their nationality, their creed, the gender they identify as, as just LOCKER TALK.
That’s considered hate speech having casual conversations about normal things would be locker talk not talking about killing other human beings (in general) based on someone’s personal prejudices, intolerances, or uneducated ignorances.