Jarrett Barrios Calls Out Pro Sports

GLAAD has done a lot of work through ESPN, and other media outlets, to recognize and call out homophobia in sports. If an announcer makes a homophobic comment in the broadcast booth, or an athlete or coach says something defamatory in a press conference, GLAAD works to get an apology. Because when anti-gay epithets go uncorrected, it sends a message that it’s OK to denigrate gay people and their families. That perception, in turn, makes it harder for lesbian and gay athletes, coaches, trainers — all of us — because it sends the message that it’s not OK to make jokes and treat some people in a discriminatory fashion, but it is OK to make jokes and treat gay people in a discriminatory fashion. An anti-gay slur that’s uttered by a person of power, like a coach, manager or professional athlete, can have a silencing effect on both LGBT athletes and straight athletes who have LGBT friends and family. That’s why we work for language corrections and apologies in those instances.

Clearly, there are gay professional athletes out there. But openly gay athletes are hard to find, because there are still challenges for women and men who play professional sports. Sometimes, though, I think too much of the focus is placed on professional sports and searching for those high-profile athletes. Another arena we work with at GLAAD is amateur sports, the kind that we all like to participate in for fun — adult leagues and whatnot. People forget that there is a struggle in situations like that — a struggle to live life comfortably, because you feel like you can’t bring your partner to a game, or you can’t bring your partner to the team banquet at the end of the season. These are the kinds of things that make you feel like your life isn’t respected or valued. It’s those kinds of struggles that GLAAD’s sports media program is trying to overcome.

Read Jarrett T. Barrios, President of GLAAD, full commentary at ESPN.com