Is Sport a Safe Place for LGBT Athletes?

     Off the top of my head, I can name a few out athletes: Robbie Rogers, Jason Collins, Michael Sam, Megan Rapine, Abby Wambach, Martina Navritalova, Johnny Weir, Billie Jean King, Greg Louganis,  and Amelie Mauresmo. There are definitely more athletes who have yet to come out, and I think the reason this is is because of the fear of non-acceptance. We live in a society today where we put certain characteristics with certain sports. For example, with football, the athletes are typically big, strong, and fast, and I think that an athlete coming out as gay in football would go against what the audience views as a football player, thinking that they might be soft and can't keep up with the "straight" football player.

     We experience homophobia all over the sporting world, whether it's in the locker rooms, on the playing field, or even in the audience as we watch. Although I do believe that steps are being made to fix this problem, there are those whose view points of the topic are set, and therefore, are harder to convince. It manifests in the form of slurs and berating those athletes. There are straight athletes who make it known through the media and other means that they are not comfortable with playing with a gay athlete, which is also another reason as to why so many players stay "in the closet" for so long, or never come out at all.

     I think that in sports, such as ice skating or tennis, LGBT athletes are much safer than in sports such as football or basketball because of the fact that it is an individual sport where they do not have to deal with teammates, and because of the fact that those sports are seen as "less intense." I feel it might be easier to come out when you are not playing with other teammates because it's the acceptance from the other athletes is why i believe it's so hard for some of them to come out. 

     In order to change the way we perceive LGBT athletes, more education on the topic needs to be spread not only to the athletes playing with them, but also to the audience watching them. Because LGBT athletes coming out does not happen as often as it should, it's harder for the coaches, athletes, the organizations which they play for, and the audience to understand what the LGBT athletes might be going through and what we can do to support them. If we have a better understanding of the topic, I think it would be much easier for those athletes who are having difficulty with it themselves. 

References

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/mar/29/robbie-rogers-coming-out-gay

http://www.si.com/more-sports/2013/04/29/jason-collins-gay-nba-player

http://www.edgeofsports.com/2015-03-31-1016/index.html