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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE August 29, 2003
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Honest stories of coming out in the world of sports
Jocks.2: Coming Out to Play by Dan Woog
Alyson Publications, $14.95 paper Reviewed by Kaizaad Kotwal
One of the popular myths about homosexuals that has been debunked in the recent wave of gay liberation is the falsehood that gay men are lousy athletes. The proof positive has been quite to the contrary and would be even stronger were more and more professional athletes to start coming out.
Last year's Gay Games in Australia were an unabashed celebration of athletes who are masters of their domain who just happen to be gay. More and more athletes are starting to come out even as early as high school, effectively breaking down barriers between themselves and their straight counterparts.
This is not to suggest that all is hunkydory within the athletic closets across America. A lot of progress remains to be made, and the openness of homosexuality in sports is just beginning
Journalist, educator, soccer coach and gay activist Dan Woog has put together a second collection of essays based on the stories of real gay athletes, chronicling their struggles. their triumphs and their indomitable human spirit.
In Jocks 2: Coming Out to Play Woog has amassed 25 stories about gay men who fought athletic homophobia, their own fears and insecurities to find liberation and victory on and off the field in sport. Each essay focuses on a different sport or aspect of athletics, proving without doubt that gay men are to be found in just about every sport.
The essays are written in a forthright manner, allowing the honesty of these men's stories to ring true every page of the book. These men have shared their experiences with a candid fervor, telling not only of their fears and foibles, but also of their irrepressible fortitude and perseverance.
Perhaps the most poignant of all these tales is the first one in the book about Ed Gallagher, a quadriplegic football player. Trapped within a world of inexorable internal homophobia this gay athlete attempted. suicide by jumping off a dam and surviving.
The bittersweet irony is that Gallagher claims that today he feels happier and freer as a gay paraplegic in a wheelchair than he did as a closeted football player.
Closer to home there is the account of Mike Muska, the openly gay athletic director of Oberlin College.
Liberal as Oberlin is, there were many reservations about hiring an openly gay athletic director. Muska's tenure there was marked by some amazing accomplishments but also by subtle and overt acts of bigotry and homophobia.
There's the story of Christopher Bergland, an awkward youth who turned his insecurities away by focusing on his athletic prowess, eventually going on to win a triple Ironman contest which would make any athlete blush with inadequacy, gay or straight.
There are other equally inspirational stories that are bound to energize a gay athlete wondering about his place in the world of sports. However, these accounts will also speak to all gay men about the necessity of living openly and true to one's colors.
Woog's first compilation of similar stories titled Jocks: True Stories of America's Gay Male Athletes, came out in 1998. Much has changed in the ensuing four years and yet so much inertia still remains. There is yet to be an openly gay professional athlete from the four major sports (football, baseball, basketball and hockey) to come out while still playing. Baseball's Billy Bean and football's David Kopay and Esera Tuaolo came out after retirement. It is uncertain, given the large amounts of money involved in professional sports, whether such an athlete will indeed come out anytime soon even though we know that there are many gay men in all
jocks2
True stori
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four of these professional sports.
Yet, there are increasing numbers of gay athletes in high school (such as Corey Johnson) and college who are coming out. Hopefully these out sportsmen will advance to the NBA, NFL, NHL and baseball leagues as openly gay players.
The issues of gay athletes coming out in the four big sports have been mired in the chicken-and-egg syndrome. Players, managers, coaches and owners believe that the public is not yet ready for such athletes. And the public, increasingly open to GLBT 15sues, would only learn such acceptance via the actual coming out of such athletes.
It is also important to remember that while we harp on athletes who continue to fester within the repressive milieus of the sporting closets, there are very few openly gay Hollywood stars or corporate CEOs who are blazing the trail in their respective fields..
Woog's book is a fun and inspiring read for athletes and non-athletes alike. I do have. one major beef with it: the cover. It shows a hockey player, shirtless with ripped abs, perfect pecs and that boy-next-door affability. He is the supreme embodiment of many a jock-strap fantasy.
Coupled with the book's main title the cover makes it seem like a collection of erotica. This is a disservice not only to Woog and the men within this book, but also to gay men in general. It implies that gay men are only going to be interested in this book if they see the hottie on the cover, Gay readers deserve a bit more credit for their intelligence and their motivations in browsing for reading matter.
Secondly, those seeking prurient crotica are not going to read the book once they find out what's within, and some of those who are truly interested in the subject matter may steer away because the cover screams out "sex, sex, and more sex!"
The art directors and marketing wizards at Alyson Publications and other publishers should reconsider the idea that all gay men want is sex.
Moreover, it is a bit hypocritical to talk about the homophobia faced by the athletes within the book while unabashedly displaying gay body fascism on the cover.
Ironically, one of the major issues faced by gay athletes, particularly younger ones. is the fear that they simply don't measure up. The cover advertises exactly such pressures to measure up to some utopian physical ideals. Like in so many other areas of gay liberation, here too, it is obvious that it is simply not enough to break down the closet's door, one has to clean out all the garbage within.
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