by John Nauright
Feb. 22, 2012
Last night’s episode of Glee was one of the most important hours of television ever aired in America dealing with sports. You heard me right, the show that normally addresses a choral group as safe space for all, took on one of the least talked about, yet important issues in sports today – the issue of homophobia in male sports.
In the episode, the closeted gay football player character of David Karofsky, who previously bullied Kurt, an openly gay member of the chorus group, is outed by others and has the word “Fag” spray-painted across his locker. In a locker room scene he is taunted by his teammates, his supposed friends, as he flees the scene. Upon arriving in his room at home, he sees even worse language all over the internet about him. With no easy refuge, he chooses to attempt suicide as a way to escape his pain and humiliation.
This wasn’t the only issue dealt within an episode that included: bullying and threat of exposure on the internet in order to win the regional choral championship – the sportization of art; teenage love and marriage; the dangers of misusing cyberspace; and the dangers of texting and driving. All of these are incredibly important issues. However, in my line of work, the issue of homophobia insports is one that is so taboo that few shows have ever dealt with it as a central issue.
This week in the United Kingdom leading soccer and other sporting officials are having a summit meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss how to best promote anti-homophobia in sport, similar to anti-racism campaigns that have been ongoing for several years now. While racism has not been eliminated from soccer, as recent incidents have shown, much progress has been made. Britain’s first openly gay professional soccer player Justin Fashanu committed suicide in 1998, which first brought the issues of homosexuality and homophobia to national prominence. Since that time a handful of male athletes in sports like soccer and rugby have “come out” publically, however, sporting spaces remain unsafe for gay and bisexual boys and men and thus many boys who might otherwise enjoy sports either fight an inner battle with themselves in order to play, or turn away from sports altogether.
Discrimination in sports has a long history in the USA. It took a humiliating defeat by the Southern Cal football team for University of Alabama legendary head coach, Bear Bryant to end racial discrimination in sports at the university. He knew that to compete nationally, he needed access all of the players from Alabama, not just the white ones. This was done to preserve the core sports value of winning, however.
Many of the values we teach in contact sports – aggression, domination, power, physical pain – are meant to intimidate and do harm to the opposition in the pursuit of victory. We want to “win at all costs”. In Glee we see this taken to the extreme as a valuable member of the team is cast aside by his teammates who seem not tocare afterwards if he lives or dies. Karofsky is not visited by his teammates after his suicide attempt, but by members of the choral group who embrace him and provide him a safe haven for the future. Thus, the issue is left unresolved.
Hundreds of websites in the USA berate homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans in the name of religion or to uphold “conservative values.” This issue shows America at both its best and worst. The region in which I live is no exception. The Maryland legislature is debating and voting on the legalization of same-sex marriage – the expansion of freedoms and human rights to all. On the other hand, the Virigina legislature is debating legislation that attacks human rights, particularly those of women.
Shows like Glee did not exist when I was growing up; thankfully today they do. It has opened up space for discrimination in all its forms to be discussed and debated. Kids who have felt like outcasts can now feel that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I hope that more programs will show that there is light at the end of the male sporting tunnel and one of the last great bastions of hate is opened up for the expression of joy and excitement that comes from the playing of sports. It is my hope that sporting teams and organizations learn to accept all who wish to play regardless of race, class, religion, sexuality.
