Out Spotlight LX

Today's Out Spotlight is Ed Gray.

On the biggest sports day of the year in the U.S. (SuperBowl Sunday) the Spotlight is sports related. And just as there is trepidation, fear and closeting in HW so there is in sports and sports journalism. Ed Gray, a 20 year veteran at the Boston Herald decided the time had come for him, and in October 2003 he changed that with the first two words of his article -" I'm out."

“I didn't strike out. I wasn't thrown out. And above all, I wasn't forced out.

“I'm out because I no longer, in good conscience, choose to ignore the unabashed homophobia that is so cavalierly tolerated within the world of sports. I'm out, because the silence of a closeted gay man only serves to give his implicit approval to bigotry. I'm out, because I refuse to continue hiding from the truth that an openly gay man has as much right as a straight man to play sports or report on them.”

Coming out makes him a rarity in the sports world. Even when Gray professed that it shouldn't be a big deal he knew it was. Sports, both among its participants and its observers, remains the final closet in American life.

Gray, who's regular beat is horse racing, also regular covers the Red Sox, Patriots, and the college football beat, was out to friends and family, but felt “it was the right time". … Everyone has their own personal journey and it was just my time.” There was no one catalyst for the decision to come out publicly, though he felt it important to take on the pervasive homophobia in sports.

“I really don’t want to be silent any more,” “It was really not a hard decision to make.”

His column went on to address the contention that openly gay people can’t function in the macho sports world. He wrote: “In the cases of both a gay athlete and a gay sportswriter, homophobic athletes always come up with the same sorry excuse to justify the perpetuation of prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation -- the locker room.

"I'm out because I can't come up with a single logical reason why I should have denied myself the right to live and work as openly and freely as everyone else," Gray wrote. "Nor should anyone find a reason why an openly gay athlete should be denied the right to play a team sport without fear of becoming a target of prejudice or physical harm."

“What, exactly, does a straight athlete have to fear from a gay teammate or sportswriter? Any man secure in his heterosexuality should not have a care in the world when a gay man is present in the locker room. He is there only to earn a living, not to infiltrate the locker room in a covert operation to ‘convert’ straight athletes. There are infinitely more friendly and healthy environments in which a self-respecting gay man would prefer to explore his sexuality than a locker room full of straight guys. …

“In an effort to justify homophobia, some would claim that an openly gay player would become a distraction that would undermine his team. A media frenzy surely would be created by a player coming out of the closet, but how long would a gay player be such a distraction if all of his teammates rallied around him for the whole world to witness? Professional athletes are role models, and a demonstration of team solidarity would send the profound message: ‘We support our teammate and you should, too.’ ''

While acknowledging that coming out for an active athlete could be difficult, Gray said that no one really know what the reaction would be and says there is a lot of “irrational fear.” He says that everyone, gay and straight, needs to take responsibility for fostering a climate of tolerance, adding that “people are very homophobic in homophobic atmospheres. If people would be held accountable, the issue would disappear very quickly. I truly believe it.”

Reluctant to discuss much about his personal life because “I don’t want my message to be lost. … I don’t want to be perceived as someone trying to get attention. The more I talk about my personal journey, the more it dilutes that.

“I’m just a sportswriter who is gay.”

The reaction to the Gray coming out was overwhelming positive and Gray continues on the Herald Sports staff today.

Happy Groundhog's Day!

And Happy SuperBowl Sunday!