Athletes take notice: This is how you apologize. ESPN Radio host Bruce Jacobs in Albany, N.Y., made stupid comments last Tuesday when discussing the WNBA. He referred to two teams as the Los Angeles Lesbians and the Phoenix Dyke-ury (the two teams are the Sparks and the Mercury). According to the Albany Times-Union, Jacobs apologized [...]
Posts under ‘Homophobia’
Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King fire back at Margaret Court’s anti-gay statements
Last week, tennis great Margaret Court lashed out against gay people and gay marriage; Her homophobia has become a lasting theme in her retirement. Out lesbians Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King both returned fire this weekend. Navratilova told the Tennis Channel: Seems to me a lot of people have evolved as has the Bible, [...]
Longtime homophobe and tennis great Margaret Court fights against gay marriage
Tennis legend Margaret Court, winner of seven straight Australian Opens and a record 24 Grand Slam titles, is urging Australians to fight against the push for gay marriage in her country. Now a senior pastor in Perth’s Victory Life Church, had a littany of thoughts on the subject for The West Australian: No amount of [...]
Italian Players Union president Damiano Tommasi tells athletes to stay in the closet
Yet another example how European soccer is one of the most homophobic corners of the sports world. Italian Players Union president Damiano Tommasi demonstrated an incredibly shallow understanding and compassion for living as a gay person when he said in an interview that gay athletes should stay in the closet, and that there is no [...]
St. John’s basketball fans called out for anti-gay chants at game
New York Post columnist Lenn Robbins has a great column slamming St. John’s Univesity college basketball fans for their use of gay slurs during last weekend’s game against the University of Arizona. I didn’t find anything clever about the St. John’s fans in the student section that were chanting “U of Gay” as a mocking [...]
Former sportscaster Damian Goddard goes on the attack against same-sex marriage
Earlier this year when sports agent Todd Reynolds Tweeted his disappointment with Sean Avery’s support of gay marriage, then-Sportsnet broadcaster Damian Goddard Tweeted his opposition to marriage as well. Goddard’s contract with Sportsnet was quickly terminated. Now Goddard is on the attack, lashing out at same-sex marriage in a new video (after the jump) for [...]
David Testo tells Outsports why jocks stay closeted, and his first relationship
Moments after professional soccer player David Testo publicly came out of the closet in an interview with Radio-Canada’s Marie Malchelosse, the reporter warned Testo that his revelation would have far-reaching implications. Testo felt bad for Malchelosse: She seemed like a nice woman, and he was afraid she was too excited about a story that wouldn’t [...]
Director: Joe Paterno had his hands in the Rene Portland scandal, too
Editor’s note: Fawn Yacker is director of the award-winning film ‘Training Rules,’ about homophobia in Penn State’s women’s basketball program. She is currently working on a project about homophobia in men’s pro sports. Joe Paterno describes the current “tragedy” at Penn State as “…one of the great sorrows of my life.” He should add to [...]
Aussie soccer player Antony Golec sorry for homophobic tweet against referee
Antony Golec, a defender for the Adelaide United soccer team in Australia, has apologized and been reprimanded after he sent a tweet that used a gay slur to insult a referee. Golec was watching a match on TV involving two other teams Saturday when he took to Twitter to insult referee Ben Williams for some [...]
John Amaechi receives Officer of the British Empire Medal
John Amaechi received his Officer of the British Empire Medal from the Prince of Wales on Wednesday, a high honor for the only openly gay former NBA player. While I sometimes personally think Amaechi slightly overstates the current environment of homophobia in sports, his target on Wednesday — British soccer — was spot-on: If you [...]
Male cheerleader kicked off Alice, Texas, team for kissing another boy
A male high school cheerleader in Alice, Texas, says he was kicked off his cheerleading team because he was “caught” kissing another boy on a surveillance video. See the video interview with the boy after the jump. From NBC: Student handbook prohibits discrimination Alice High School, a public school in South Texas, states in its student [...]
Fan asks San Francisco 49ers to make an It Gets Better video
Sean Chapin, the San Francisco resident who helped get the baseball Giants to make an It Gets Better video in June, has now started a petition to get the 49ers to become the first NFL team to do the same. Chapin has garnered 6,068 signatures on an online petition asking the team to lend its [...]
Calls increase for NHL to fine Wayne Simmonds for gay slur
While the NHL has said it will not punish Philadelphia Flyer Wayne Simmonds for using a gay slur directed at Sean Avery during Monday’s game, that hasn’t stopped a growing chorus of people asking them to do so. A change.org petition asking for the NHL to fine Simmonds had over 35,000 signatures as of Thursday [...]
Video: Time to stop the homophobic slurs in sports
From Sean Chapin comes a video compiling the homophobic slurs that have been captured in the past four months, from Kobe Bryant, Joakim Noah and Wayne Simmonds. The message is that these slurs are not acceptable and have a negative impact on children who idolize sports figures. Bryant and Noah apologized and were fined. Simmonds [...]
NHL issues statement on gay taunts, won’t take any action against Wayne Simmonds
NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell released a statement Tuesday evening saying that yes, the league has a policy that forbids players calling each other a “fucking faggot,” but no, the NHL will not punish Philadelphia Flyer Wayne Simmonds for doing just that. Their reasoning? They can’t figure out what Simmonds [...]