Out tennis legend Billie Jean King talked about her outing and today’s gays in tennis with Tennis.com. In addition to saying she knows a couple closeted gay men in tennis, King places the responsibility for opening the door to openly gay tennis players squarely on the shoulders of the best male players in the world, which today means Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Her quote:
We need straight people, particularly in the male arena, to support the gay guys. They have to. And if they stand up for us, that’s how we gain acceptance. We need our friends, or brothers and sisters, especially if they have influence. Federer and Nadal and those guys have to say we don’t care. Once the influence starts to talk like that, it makes a huge difference. It’s got to be the top players. [They] influence where the tour goes. That’s part of the responsibility of being in the Top 10, the Top 5 in the world. That goes hand in hand with making the big bucks, getting the most exposure, getting the most endorsements.
That’s part of the deal, I think, if you’re going to be in that position. And our job in that position is to stick up for whoever is getting a bad deal. I wish we could get a guy at the top of his game just saying I’m gay, let’s move on, next. But it’s got to be while he’s playing. While he’s at the top of his game. But they’re going to take a lot of heat, man.
I will not presume to know how hard it is to come out, and I'm not sure if I can articulate myself well enough to get my points across in just a few paragraphs, so I will just say, I agree wholeheartedly with what BJK is saying here.
I am curious though. Do you think the gay players more afraid of losing popularity, or their mothers knowing? Cos if it's the first, boy shitcakes, have they got it wrong.
*pic from DtLJust the implication itself is already hot - but maybe that's just me. And just try to tell me that Jailbait didn't suddenly get 300% hotter.
I love what Rich from DtL have to say about this.
The idea of a gay man in the locker room seems to have deeper implications and causes the most discomfort with the public - so that's where we need to go.
Honey, you're being suggestive without even trying. Oh, to be in the shower with all those lean hipped, hard muscled leggy ballers. Who would not be tempted?
*lines pillows doubly thick today*
