Another Sportsman Takes The Plunge

[endure]

Orlando Cruz comes out...

http://keepingscore....4/orlando-cruz/

[LeCharivari]

Just goes to show that gays DON'T all fit the stereotype and that gays don't just compete in the "artistic" sports like ice dancing, diving, etc.

As far as I know the only openly gay sportsmen in any of the "big 3" US sports (NFL, NBA, MLB) have been Glenn Burke in baseball and John Amaechi (a Brit!) in basketball.

[tombkk]

Good one, especially since boxing is considered a tough-guys' sport.

[isanbirder]

Good one, especially since boxing is considered a tough-guys' sport.

Remember the muay thai boxer, Nong Tum I think he was called, who wore make-up in the ring, and used to kiss his opponents? But TIT.

[tombkk]

Good one, especially since boxing is considered a tough-guys' sport.

Remember the muay thai boxer, Nong Tum I think he was called, who wore make-up in the ring, and used to kiss his opponents? But TIT.

Yes, I remember Nong Thoom. They even made a movie about her.

But as you say, that was local. Orlando Cruz is more international and hence gets more exposure in the press.

[LeCharivari]

Good one, especially since boxing is considered a tough-guys' sport.

Remember the muay thai boxer, Nong Tum I think he was called, who wore make-up in the ring, and used to kiss his opponents? But TIT.

remember Gareth Thomas, captain of the Welsh Rugby team - hardly a wimp!

[endure]

Good one, especially since boxing is considered a tough-guys' sport.

Remember the muay thai boxer, Nong Tum I think he was called, who wore make-up in the ring, and used to kiss his opponents? But TIT.

Yes, I remember Nong Thoom. They even made a movie about her.

The guy who played her in the movie (Asanee Suwan) is a Muay Thai boxer in real life.

[endure]

Good one, especially since boxing is considered a tough-guys' sport.

Remember the muay thai boxer, Nong Tum I think he was called, who wore make-up in the ring, and used to kiss his opponents? But TIT.

remember Gareth Thomas, captain of the Welsh Rugby team - hardly a wimp!

Neither is Ian Roberts

[endure]

Gay sportspeople

[tombkk]

Gay sportspeople

That's quite a long list. Interesting that it is still newsworthy when another one comes out though.

[asanee]

seems to have completely bypassed LoS-but 11/10 was procliamed to be INTERnational ''coming out'' day-and thus in many sports some PLU were seduced in confessing. major stumbleblock were again the football/soccer players/sports, where the stigma just remains too big.

[cougar]

I don't know what this big thing is about "coming out". Just get on with your life I say. I think we're past the days when it had any shock or beneficial value. In fact it's probably counter-productive, We all know that being gay is now accepted as normal around the world, tacitly if not explicitly (it probably always was, apart from a few bigots). The challenge nowadays is to break down the organisational barriers that still exist. Most ordinary people accept gays I think, and value the contributions they make to society. Some people have an interest in exploiting any outsider group in order to maintain their own position.

[endure]

I don't know what this big thing is about "coming out". Just get on with your life I say. I think we're past the days when it had any shock or beneficial value. In fact it's probably counter-productive, We all know that being gay is now accepted as normal around the world, tacitly if not explicitly (it probably always was, apart from a few bigots).

Which world would that be? The world in which some countries still have the death penalty for gays? The world of Jodie Dobrowski? The world in which the Mayor of Moscow calls us 'satanic'?

[isanbirder]

I don't know what this big thing is about "coming out". Just get on with your life I say. I think we're past the days when it had any shock or beneficial value. In fact it's probably counter-productive, We all know that being gay is now accepted as normal around the world, tacitly if not explicitly (it probably always was, apart from a few bigots).

Which world would that be? The world in which some countries still have the death penalty for gays? The world of Jodie Dobrowski? The world in which the Mayor of Moscow calls us 'satanic'?

Be fair to Cougar, Endure! "Around the world" was a bit over the top, I agree, but in the countries we live in, and most of those we come from, being gay is largely accepted. Yes, there are still bigots, we all know... and some occupations (sports being one), it is less commonly accepted. What is happening now, such as the discussion about gay marriage, is really just dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

[LeCharivari]

Be fair to Cougar, Endure! "Around the world" was a bit over the top, I agree, but in the countries we live in, and most of those we come from, being gay is largely accepted. Yes, there are still bigots, we all know... and some occupations (sports being one), it is less commonly accepted. What is happening now, such as the discussion about gay marriage, is really just dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

Yes, some of us (and I count myself amongst them) are lucky and we haven't encountered or been subjected to the discrimination that others have - as I am regularly reminded. That doesn't mean, though, that the discrimination that others face is any less real or, in some cases, even horrific. Education and integration are the only answer, and those who are openly gay and at the top of their profession or sport and role models in one way or another are the best means of furthering that integration and educating those who see gays as somehow less worthy.

[tombkk]

I wish cougar were right. Alas, he is living in utopia. There are not only countries with the death penalty or heavy jail terms around, there are many so-called developed countries in which being gay can get you murdered. Or where same-sex couples are not allowed to marry due to institutionalized bigotry.

It‘s not just a few bigots out there, it‘s many. Every coming out of a celeb helps to slowly change that. And every coming out of non-celebs in their circles helps as well.

Sent from my LG-P698f using Thaivisa Connect App

[endure]

I don't know what this big thing is about "coming out". Just get on with your life I say. I think we're past the days when it had any shock or beneficial value. In fact it's probably counter-productive, We all know that being gay is now accepted as normal around the world, tacitly if not explicitly (it probably always was, apart from a few bigots).

Which world would that be? The world in which some countries still have the death penalty for gays? The world of Jodie Dobrowski? The world in which the Mayor of Moscow calls us 'satanic'?

Be fair to Cougar, Endure! "Around the world" was a bit over the top, I agree, but in the countries we live in, and most of those we come from, being gay is largely accepted. Yes, there are still bigots, we all know... and some occupations (sports being one), it is less commonly accepted. What is happening now, such as the discussion about gay marriage, is really just dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

Matthew Shepherd in the US murdered 1998

The Admiral Duncan (a London gay pub) nail-bombed 1998 3 dead 70 wounded

Jodie Dobrowski murdered in London 2005

Gerry Edwards murdered in London 2009

James Kerr murdered in Perth 2007

Alexis Frumin murdered in Reims 2007

All because they were gay. Plenty more where they came from.

I had the crap beaten out of me with an iron bar by two guys who waited outside a gay club in Nottingham at closing time. When the police found out where I'd been they lost interest and told me to go home.

[isanbirder]

You can pile up particular instances indeed... but that doesn't alter my contention that in general you and I are not openly discriminated against. We go about our lives, often with our partners, and our gayness doesn't raise any hackles. I can only think of one 'friend' I've lost by being gay (and he was a British diplomat). Our lives are immeasurably different from those of gays 100 years ago, let alone 200, when you could be hanged for sodomy (and people often were).

I think Cougar and I are perhaps looking at the situation with a more positive attitude, though if I'd been beaten up like endure, I might well feel differently.

[endure]

I think cougar is working on the rather naive assumption that because we can get married and aren't being slung into prison any more that everything in the world of gaydom is pink and fluffy. Things have improved enormously but pink and fluffy it is not.

[JUDAS]

Cruz won his latest fight since "coming out"

“That was my moment, my opportunity, my event,” Cruz said Friday night after the bout, “And I won.”

He added that he was touched by the support of the fans, saying: “I was very happy that they respect me. That’s what I want — them to see me as a boxer, as an athlete and as a man in every sense of the word.”