LGBT News Brittney Griner is Gay and No One Cares

Well, the only problem is they don't care about her being gay as much as they care about her being "a man." I didn't know who she was so I googled her and it comes up "brittney griner man/dunk/interview..." So...that's not really great, either. There's alway something, I guess....

 

heteronormative and stereotype. blah.

 

Probably because its women's basketball, which no one cares about either.

 

That's from the article. I agree with it entirely. It's like a gay man who works in Broadway Theater coming out of the closet. The response is basically, 'Duh.' It has to do with breaking gender stereotypes, in many cases even more so than breaking sexual stereotypes. After all, who challenges stereotypes more, a male hairstylist that works in a salon who happens to be straight or one who happens to be gay? I'd say the straight male hairstylist challenges stereotypes more.

The same is true in some women's sports. If Brittney had come out with her husband and kids, then she would be playing against the stereotypes for women in basketball. Tall, physically powerful, competitive women are just assumed to be lesbians because they're dominating a more stereotypical masculine space.

I think this is a wonderful insight into how the culture attempts to overlap sexuality with gender. I also think, if we dug just a bit deeper, we'd begin to see some of the sexist undertones that exist to all of this - in particular how the cultural conception of masculinity is favored over the cultural conception of femininity.

 

like it or not (and I dont think it is fair), but female athletes are not given the recognition male athletes do.

the closets you can get to apprciation for a female athlete is the olympics, and usually, people lose interst 3-4 months after they are over.

 

Regardless of media attention or lack thereof regarding it, you've got to give her props on going about it - like Jemele Hill did today on Around the Horn (ESPN news show).



"Don't worry about what other people are going to say, because they're always going to say something, but, if you're just true to yourself, let that shine through. Don't hide who you really are," she (Britney) said.



That's about as good of a message as we can expect from any gay professional athlete. Bravo Britney. :eusa_clap