Sports and Gay Men

I’ve always been good at any sport that required handling another man’s balls.

[quote]My answer has long been that very few gay men are actually good at sports, and far fewer of them are good enough to play at a professional level

Fuck, you're an asshole.

Your thinking is wrong. Gay men are just as good as straight men at sports. The exceptionally talented players who are gay have a lot to lose and are surrounded by people strongly advising them to remain closeted (e.g., parents, coaches, agents, managers, and publicists). Consider Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Hernandez, and Troy Aikman.

Oh JFC, this is not rocker science. In professional sports if you come out as gay, the heterosexual jock fans will hate you. That's why we're all in the closet.

Not to mention that gay men usually have multiple interests (and talents). Even those who love and excel in sports are likely to look elsewhere, rather than live a life of fear in the closet.

Sports environments are often homophobic. Even if you get support from your teammates there's opponents and the members of the public who will throw slurs around. Just like black players cop racist abuse when they make a mistake there would be plenty of homophobia if a gay player mucked up.

I played football and basketball in high school and was very good at both. I went to a DII school and coulda played basketball probably. I wasn’t interested in playing football with the size/intensity of college players. I was out in HS and didn’t have an issue.

I still play basketball and throw a football whenever I can. I play a lot of other sports too because I enjoy anything athletic.

I played rugby at school and University from the ages of ten through to 21. I still follow it. Rugby has to be one of the most gay friendly contact sports that I’m aware of. I only stopped because my joints could no longer handle it.

I think self-policing is probably a huge factor. For example, the very high number of gay men who works professionally as dancers which requires incredible skill and athleticism similar to sports; however because dancing is seen as “effeminate” it actually may be discouraging straight men who could be phenomenal dancers from pursuing it. Conversely, the very high number of gay men in acting would seem to be a paradox as stardom in that field which is what they all want actually encourages them to closet themselves (and those people often seek out and prioritize fame due to feelings of being inferior because of their homosexuality.)

As an American (former) softball widow, I had the pleasure of travelling to Sydney for the Gay Games in 2002, and witnessed thousands of male and female athletes competing at the highest levels in ice hockey, basketball, field hockey, softball, wrestling, triathlon, judo, power lifting, volleyball and more. Many of them did/do compete as professionals in their respective sports. I'm a gay guy that doesn't excel in team sports, but I also can't "do hair" or arrange flowers, OP.

r10 is bald

As an American (former) softball widow ... I'm a gay guy that doesn't excel in team sports, but I also can't "do hair" or arrange flowers, OP.

r10 Everything you said is spot-on. Except if you're a guy you're not a widow. You're a softball widower. 🤣

OP - you live in a small world with blinders on. Gays are fine at sport. As a matter of fact, I was flaming in the 60s and 70s and I had a very enlightened coach who saw my athleticism and encouraged me for years, including playing right through the teasing I got for being girly. The critical years were late elementary school and junior HS.

In my NY suburb by High School, the traditional American boy culture pecking order was reset. If you could play sports, it didn't matter so much if you were a suspected fruit. Also, if you were headed to an Ivy, you were now a winner and got respect. Sports + Brains compensated big fagitude. I happened to get good looking in HS too so that helped.

I think the coaching is key. The coaches need to have an open mind and go the distance to encourage kids how might have some outsider or weak status handicaps to nevertheless overcome these and compete.

By the way, the same coach carefully coached one of two Chinese American boys in my class to the top of the jock pyramid. He became our All American and went on to Stanford. This was in the 70s!

If you have troglodyte coaches, it would be an up hill battle.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

👍 sociopath Aaron. All man. Fudgepacker.

In my experience, nobody takes the time to teach gay boys how to play a particular sport. The assumption always is that if you are a boy, you just naturally know how to do all these things, or your father taught you.

No one ever thinks: Hmmm…maybe this uncoordinated boy has no idea how to play or what the rules are, so I need to start from the beginning and explain. After all, as P.E. teacher, it is my job.

When I was a kid, we had to play basketball, and I was dumbfounded by how many rules there were. Apparently, you can’t spend more than three seconds in the key, and apparently the key is that u-shaped outline on the court, and apparently everyone else knew that but me, and apparently it was an unforgivable sin that I was 10 years old and didn’t know that, and apparently it was socially acceptable for them to hate me for not knowing that.

OP throws like a girl.

Do we really have to answer this dunce (OP)?

OP, you're projecting your lack of talent onto all gay men, presumably to make yourself feel better.

How do I know this? Because even an idiot knows that fucking BASEBALL isn't a "contact sport."

OP, you're projecting your lack of talent onto all gay men, presumably to make yourself feel better.

How do I know this? Because even an idiot knows that fucking BASEBALL isn't a "contact sport."

OP, broaden your horizons. Many gay guys who could have excelled in contact sports dropped out or did not pursue a sport because of the homophobia in the sport.

I played baseball in school. Was okay, but I played tennis really well and I was (and am) a great swimmer.

OP, you're projecting your lack of talent onto all gay men, presumably to make yourself feel better.

How do I know this? Because even an idiot knows that fucking BASEBALL isn't a "contact sport."

OP, you're projecting your lack of talent onto all gay men, presumably to make yourself feel better.

How do I know this? Because even an idiot knows that fucking BASEBALL isn't a "contact sport."

Ha!

Was just going to post that 24

I played high school baseball and it is a TEAM sport (which I think is what OP wanted to say) not a contact sport.

OP mentioned only traditional ball related sports. These days, autoracing is considered a sport as well and there are many closeted race car drivers. Back when I followed NASCAR (hey, I thought Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were hot! There were also rumors they were a couple.), I can remember chants of "Homo Depot!" directed at Tony Stewart. I wonder whatever happened to Jaimie MacMurray?

OP has daddy issues that he is projecting onto others.

r17 and OP, it sounds like your gym teachers failed you.

I was/am more athletic than my straight brothers. I played Little League and AYSO soccer as a kid. Played ice hockey on ponds for fun all winter when I was a kid. Made the basketball and baseball teams in middle school, played one year of jv football and two years of jv basketball in high school, made varsity baseball in my sophomore year of high school, and much to the disappointment to my coach quit my senior year to play Lacrosse. I had to try out and made the varsity team as a senior. I played LAX in a league throughout and after college. Took up golf after college and joined a league for many years. I just learned to play tennis in my 50s.

I don't think being gay has anything to do with interest and ability in sports. For me it's about being physically active and athletic, being part of a team, and straight out a competitive nature and drive to win.

Star shortstop

I know five different guys (all gay) who played Division 1 college football

You just need to know where to look

Some gay men are athletic. Many aren’t.

I think if one were to conduct a review of the sexuality of the boys regularly picked last for sports teams in gym class, there would be a lot of poofs.

I’m athletic and always have been

Personal memory: in mid-80’s at an all-night dance club (maybe”Danceteria”?) I started dancing with a cute twink who was wearing a KANSAS U Jayhawk teeshirt -when I said “rock chalk”, he did not know what I was talking about -I pointed to the shirt and he said “oh, some football player gave this to me a few weeks ago” ( when ku played Cal in Berkeley) - my guess is that there was at least one gay guy on that ku team.

Harvey Milk played football in high school, OP.

Harvey Milk played basketball, not football

Harvey Milk played with a lot of balls.

I grew up in a very sports-minded family. It was our mother who promoted sports. She was an incredible tennis player, swimmer, and golfer. I have a straight brother who was good at most sports, but I was the star sportsman in the family. I was a non-sponsored competitive swimmer from the age of nine through my second year of college. In middle and high school, I was on my school’s baseball team, playing first base or shortstop. I also played tennis and basketball for recreation. I play golf, but it’s not a sport that fully interests me.