Posted on 10/31/2009 6:02:52 AM PDT by Zakeet
Athletes have heard the ugly words on practice fields for most of their lives. They hear them in the streets and at neighborhood hangouts.
But when Chiefs running back Larry Johnson used an antigay slur on his Twitter account and in the locker room this week, he struck a nerve that makes professional sports leagues wince.
The NFL, like other pro sports leagues, is perceived as homophobic. Of the more than 20,000 athletes who have played in the NFL, less than a handful have identified themselves as gay — David Kopay was the first in 1975, followed by Roy Simmons and Esera Tuaolo — and only after their careers had ended.
Now the image-conscious NFL — which fines players for wearing droopy socks or the wrong-colored chin straps, is frightened by the prospect of Rush Limbaugh as an owner and enforces a rigid personal conduct policy — is confronted with how to deal with gay-bashing.
“It seems like every single season I’m getting phone calls about some athlete saying a gay slur, and using the word ‘gay’ and ‘faggot’ and ‘homo’ and ‘queer’ in such a negative term,” Tuaolo said in a phone interview with The Star from his home in suburban Minneapolis.
“There are gay athletes in the NFL and in baseball and in the NHL … it’s so crippling to someone who is going to work knowing there is no support in their organization. What is also crippling to an athlete is hearing slurs like that thrown around like it’s just the thing to do. When you use the term ‘gay’ or ‘faggot’ or ‘queer’ and you use it in a negative term, it’s the same as calling a woman a ‘bitch.’ It’s demeaning to another human being. And it’s not right.”
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
Wife and girlfriend beating, serial “baby daddies”, entourage violence, drugs, etc...
what’s a little homophobia between consenting thugs?
Oh, I see.
So let's just use those words in a POSITIVE term.
Like... That guy is HIV-POSITIVE.
I'm POSITIVE he's gay.
Go, faggot, go!
Proof that the political spectrum has shifted leftward, rather than the middle shifting to the right: The normal view of sodomy as deviance and sin is now itself called the deviance of “homophobia.
We stood still while the whole spectrum slid wa-a-a-ay to the left. Now they call mainstream, middle America the far-right lunatic fringe.
Liberals get their panties in a bind when they hear the word ‘faggot’, but liberals viciously attack conservatives. If you are going to be hyper-sensitive about words, then don’t spew hate against those you disagree with.
Proffesional sports has always been a “High Testosterone” environment and always will be. In an “arena” like the NFL if an active player came out of the closet, he might find himself leaving the field on a stretcher.
I amazed at the amount of what liberals call “homophobia” that exists among teenagers. They make even FR look like a pro-homo site.
Some examples of the NFL’s hatred of diversity:
1. Gays are not openly accepted or courted. In fact they are openly abused!
2. There are NO Orientals of any race in the NFL. NONE AT ALL! Orientals are not allowed in the NFL!
3. Hispanics, yep only 2 that I have heard of. la vista baby!
4. Trans-gendered players are also not allowed in the hateful racist NFL.
If the NFL wants to live by the PC sword then its time that they die by the PC sword. They need to embrace Political Correctness head on and make sure their teams statically represent the USA demographics. That means only 13% blacks are allowed in the new PC NFL.
Wait,what?
Jason Taylor, Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, Chad (85) Johnson, Eli Manning - there’s lotsa famous gays in the Nat’l Football League...
Excuse Me?
How could any sport be homophobic that has as an on field position called “tight end?”
There are plenty of Samoans. Look at them, there’s an Oriental in the woodpile somewhere. I think they would qualify.
The LPGA evidently has no heaumeaupheaubia.
I thought Dave Meggessey was the first.
How about queer NASCAR drivers? Why aren’t we hearing more about them?
Maybe he's a homo.
Professional wrestling has always had its share of open homosexuals-from Adrian Adonis to Goldust, I’m not sure why homosexuals would have much of a problem in the NFL.
Don’t forget about the women! Guess how many women players there are in the NFL.....NONE! Can you believe it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.