Phoenix Suns President and CEO Rick Welts (Michael Chow, The Arizona/Associated Press)
Sports figures’ decisions to come out can push LGBT community one step closer to equality
HARDY HABERMAN | Flagging Left
In his book The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell writes about what he calls “social epidemics.” Just like a disease epidemic can blow up and spread very quickly, ideas can suddenly become embraced by the public at large and spread at a rapid pace.
That point when something goes from being just a few people who embrace the idea to the critical mass needed to flood the mainstream consciousness of the country is the “tipping point.”
At its most fundamental level, the LGBT movement begins with opening the closet door. That coming out process is almost always difficult and sometimes it takes years, but it is the beginnings of genuine liberation.
Well, on the coming out front, we may be at the tipping point and for the LGBT rights movement that could trigger a big change
Today I read a story about Jared Max, a sportscaster for ESPN Radio who said this in his morning show:
“Are we ready to have our sports information delivered by someone who is gay? Well we are gonna find out. Because for the last 16 years, I’ve been living a free life among my close friends and family, and I’ve hidden behind what is a gargantuan-sized secret here in the sports world: I am gay.
“Yeah. Jared Max. The sports guy who is one of the most familiar faces in New York sports isn’t quite like the majority. And while you already knew I was a little different, this might help make sense of it. But more so, I’m taking this courageous jump into the unknown having no idea how I will be perceived. …”
This is pretty big news, but even bigger when you consider the other folks who came out in the just the past few weeks:
• Don Lemon, weekend anchor for CNN Newsroom announced last week that he is gay. He did so in advance of the release of his new book, Transparent, in which he discusses his life as an African-American newscaster and as a gay man.
• Look to sports again as the CEO of the Phoenix Suns, Rick Welts, came out in a story in the New York Times. Why? He said that he wanted to do something to help youth struggling with their own sexual identity issues, to assure them they could come out and still have a successful career.
• Former Villanova basketball star, Will Sheridan, kicked open his closet door coming out publicly on ESPN just a day after Rick Welts.
• And all this after former NFL player Wade Davis came out as part of a GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) Sports Project a couple of months ago.
Perhaps I am the only one to see a trend here, but when broadcasters and, more specifically, sports figures start feeling it’s OK to come out, we might be nearing that tipping point.
This trend is not that new either. In the past few years dozens of high-profile people have made their sexual orientation known. My hope is that the cumulative effect will push things over the edge.
What would that look like? Well, it would be somewhat of a continuation of what we see now: more and more people publicly coming out until the mere act of announcing one’s sexual orientation or gender identity will become so commonplace that it is no longer news.
That would signal that LGBT people had really taken a major step toward full equality. The day when a celebrity or sports figure comes out and is no longer headline material, or more importantly no longer feels the need to hold a press conference to do it, will be a great day for LGBT rights.
So to all those celebrities, sports figures, actors, politicians who are still in the closet: Come out! You may be the nudge that pushes things past the tipping point — and that is something that will benefit everyone.
Hardy Haberman is a longtime local LGBT activist and a member of Stonewall Democrats of Dallas. His blog is at https://dungeondiary.blogspot.com.
Coming out to people that care about you is hard enough, but coming out to “everyone” sounds even more difficult except that maybe they don’t have to keep coming out. The double edge sword of being a celebrity is having your life constantly on display. My coming out wasn’t easy, but at least it wasn’t national news. Thank you to anyone who has come out, because I remember thinking that if they can, I can, And now I can say if I can, you can. It won’t come as a surprise that some people will have an issue with your being gay, but it will pale in comparison to the number of people who support you for being authentic.
The day that a transgendered person is as readily accepted as a gay man or a lesbian is today, well, that will be a day after a major sea change in transgender recognition and acceptance. That’s because the “T” community is treated as the red-headed stepchild far too often even by the rest of the “home team,” the LGB part of the equation.
Before you dispute that, consider:
Does the LGB community have an attempted suicide rate that falls between 35-41% in multiple reliably produced studies? Does their overall long-term unemployment rate of some 35% with the majority of those earning less than twenty thousand a year Lastly and perhaps worst of all, transgendered people suffer tremendous amounts of medical discrimination. Many know the story of Robert Eads, a post-op FTM transsexual who died of cervical cancer because no physician within 100 miles would treat him. What they may not realize is that insurance companies routinely deny benefits to other transsexuals — for regular health care. Too many all too often use a person’s transsexuality against them at every turn and where-ever possible.
When one considers that transsexuality is not something you choose, or something you “get” but instead is something you are then they must be left wondering: how can this be allowed in a supposedly civil Western society, and not only that in many cases be codified into law?
That’s how far the T have to come to achieve basic civility from society, much less equality. Truth is, they are miles and miles behind the LGB in this merry band that’s grouped together. Knowing that, I am quite pleased to see that gays and lesbians are achieving a centuries overdue integration into ‘regular’ society. It gives me hope. At the same time, I do hope that the rest of the community will not forget about us and also fight for us with the same vigor that we have for them since the days of Stonewall. I have my doubts.