Outsports Radio

For years we have asked straight athletes whether or not they would accept a gay teammate. And for years, the majority of athletes in professional sports have said "yes." Some people have said that's just them not wanting to get into trouble; Others believe it reflects the changing landscape of sports and broader American culture.  Recently someone asked a number of Texas football recruits the same question, and the answers were about 50/50. Most of them, we can probably guess, have not had an openly gay teammate before (simply because we know of so few who are publicly out, though of course many others are out to their friends and teammates).  Is this even a pertinent question today? Can we rely on honest answers from athletes? We discuss. Also, the anti-gay chant "puto" again showed up in a soccer match, this time marring the very first Major League Soccer match for the Atlanta United. The club has responded that anyone doing so in future matches will be removed. Is that enough to curb the behavior? Or d

There's never a dull moment in the LGBT sports world and two big stories happened at the end of February: --My-King Johnson, a highly recruited high school football player who is set to attend the University of Arizona, came out publicly as gay. He is the first FBS scholarship athlete who is openly gay. When he plays for the first time — perhaps Sept. 2 in the season opener — he will also make history. --Mack Beggs won the state 110-pound high school wrestling title in Texas. Mack is a transgender boy and he won the girls division because he was forced to by athletic officials. We look at the absurdity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Colin Christiansen. Nathan Matthews. Lexie Gerson. We keep hearing of more and more coaches in high school and college who are getting hired after coming out as gay or lesbian. For years we have been told that it was super hard for LGBT coaches to be out, yet more of them are finding their way out of the closet and finding their way to new jobs. We talk about whether these examples are just exceptions to the rule, or whether the sports world is opening up more to out coaches. The NFL made two big statements on inclusion in the last week, surprising some. The league released a new ad in the Love Has No Labels campaign that highlighted, among others, two same-sex couples kissing on a Kiss Cam at the Pro Bowl. The league also issued a statement in support of equality ahead of Texas considering a bill that would legalize discrimination in the state. That has driven Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to tell the NFL to mind its own business. Will we see a Super Bowl in Texas anytime soon if SB2 is passed? Learn more about

People often point to the behavior of fans as why the sports world is homophobic. And there are certainly examples anyone can use to showcase homophobia in the stands. In Europe, those examples can amount to entire sections chanting gay slurs and other anti-gay messages, though in the United States those kinds of behaviors en masse have been curtailed. Just this week we had two stories of fans doing things at games and celebration events that clearly had subconscious (or conscious) messages of homophobia, linking gay men to weakness or the dreaded role of "other." We talk about the impact of these messages on LGBT fans, athletes and coaches. Do these actions reflect an outward hatred for LGBT people? Do fans even realize that what they are doing is homophobic and hurtful to LGBT people? The answer, as usual, is mixed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Super Bowl will be held this Sunday and it will be the 51st played without an openly gay player. When will we see one and will a gay player be accepted? And what role will straight players have in welcoming a gay teammate. At the Pro Bowl, Cleveland Browns tackle Joe Thomas said he thinks the league is ready. “It’s amazing that the opinions in the locker room have changed 180 degrees from when I first started playing football to where they are right now. I think every locker room in the NFL would accept an openly gay teammate with open arms now," he said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new study of elite teen hockey players in Canada found growing acceptance for LGBT people but old thought patterns die hard. The locker room and its culture still holds sway, the report found. “The biggest concern they had with the idea of having a gay teammate, because this population had never had an openly gay one, was being naked in the showers with them. They were worried a gay teammate would see them naked and be attracted to them,” the author of the study said. We look at why showering with a gay teammate is still an issue, plus LGBT sports roundup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are lots of ways LGBT athletes can come out publicly when they feel it's time. TV interviews, magazine columns, press conferences, social media. Depending on the athlete, they can find the right way that works for them and best tells their own personal story. There are also lots of ways athletes can declare their straightness, too. There are plenty of athletes who have done it over the years. For some it's announcing a wedding engagement, for some it's showing up to Yankee Stadium with a different woman on his arm every other week, and for some it involves a declarative public statement making clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are straight.  We talk about all of these different ways of sharing one's straightness with the world, and we look at how different professional athletes, from Mike Piazza to Troy Aikman, have done it over the years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When a video close-up of Clemson defensive lineman Christian Wilkins grabbing the ass and genitals of an opposing Ohio State player surfaced last weekend, it got a panoply of reaction. Some people chuckled at the grabby player “getting caught;” Others were horrified and sounded the “sexual assault” alarm. For us it was just straight athletes going gay. Again. It's something we've seen before since guys always look. We also look back at a record number of out LGBT athletes in 2016 abd what it means. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As 2016 closes, we take a look back at the top stories in sports involving gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender athletes. Important coming out stories. Homophobia in sports. Allies in sports. The record number of LGBT athletes at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. The controversy surrounding the anti-LGBT law in North Carolina. Our guest is Chris Hine, a sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune who came out publicly as gay in 2016. Hine has used his platform to discuss the major issues involving LGBT sports, an important mainstream voice. He Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Penn State club hockey player Voight Demeester was called a gay slur during a game last weekend, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Now Penn State and Penn State Altoona are working together to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again, or that at least it continues to happen less and less. We talk with Demeester, who shares his thoughts on the power of this kind of language in sports.  On a lighter note, a gay couple got engaged in the middle of the Spurs-Bulls game last week. It all took place on the court with the teams assembled and with the help of the Bulls' management. It was another signal from professional sports that acceptance of LGBT people is ahead of where people think it is.  Finally, we are rolling out our year-end awards, and we think it's pretty cool that two boxers are our athletes of the year. Who will win the other awards? We'll give a quick preview.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A year ago a story emerged from London that two gay Premier League players were going to come out simultaneously. They had found courage in numbers and together, rather than separately, they would come out publicly. A year later, crickets. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. So what happened? Were there ever two gay players ready to come out? Did they get cold feet? And what has the landscape in soccer looked like since? The world's most popular sport, soccer has been at the center of LGBT issues and controversies since the rumor was floated a year ago, from FIFA to the Olympics, from Mexico to England.  Even this week headlines abound from inclusive policies of United States soccer coaches to yet still more homophobia from the host of the 2018 World Cup, Russia. With Jim Buzinski on an early vacation in frigid Denver, Cyd Zeigler talks about all of these issues surrounding the sport of soccer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the height of football season and there have been several LGBT issues in the sport at all levels: --Openly gay college football player Mason Darrow celebrated an Ivy League title and the bonds he has forged. "My teammates were amazing from Day 1. … I’m extremely grateful to them for their love and acceptance that I was shown.” Darrow talks to us about winning the title. --On the down side, Oklahoma State fans hung anti-gay banners to mock Oklahoma players in the lead-up to their rivalry game. --In the NFL, Cardinals back David Johnson will wear cleats against Washington to focus on anti-bullying, a huge issue in the LGBT community. --Two days before the Canadian Football League held the Grey Cup, the league co-sponsored a party at a gay bar in Toronto designed to welcome and embrace the LGBT community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For Trans Week we wanted to address the state of access to sports for transgender athletes, and we figured there was no better place to go than Chris Mosier. Mosier has participated in a United States national championship and a world championship as an out trans man, the first person to do that. Mosier has pushed for more inclusive transgender policies in sports at every level, from high school to the pros and international competition. Mosier talks with us about the level of inclusion for trans athletes at all of these different areas of sports.  He also shares his personal experiences fighting for his own equality in sports, and competing in a state like North Carolina after it passed a specifically transphobic bill like HB2.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The acceleration of the LGBT sports movement mirrors the Obama presidency. In the last eight years, more athletes, coaches, administrators, executives and media members have come out than the rest of history combined. Having an LGBT-friendly administration with a president who publicly acknowledged openly gay athletes – and ultimately championed same-sex marriage rights and other key LGBT issues – was a sign of this societal acceptance. Now, in the Age of Trump, we’re in unknown territory. We discuss what gay athletes can do to feel empowered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With all the stories Outsports runs about LGBT youth, it's gotten co-founders Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler thinking about their own experiences growing up gay. We rarely talk about our experiences as gay youth and gay athletes, so today we dive into our personal stories in and outside of sports. It was a while back, but some of the stories they have are very similar to those we hear from gay teenagers and college athletes every day. There's the bullying (even if we didn't usually call it that back then), the name-calling, the slurs and the macho attitude that pervades sports. A lot of that hasn't changed, even if it has gotten better in certain areas.  Some of the stories are also very different. Growing up gay in 2016 is stepping into a world that has changed dramatically on our issues since 1986. We talk about some of those important changes and how they have shifted society.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the Chicago Cubs in the World Series for the first time since 1945, it's a good time to take a look at a franchise that has been very LGBT-supportive. The Cubs have the longest streak of gay days in the Major Leagues. Co-owner Laura Ricketts is an out-and-proud lesbian and the team sponsors a float in Chicago's pride parade. We talk to Bill Gubrud, who started the Out at Wrigley promotion. We also examine the use of "sissy" as a gay slur, in light of a sign held up by a BYU football fan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Presidential candidate Donald Trump tried to dismiss his vulgar comments about women as "locker room talk," it ignited a conversation about what exactly conversation in sports locker rooms are all about. Some athletes painted a sanitized picture of high-level academic conversations intended to address the pressing issues of the day. Others admitted that there are sex jokes, but nothing to the level of Trump's vulgarity. Yet we hear from athletes all the time about the crude commentary in locker rooms. Gay athletes in particular find it troubling because they feel they can't exactly launch into talk about the body parts of other guys in a sexual way.  Now news comes that some Green Bay Packers thought quarterback Aaron Rodgers was gay because he wouldn't engage in talk about penis size and his sexual conquests. That is, demeaning women is so common in the locker room, you are assumed to be gay if you don't engage. Couple all of this with the homophobic chants and harrassment that still exist in corners

We examine the state of gay people in sports as National Coming Out Day was held this week. Does the absence of out pro male athletes matter. How important is coming out for LGBT people in sports or is just being yourself enough. Along with this, we look at the value of straight allies and is it presumptuous for straight people to say they "came out" as allies. Finally, we delve into New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham's on-field behavior and ask if gay slurs might be playing a part? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Professional bowl Anthony Pepe, who is openly gay and came out publicly in 2015, said in a Facebook post that he feels lucky to be gay.  "When it's all said and done, it wasn't a choice," Pepe said, "I just got damn lucky." We talk about the feeling of isolation as a gay youth and the incredible freedom gay adults can feel as they venture to college and beyond. If only we could show our 14-year-old selves what life if like as an out and proud gay person, we could have felt a lot less heartache. Speaking of lucky to be gay, two openly gay men in the NBA and WNBA are succeeding in front offices. Rick Welts and Curt Miller have seen success and are being handed more responsibility in the wake of some positive movement for their teams and their careers. If there is so much homophobia in basketball, why are these two men succeeding so well?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the NCAA announced earlier this week that it is pulling a number of championship-level events out of the state of North Carolina, people cheered. The NCAA was, according to the headlines, helping to lead the way against discrimination and anti-LGBT laws like North Carolina's HB2. Yet all is not right in the NCAA. The association continues to allow member schools to openly discriminate against LGBT people with no repercussions. Gay coaches can be fired simply for being gay. Lesbian athletes can be kicked out of school simply for being lesbian. LGBT student-athletes and coaches are intimidated at some schools on a daily basis as fear is a dominant force in their lives. We talk about the NCAA's move out of North Carolina. Is it a first step? Will the association ever address the deeper issues affecting countless more athletes than a few championship events in North Carolina? Or will the NCAA continue to turn its head and rest on the laurels of a big PR announcement and some inclusive training manuals the