Rather than face off against lady challenger Cassy Herkelman a a state meet today, 16-year-old Iowa wrestler Joel Northrup forfeited the match, saying, “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times. As a matter of conscience and my faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner.” The loss-by-default means Northrup loses his chance at the state championship title. Herkelman, a high school freshman, and Megan Black, a sophomore at another school, became the tournament’s first-ever female athletes in its 85 years. And while male v. female matches would have a fifty percent reduction in the chances of this happening, think of the outcry that would’ve taken place if there was a butt drag. Or a vagina drag.
lady challengers
Why High School Wrestler Joel Northrup Forfeited: His Religion Doesn’t Let Him Pin Chicks
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McMike
How does this pertain to any LGBT issue?
Silver
Seconded. Why is this on here? This has literally nothing to do with GLBT issues in any way, shape or form.
Spike
Neither an LGBT issue nor accidentally shows the 16 year olds junk in his singlet.
No point for the article nor picture. Typical Queerty
Devon
Free of an agenda. Except that high school wrestling one.
Caitlin
It’s not an issue of sexuality, no, but it is a gender issue. It’s definitely a lot more related than some of the stupid celebrity gossip that shows up on here, I’ll tell you that.
jak
Keep wrestling homo. No girls allowed!
Kieran
Joel was in a no-win situation. If he beat Cassy everybody would say, “big deal you beat a girl” and if he lost to Cassy he would be totally humiliated because he was beat by a girl.
Alex Sarmiento
Where in the Bible does it say “Thou shalt not wrestle someone of the opposite sex”?!
thematics
Was I the only one unaware that high school wrestling had gone co-ed?
And really, I too can’t see why religion has anything to do with Joel not wrestling a woman.
Some pastor somewhere has probably suggested that this ban is part of “abstinence education” and staying ‘ pure’!
AFruit4Thought
Homophobia is based on the gender dichotomy – gay males are “feminine” and can assume sexual positions that are “passive” (not that straight guys can’t do the same thing).
I think that feminism and queer rights are intimately linked. No pun intended.
Merags
@AFruit4Thought: I agree with you 100% !! That’s actually what I’m going to be doing my graduate thesis on next fall!
Gigi
He was home schooled. Need I say more?
Cam
@Alex Sarmiento:
THANK YOU!!! Typical BS. I don’t really recall in the the Ten Commandmants “Thou Shalt Not don the singlet and wrestle a woman as thou wouldst a man.”
They just automatically spit out the word “Faith” or “My Religion” as an excuse for anything they want or don’t want to do because over the last decade or two people have come to think that that is a valid excuse for anything.
hf2hvit
Considering that he looks like he’s gone through as much puberty as Justin Bieber he probably still thinks girls have cooties.
Smelling his fingers after the vagina drag, he will find he was right!
adman
He gave up because he is a quitter. Religion in America teaches us to quit when things happen that we don’t expect, and he followed it. Why would anyone want a quitter standing in the winners circle anyway? Winner’s circles are for champions, not quitters.
As a Christian, maybe he should wrestle a starving lion to the death, then if he wins, we’ll give him the scholarship. Anything less would be a mockery of the anointed.
justiceontherocks
@Merags: I hope you won’t. It’s been done a bazillion times in the last 30 years.
Joe in Decatur, GA
Whether or not the guy explained his reticence with religion, why is his desire to not be in intimate contact with a woman somehow suspect? When I was 15, I wouldn’t have wanted to be grappling with a girl either.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
He forfeited because he was afraid of losing. If that teenage girl was good enough to reach the state finals, then this dumb kid was probably scared she was good enough to beat him. So he claims that he’s a macho man, and she’s too weak to handle his rough and tough macho man wrestling, and backs out.
jason
I don’t blame the kid for refusing to fight the female. Note that this inter-sex wrestling is being promoted by women, not men. Women want to intrude in all things male. Women are hung up on this notion that men are superior to women and thus must be like men.
Go away, girls. Respect the fact that men have different bodies from you and that you can never aspire to be like a man. Stick to what you are truly superior at – ie child-raising, for instance.
Seth
Classy kid – as a high school/college athlete this would have been a lose/lose for him. PC BS aside, boys/girls sports should be segregated…
Seth
should have phrased “as a former hs/college athlete myself…”
DR
@Seth:
Exactly. I’m all for women’s boxing, women’s wrestling, and women’s MMA (and really annoyed that the largest MMA organization in the world refuses to allow women to fight!), but the fact of the matter is that they should be segregated when fight time comes.
It’s easy to just turn around as some are doing and insinuate that “he was afraid of losing to a girl”, which is just more PC junk. I’ve walked off the mat at jiu jitsu tournaments when I’ve been dumped into a group of overgrown teenagers and women myself (I’m a light guy, and sometimes there aren’t enough men to compete in my weight class). I have tremendous respect for any athlete who gets in the ring or on the mat, but making statements via forcing young men to wrestle young women isn’t the way to go, IMO.
Jeffree
@Seth:, @DR:, Total co-sign here. I’ll support women’ s boxing, MMA or wrestling, (those are great sports for anyone who wants to train & fight) but i don’t think the matches should between M & F. Not for religious reasons, but because of the different risks and body types. I must not be PC to say that, but the coed matches seem unfair to both participants.
villager
Seth-
Great idea- one problem- money. Girls sports programs are a very small minority of the entire sports budget in college and in high school. So either the girl wrestles on the guys team or she doesn’t wrestle at all.
JKB
The kid is a pervert. He was afraid of getting a hard on during the match. That’s why I could never do wrestling as a sport, I’d be hard all the time! 🙂
DR
By the way, Queerty, he didn’t forfeit, he defaulted, which means he could potentially win a bronze medal by competing in the consolation rounds.
@Jeffree:
To me, there gets to be a point where you have to say “screw PC” and face reality. This is a great example. There ought to be a state-wide wrestling league for girls. It’s IOWA for crying out loud. If there isn’t enough interest to create a league, then the girls need to find some other way to wrestle, like maybe getting involved in similar sports (like jiu jitsu, sambo, or judo) privately and participate in those leagues, which often have a number of women. It’s not like the opportunities aren’t there.
Steve
@JKB:
Or he is gay and would rather bury his face in a guy’s crotch
greenmanTN
I don’t know. Isn’t there something odd about emphasizing one message, “It’s never OK to hit a girl or woman” to men and boys, then saying to male athletes “Now get in that ring and fight her to win”? I’d worry too about sexual assault accusations for a move or grab that would be standard with a male opponent. The good news is you won the match, the bad news is you’re on a sexual predator’s list. You can’t have it both ways.
Plus her gear looks far more substantial than his with a helmet that seems designed to prevent a grip. If you’re not going to compete equally isn’t it hypocritical to complain about not being treated equally?
DR
@greenmanTN:
It’s not a helmet, she’s wearing a hairpiece attached to her earguards. It’s not hard, it functions solely as a hairnet to keep her hair from getting loose during the match, and the top is her warm-up jacket. Watch any women’s MMA match and you’ll see how tight women braid their hair; that’s not so simple when dealing with just grappling and having to wear mandatory earguards.
You are, however, correct when you talk about the double standard as well as the concern with sex assault claims. Imagine what happened a couple of months ago where a male wrestler cried “sexual assault” over a butt drag… the outcry would be multiplied by about 100 if “he” were a “she”.
Either way, it’s ridiculous to expect the boys and girls to compete together in a full-contact combat sport like wrestling.
alan brickman
She exploited her gender to win…real classy!!!
alan brickman
Joel was in a “no win situation”i feel for him….another example of double standards and the women who abuse them….
alan brickman
she would have sued him if he touched her “inappropriately”…..seriously….
Oli
@Devon: ha! made me laugh 🙂
Otis Criblecoblis
Poor kid…he is being raised by religious nutcases. Nothing against his decision in this case, but he is being sheltered from the real world to keep him from heathen influences.
Chances are when he turns 18 he will either (1) rebel & move to San Francisco, or (2) will start a bizarre new religion & raise 18 children as a new generation of religious bigots.
Glenn Beck
The PC culture is destroying this country. Maybe some gay guys would be comfortable wrestling females, but heterosexual males feel different, especially about physical contact sport like wrestling. Next thing you know, the boy pops a boner on her or injures her and her parents will sue the school district for 30 million dollars for failing to protect their angel.
DR
@Otis Criblecoblis: “sheltered from the real world”? Did you read the part in my first posts in this thread where I talked about walking off the mat because I refused to grapple a woman in competition? Am I sheltered as well?
@Glenn Beck: No, the gay boys don’t want to grapple women in competition, either.
adman
@DR: FWIW the guys where I train roll with women all the time. The smaller ones, anyway. I’m too big for any of them, but I’d do it if an opponent stepped up. Just as hard of a takedown, just as rough as with a guy. If she wants to quit, she’ll tap like everyone else.
DR
@adman:
There’s a difference between training with a woman you know and competing with a total stranger, Adman. I worked with women at all of the schools I trained at, but that doesn’t mean I’d roll with them on the mat in competition, and I haven’t.
PS…convenient for you to specifically point out that you’re “too big” to roll with them, you’ve never actually been in the position of having to decide what to do when the time comes. I *have* been in that position, and did the same thing this young man did.
alex turner
ok guys cant understand showing someone that has stood up for his beleifes so much hate. he was raised not to be violent with girls, as was i and most guys (i hope). so he made a choice and lost a chance for a state title, no small choice i know. he did what he felt was right. so when your kids stand up for what they believe and people show then hate is that ok with you. oh wait isnt that what this homophobic society teaches??!! classy kid is right, and hope you make it to state next year.
alex (bi former high school wrestler)
jackson
@AFruit4Thought:
Feminists are some of the worst enemies gay men could ever have.
They work tirelessly to portray female sexuality as a beautiful thing that should be respected and adored, while painting male sexuality as a violent, disgusting, oppressive thing that must be stifled.
As a result, they help feed directly into the “lesbians are great, faggots are a sick abomination” double standard.
Jeffree
@Jackson (jason): Who said that this has to do with feminism? The young lady wasn’t promoting a “double standard” here: she was willing to roll with him; he wasn’t willing to with her.
alan brickman
she would have sued him if he won….seriously…
Devon
She went on to lose both of the matches she actually got to compete in, bee-tee-dub.
An uninteresting story becomes even less interesting.
Russ Jones
The reason for the article post could be the conscious or unconscious angst many in the GLBT community have towards Christians and their faith. In many ways it reflects the agenda to paint Christians as the enemy. Hate speech is littered throughout these comments.
lemon-lime
@Gigi: I was homeschooled, I’m gay and I’m pretty damn normal. Now take your head out of your ass and stop trying to put people in pretty little boxes while simultaneously complaining when people try to put you in them.
Bigotry is bigotry, doesn’t matter who you’re being bigoted about.
Edward Riseman
there is some real mean folks here, man vs female wrestling is pretty dumb in my book and if it was me I would do the same thing. Who want’s to wrestle a girl? I
Dawne
@jason: Hey, that’s not nice! While I agree there are some things that are simply not safe for us women to do because we are not built the same, you don’t have to get mean and say go raise kids. I know plenty of single dads who raise kids great, you don’t make fun of them. There is no need to belittle anyone here. Besides, I thought it was very respectful of that kid to forfeit the match. Regardless of his reasons. He simply did not want to chance seriously injuring someone. Why do people have to get down on him for that?