english research rough draft - Adam Bottorff English Final...

Adam Bottorff 5/4/10
English Final Draft
Gay Athletes in America
The beauty of America is that every person is different in a special way. As we grow up
we learn that everyone has different talents, hobbies, likes and dislikes. If everyone was the
same, life would be very boring. When we are children, we are taught the normal way to do
many things. Growing up in America, society has made it clear that men are supposed to be the
dominant, strong, and confident type of people. As children, they are given toys that symbolize
strength and power, and are brought up and taught to be the leaders in a relationship and in
society. We can see that top government positions, CEO’s and many world known leaders are
men. In a society where men tend dominate; it is very hard to accept someone who is a
homosexual in America. The structured system that we have does not fit homosexuals in.
Throughout the semester and through many readings and movies, we have seen how hard it is to
act normal, when you are gay. The one area we feel there are few to none homosexuals, is in
athletics. A place where people are supposed to be strong, competitive, confident and skilled,
how can anyone be gay? How can one live up to coming out of the closet, when they are a
celebrity in a field where they are in contact with males every day. Even though we may think
there are not many homosexuals, there are some in mostly every sport. These athletes have had
to overcome many hardships, criticism and negative attitude ever since coming out of the closet.
Many of their lives have changed both on the field and off, because of the reaction from fans,
players and coaches. It is hard enough to accept homosexuality in any situation; but even harder
to accept it in athletic competition.
When an athlete is out in competition, there job is to act as intimidating, strong, and
confident as possible when going out on the field. Many athletes use special techniques to spook

out the opposing team and it usually works out to their advantage. How would the opposing team
feel if the pitcher they were facing was gay? What if the quarterback had a boyfriend or
husband? In sports, more than society itself; being gay and homosexual is not accepted at all and
does not mix well together. When these men basically live together during the season, with
traveling, eating, sleeping and showering together; it would be very hard for players to accept
gay athletes. That is the main reason why there is a small percent of athletes in professional
sports that have officially came out and pronounced themselves as homosexuals. The first player
to do it in sports was David Kopay who was in the NFL. He was a running back for five teams in
nine seasons, and stunned the sports world when he came out as a homosexual. When he came
out, it was believed to lead and show others that it was alright for them to come out of the closet
also, but there were only a few more to do so. With the average statistics that 5 to 10 percent of