Two weeks ago, when a Phoenix Mercury basketball player (chosen No. 1 overall in Monday’s WNBA) revealed in a Sports Illustrated interview that she was gay, there were few celebratory tweets and even fewer media acknowledgments.
When a male NBA player announced his lifetime secret, he got a cover with the same publication. And a call from President Obama. And the support of the entire internet.
So, I’ll be the first to say it.
Jason Collins should probably thank Brittney Griner. Or Billie Jean King. Or maybe even Sheryl Swoopes.
Because what’s incredibly significant and historic about Collins’ recent revelation concerning his sexual preference, is the same thing that dredges up more of the bigotry and inequitable bias that Collins set out to erase in the first place.
Let me explain.
Collins’ full disclosure on what goes on behind his bedroom walls, whether surprising to some or not, has (and I’m hopeful) set off a wildfire that both burns the stigma that gay-ness somehow threatens masculinity and patriarchy, and creates new growth for other male (read operative) players in one of the four major U.S. pro sports leagues to come out.
We’re finally sowing seeds of positivity and equality in the last frontiers of homophobia. And this new start feels hopeful.
But while Collins’ media parade certainly carries forth the love and support that we hoped would come along with such a confession, I can’t help but wonder why the praise skipped the brave women explorers who stepped onto no-man’s land first.
Could it have something to do with gender? I want to celebrate this LGBT win guilt-free, but why do I have the nagging feeling that we forgot about the women? Are we just not important enough to acknowledge? Are these personal revelations that could possibly ostracize a person less weighty than those of a man? Does nobody really care what we have to say?
Or maybe this is solely based on the hierarchy of sports. I had one male colleague tell me that nobody cares about the WNBA. Which is an issue itself, because these women play with the heart and soul of a 7-foot Collins any day.
Or maybe, just maybe, it has to do with the male predilection of fantasizing about lesbians. Somehow those sexual images have already knocked down those homophobic barriers that Griner and Swoopes thought they broke.
Is the real reason why the fuss missed courageous (out) gay women athletes because porn already did it for them?
And in the end, aren’t all these theories about why we have forgotten about women discriminatory?
How ironic, that one man’s coming out celebration could further closet the honesty and bravery of those women that already jumped out of the darkness before him.
I, for one, am forever grateful to Collins for treading into uncharted territory, making it easier for friends and family and people I love to follow him. But, we must not forget that he is not the first, and he will not be the last.
And if we are to celebrate this win, we must be all inclusive.
I mean, isn’t that what we’re fighting for anyway?
Christina Coleman is the News and Politics Editor at GlobalGrind and a Howard University Alumna. Prior to this she was a science writer. That explains her NASA obsession. She crushes on Anthony Bourdain. Nothing explains that.
