THE
SUCCESS
OF
Amelie
Mauresmo,
an
out
lesbian
who
recently
was
ranked
the
world’s
No.
1
female
tennis
player,
has
been
a
tremendous
inspiration
for
gay
and
lesbian
athletes
—
and
gay-supportive
fans
—
worldwide.
But
if
you’re
waiting
for
a
player
in
a
sport
with
such
mass
appeal
as
baseball
or
football
to
come
out
in
the
United
States,
don’t
hold
your
breath.
Until
at
least
one
gay
big-league
first
baseman
or
bisexual
NFL
quarterback
decides
not
to
hide
his
sexual
orientation
from
public
view,
the
world
of
professional
sports
will
continue
to
seem
like
a
mostly
dark
and
unwelcoming
place
for
gay
athletes
and
their
fans.
The
story
of
former
NFL
player
Roy
Simmons,
highlighted
in
the
Blade
last
December
and
recently
on
HBO,
illustrates
this
problem.
Simmons,
a
former
offensive
lineman
with
the
New
York
Giants
and
then
the
Washington
Redskins
(he
was
with
the
Redskins
for
the
Super
Bowl
in
1984),
was
“so
deep
in
the
closet
he
was
behind
it,”
says
correspondent
Armen
Keteyian
on
the
HBO
program
“Inside
the
NFL.”
Last
week
the
show
profiled
Simmons,
who
is
HIV-positive
and
promoting
his
recent
recovery
from
20
years
of
drug
addiction,
prostitution,
homelessness
and
depression.
Simmons’
football
career
ended
20
years
ago,
but
his
experience
as
an
NFL
player
living
a
life
of
“lies”
and
“deception,”
as
he
puts
it,
would
likely
be
the
same
if
he
were
playing
today.
Out
of
the
hundreds
of
gay
or
bisexual
men
estimated
to
have
ever
been
on
an
NFL
team,
not
a
single
one
was
openly
gay
before
leaving
the
game.
“There
remains
little
freedom
for
men
like
Roy
Simmons
in
leagues
like
the
NFL,”
Keteyian
says
on
“Inside
the
NFL.”
He’s
right.
Major
League
Baseball
has
never
had
an
active,
openly
gay
player
either.
Same
goes
for
the
National
Basketball
Association
and
the
National
Hockey
League.
WOMEN’S
SPORTS
HAVE
fared
slightly
better.
A
few
lesbian
golfers
have
been
out
while
playing,
including
Rosie
Jones,
who
announced
in
March
that
she
is
gay
after
signing
a
sponsorship
deal
with
a
lesbian
travel
service.
Sue
Wicks
of
the
New
York
Liberty
came
out
in
2002,
near
the
end
of
her
15-year
basketball
career
and
Michele
Van
Gorp
of
the
WNBA’s
Minnesota
Lynx
did
this
summer.
But
the
macho
ethic
of
men’s
sports
in
the
United
States
—
especially
the
locker-room
culture
of
team
sports
—
makes
it
all
but
impossible
for
a
gay
or
bisexual
player
to
be
honest
about
his
sexual
orientation
with
anyone
but,
perhaps,
his
closest
friends.
African-American
athletes
have
an
especially
hard
time,
as
Keteyian
points
out
on
“Inside
the
NFL.”
“Within
the
black
community,
there
is
a
much
greater
resistance
to
coming
out
and
to
dealing
with
your
sexuality
in
public,”
he
said
on
the
program.
“And
I
think
Roy
faced
it
and
I’m
sure
there
are
other
athletes
…
that
are
facing
that
right
now.”
That’s
not
to
say
that
attitudes
toward
homosexuality
aren’t
changing
in
men’s
sports,
just
as
they
are
in
the
rest
of
American
society.
But
the
change
is
happening
much
more
slowly.
This
week,
the
Tribune
newspapers
released
a
survey
of
Major
League
Baseball
players
in
which
74
percent
said
they
would
not
be
bothered
by
having
a
gay
teammate.
“I’ve
probably
had
one
already,”
the
Chicago
White
Sox’s
Willie
Harris
is
quoted
as
saying.
This,
if
nothing
more,
is
a
hopeful
sign.
