NFL CREATES GAY RIGHTS’ BIGGEST STAGE - As the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens prepare to face off on Super Bowl Sunday, each team has a player astride a cultural fault line. Baltimore’s Brendon Ayanbadejo has led a charge in favor of gay equality, while San Francisco’s Chris Culliver has condemned gays and declared that he doesn’t want to play with them.
How did the NFL create the most high-profile (and probably most important post-election year) stage for gay issues? Just this week, former 49er Kwame Harris was outed after a domestic violence dispute with his ex-boyfriend. And today, Connor Barwin, Houston Texans’ popular “hipster” linebacker, is set to become the latest high-profile jock announcing his support for gay rights through Athlete Ally, joining Ayanbadejo and a group of other straight athletes including Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings and Sean Avery, formerly of hockey’s New York Rangers.
With the US military finally accepting gays and lesbians within their ranks, it’s as though the next most macho American institution — football — was primed for its own evolution. And there are plenty of similarities within the two cultures; asked to compare the former “don’t ask, don’t tell” world with professional sports, OutSports editor Cyd Zeigler said, “What makes them similar is the shower; athletes not wanting to shower with a gay athlete — which is totally insane. There have been people who’ve been openly gay in the military for years. People have known.” (Read the rest … including Culliver’s ‘no gay people on the team’ comment … here)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 10
Pub: Feb 1, 2013
