No, the producers decided to include Turkish oil wrestling, a prancing soccer referee and a crude sexual “move” from scripted professional wrestling. It’s another overtly stereotypical homage to the same old “Ha, I’m gay, what’s a football?” creed we’ve heard from so much of the gay media for years.

Amused? Offended? Inspired? Disgusted? What do you think of this video that certainly has no interest in undermining stereotypes…

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“If any of that was true, I would admit it, and (if) I was a homosexual I would embrace it. It’s just so crazy to hear, so I have a real problem with it… If you’re going to say I’m something that I’m not to try to ruin my career and my livelihood… I have to answer her back. It’s so ridiculous. I don’t mean to laugh about it, because it’s not funny. But it’s insane. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

The Hulkster, whose real name is Terry Bollea, filed a defamation suit against his ex,  Linda. From Us Weekly:

In her memoir Wrestling the Hulk: My Life Against the Ropes, Linda writes of harrowing physical, mental and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband during their 24-year marriage.

“[Hulk] tore my clothes, threw lamps, and held me down on the bed with his hands around my throat during arguments,” wrote Linda, who has two grown kids, 23-year-old Brooke and 21-year-old Nick, with the WWE star. “I was always afraid he would kill me in one of his rages.”

Hogan, 58, denies her charges and filed the defamation suit in response. Linda Bollea, with whom Hogan has a daughter, received about 70% of their assets in their divorce. He told Howard Stern in October that had he been gay, his ex-wife would have brought that up in the divorce proceedings:

“First off, I’ve got like four or five people who are gay and lesbian and like my best friends. Believe me … if I was gay or if I had a homosexual encounter one time, I would tell you. … It’s not true and it’s mean-spirited.”

It was cool to see Hogan not slam the idea of being gay and if fact saying he would embrace it if it were true. It’s the allegations of violence and abuse that are the really incendiary charges.

Update: Brutus Beefcake, aka Ed Leslie, says he is also suing Linda Bollea for the gay allegations.

Hogan appeared in October talking to Howard Stern. He addresses the gay part starting at the 1:25 mark:

Hat tip to Ross Forman and Towleroad.

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My life has been told in a nutshell numerous times through various articles. But I never actually sat down and told my life in its entirety. Growing up in small town America is not an easy task. We’re always the last to get the new inventions like the internet, HDTV, and all of the other things.

Growing up in small town America we had backyard football, wiffle ball and baseball. I can’t recall a day we spent inside. When those sports got old, we re-invented new ones like backyard basketball where tackling was allowed, and BB gun wars. Granted, as I think back, BB gun wars was not a bright idea.

I remember it plain as day back in firth grade when he moved into my class. A new boy from Norristown PA, which is right outside of Philly. Mike and I hit it off right off the bat. Come to find out his future step mom and my mom worked together, so our families ended up becoming best of friends as well. Mike and I grew up as close as brothers can be. Where one was, the other was. We hunted, fished, played football and wrestled together.

I will never ever forget when we were both 13, up in his room playing bases loaded on SNEs when our cocky talk turned sexual. We both lost our virginity that day. Mike and I continued our love/brother relationship for over two years until he decided he was going to started doing the straight lifestyle and end all sexual relations between us. Naturally, once that was gone the brother relationship we once had started falling apart. The only time I ever slept with a girl was when Mike’s cousin came over, and I thought/felt like I had something to prove to Mike. That night I slept with a girl for the first and only time.  I knew then I was in deep trouble with my life.

When I got the Internet at the age of 17, I thought, OK this is going to give me access to what I have been seeking for a long time. Instead it backfired for me. What I was seeing was gay couples being happy and being able to be who they are. It had a total reverse effect on me, on what I hoped would open my mind. I knew in my mind I could not be what I saw in the images. Not where I was in life. Depression kept building and building until I could no longer take it. It’s kind of odd, that even after 14 years I can remember the night before, and the night of my suicide attempt, like it happened yesterday.

The night before, the wrestling team, which I quit the beginning of the year, named me honorary captain when we faced our rivals, the Canton Warriors. The following night I was swallowing pill after pill no longer wanting to live the lie that I had built. As I took the pills, one thing that entered my mind was not being able to see the Giants win another Super Bowl. Kind of odd how us jocks think. All I knew is the white picket fence fairytale dream wasn’t for me, and I had to end it.

Unfortunately that night I told some one in California what I was doing and he called 911. Those who know my story already know what happened that night.

Being shipped to a teen psych ward is some thing no one wants to have happen to them. I had one thing working for me though: The other teens woke up that morning to know that a new kid arrived during the night.

I was in survival mode. I had played the part as the perfect jock for way to many years. I could fool these guys as well, I thought. And I did. Donning my letterman jacket, I started flirting with every girl in there. I was not ready to face my biggest fear. But I failed at my attempt to hide whom I was, so it was time to make the best out of it. Most of the staff that worked nights were Penn State college girls. They often flirted with me, and I flirted back. In my mind I was going to make it through this and everything would be fine. Little did I know…

I remember speaking to Mike that first night I got home from the psych ward. He was hesitant to tell me: Kyle had told the whole school about me being gay. Mike also told me that no one cared. He was worried about me: Mike wanted the best for his brother, but he knew my fate was sealed.

You can find Greg Congdon on Facebook.

Part 2 of his story will be published on Outsports next week.

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Before their Tuesday afternoon practice, members of the Harvard varsity wrestling team posed for a picture on the steps in front of the Malkin Athletic Center. But instead of sporting their team uniforms in this photo, the athletes came in gay pride attire and rainbow pins that read “Proud Ally.” … 

According to wrestler David J. Lalo ’13, it was a non-resident tutor in Lowell House, Robert Joseph “R.J.” Jenkins, who inspired the team to participate in National Coming Out Day.

“[R.J.] has made a tremendous impact across our team,” Lalo said. “We wanted to show him we support the LGBT community.”

Read the full story and see more photos at the Harvard Crimson. For some reason they use the acronym BGLTQ for our community. Hadn’t seen that one before.

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Check out the video here.

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Hat tip to Lemonwade.

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Hudson Taylor (photo by Lewis Payton)

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history.

Wrestling, 2010: In February 2010 I wrote an article about wrestler Hudson Taylor taking a stand for gay rights. Taylor was then a nationally ranked 198-pounder on the University of Maryland team. The article became our most read of that year and spurred Taylor to a course of activism. From the article:

It’s his outspoken support for gay rights, though, that makes him unique in the athletic world, where straight allies are few and far between. Not many athletes would wear a Human Rights Campaign sticker on their headgear in competition.

“For me and my generation, [LGBT rights] is a pressing issue,” said Taylor, 23, a native of New Jersey. “I believe that whatever history I’m a part of, I’m responsible for. If I feel something is unjust or unequal, I feel a responsibility to do something about it.”

Taylor puts his money where his views are, donating each month to HRC, a leading gay rights organization. But his greatest impact is trying to counteract the aura of homophobia that pervades sports. He does this by bringing up gay rights in media interviews and discussing the issue with teammates, despite the discomfort it might bring.

We have written a lot on Taylor in the past 18 months, which shows the impact he is having on changing the dialogue around gays in sports. He is also a great friend of Outsports and I am honored to have written his “coming out” story, so to speak.

For more information:

• Athlete Ally website
• Athlete Ally Facebook page

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Sports reporting, 1982. When Anchorage Daily News sports editor Roger Brigham walked into his managing editor’s office in 1982, he began a 30-year legacy that is rivaled by few in all of gay-sports journalism. He came out to his editor that day because the newspaper had no one to give insight on local gay issues. In a town of 180,000 people in Alaska he did what no one (to our knowledge) had been able to do even in gay-friendly metropolises like New York and Los Angeles.

Since then, Brigham has been a champion for gay equality. In his reporting he is unbridled in his push for more visibility for gay athletes. Now with the Bay Area Reporter, he often chronicles the stories of gay athletes. He is an integral part of the Golden Gate Wrestling Club which makes wrestling accessible for gay and straight adults; And he’s invested heavily in bringing sports into the lives of youth, coaching wrestling at a San Francisco high school.

He’s also a fierce advocate for the Gay Games. Rejected for participation at the first Gay Games the same year he came out at work, Brigham uses his coaching and journalistic efforts to support the world’s largest gay-sports event.

For more information:

• Outsports’ profile of Roger Brigham
• Wrestlers Without Borders legacy profile of Brigham
• Brigham’s regular Bay Area Reporter sports column

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I wonder how Akil Patterson would stop the move. See the video after the jump.

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It was about two years ago that Michael Irvin first talked to me about a secret he’s carried with him for 30 years.

“You know, Cyd, my brother was gay,” he said.

Actually, I didn’t know. And neither did virtually any of Michael’s teammates at the University of Miami, his teammates on the Dallas Cowboys, his colleagues at ESPN and the NFL Network, or anyone in Michael’s life outside of his family and closest friends.

I was honored that a man of Michael’s stature would entrust me with a secret like this. He and I have become close over the last three years, working together on his radio show, as we’ve come to realize our goals in life are the same: Make this world a more loving, welcoming place than it is today. Michael says the work he’s doing now toward that goal is more important to him than his Super Bowl rings. It’s starting to show.

Last December I pitched Out editor Aaron Hicklin a story about straight allies in sports. The impetus behind my pitch was having spent a couple days with Hudson Taylor at the first board meeting of GLSEN’s new sports project. Hudson is a straight wrestling coach at Columbia (and former wrestler at the University of Maryland) who founded the non-profit Athlete Ally. Just hours after pitching Hudson the idea (which he lit up about) I chatted with Aaron at the Viceroy in New York City; He was intrigued.

It wasn’t until April that I got the phone call from Aaron that he wanted the story and fast: August would be a sports issue and this piece on straight allies would be the centerpiece of the issue.

We asked a bunch of straight athletes to participate. Grant Hill didn’t have time. Sean Avery wasn’t doing media interviews. Drew Rosenhaus never replied to a request for Brendan Ayanbadejo. Scott Fujita passed.

Michael Irvin said yes.

In that first conversation about the piece he said it was time to talk about his gay brother, Vaughn. The moment he realized his brother was gay was an impactful moment that dominated much of his life for the next 20 years. It was something he wanted to talk about openly for the first time; And it was in Vaughn’s memory that Michael wanted to fully, openly endorse gay equality and lay out the welcome mat for gay players in the NFL to come out.

In the pages of Out magazine this month, Michael does just that. At one point talking to him about reconciling his religion with his dedication to full equality for gay people I struggled to fight back tears. Rarely have I witnessed anyone, gay or straight, speaking so eloquently and so strongly in support of gay marriage. This wasn’t just a fleeting thought for Michael, this was something to which he’d given deep thought and decided to commit his energy and good will.

The Playmaker also agreed to a photo shoot in Los Angeles in late May. I didn’t know quite what to expect. Out magazine is known for their incredibly beautiful photography often of half-naked men. I told Aaron that Michael would most likely want something stylish and sophisticated.

When Michael walked into the stylist’s realm at the shoot he quickly ripped off his shirt, dropped his pants and went right for an old vintage leather football helmet and shoulder pads. Once the camera was turned on him he tightened his abs and pulled his pants down to show the top of his boxer-briefs. Feeling protective of Michael I pulled him aside and assured him he didn’t have to do anything he didn’t want to do.

“This is what I want,” Michael said. “Let’s get people talking about this issue.”

When Aaron received the photos back in New York he knew he had a cover staring at him from his computer screen.

“I’ve never seen a body look like that,” Aaron said of Michael’s still-chiseled Hall of Fame physique. While Michael retired from the NFL in 1999, he looks like he’s ready to step right back on the field and muscle people around.

For their part, Out magazine put some measurable resources behind the piece in hopes of shaking up the sports world. They had photo shoots in three cities – Los Angeles, New York and London – with five athletes. In addition to Michael and Hudson, Ben Cohen, Nick Youngquest and Mike Chabala are featured athletes in the issue. Aaron also decided to have the rare two-cover issue: While half the printed issues feature Michael on the cover, Ben Cohen graces the other half (right). They both look beautiful.

In addition to Michael’s revelations there are articles revealing Hudson’s plan to get married in Washington DC; Nick’s path to becoming a gay icon; and Mike Chabala’s dedication to equality.

And in an emotional piece, Ben Cohen talks for the first time about how the death of his father, the victim of a bar fight, has led to his foundation to stop anti-gay bullying. It’s a powerful piece, written by Aaron, that underscores how deep and in how many different ways violence and bullying affect us all.

Here’s hoping the issue of Out magazine challenges how some think about the issue of equality for gay people and changes some hearts and minds.

Cover photo by Roger Erickson

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