Sexuality In Sports

Sexuality in Sports

I thought long and hard about what to write about for this assignment. I have had the usual odd jobs a person my age has had. I don't really remember any conflicts there with regard to any of the topics for this paper. It wasn't until I started thinking all the way back to high school that I found what I thought I could write about. My senior year, there was a sort of "situation" with the wrestling team; the situation meaning a member of the team who was homosexual. I wasn't on the team, but many of my friends were. It didn't get blown way out of proportion like a situation like this could have, but, it did ruffle some feathers within the team, coaches, parents, and the students who knew about it.

The problem was simple. Wrestling is a sport where one is in constant physical contact with the opponent. There is constant touching and grabbing between the opponents. My high school team had all guys. Some teams now have girls, but that's enough for a whole different paper. Anyway, once the word spread about a kid on the team who was gay, it was pretty easy to figure out what the general feeling was about him. Many did not want to wrestle him because they thought he might start to like them or that they might get aids (which is completely ridiculous). Once the coach found out he immediately realized the problems that may occur. The coach did not make a big deal at all about it. In fact, he never even said anything about it to the principle or other

teachers or even seemed to care really. To him it was all about winning and demonstrating a positive influence. I guess he felt that if he made a big deal out of it, it might turn into a circus and his team might lose focus.

Some students called the gay kid the usual names; and some even refused to wrestle with him in practice. There were other kids who chose to really wrestle him hard, torment him, and try to hurt him. I knew who the kid was and I wasn't friends with him. I wasn't enemies either. He was just a normal kid who happened to be gay. I didn't think there was anything particularly wrong with it because he kept it to himself, didn't bother me, and didn't even act or dress like the stereotype says he should. I guess when you're in high school though, when you hear someone is different everyone decides to go nuts and make a huge deal out of it to try to humiliate them instead of just saying, "oh, whatever."

With regard to the role the differences played amongst the team members, the coach found out who the kids were who were tormenting the gay kid and he punished them. He punished them not for messing with the kid because he was gay; he punished them for messing with a team member. He said hazing of any kind would not be tolerated. Like I said before, the situation was never an issue with the coach, he just wanted him team to compete and win. Some kids on the team flat out didn't care at all. Some other kids were distant but didn't make a big deal out of it. There was even one of the best and toughest kids on the team who made it clear and told everyone the kid wasn't to be messed with anymore or they would have to deal with him. It's funny to think about now, because some

kids on the team acted like the kid was an alien, and some acted like nothing was wrong. I would guess that the way people on the team acted would be the same if the situation happened later in their lives, perhaps at work.

I think the reasons for the backlash against the gay kid were simple. The jerks who messed around with him were taught either directly or indirectly that being gay wasn't right, or wasn't masculine. I'm sure it was by their fathers or friends. They simply encountered a kid who was different from them and felt that they had to terrorize him. All the pranks and jokes really did was make them look really stupid and childish. Some of the kids' girlfriends even got mad at them for messing with the poor kid.

In the end, I think the morons who tried to make this poor kid's life a living hell got what they deserved. Some students who were fed up with the constant tormenting they saw told the principle about what was going on. He suspended the students who behaved the worst. That meant they could not compete on the wrestling team while they were suspended. As it turned out, the homosexual kid took the place of one of the suspendees and actually won his match. It didn't break any high school record, or decide the overall match, but it just went to show how the whole situation never got to him. He went out and did what he had