Homophobia in football

We’re all aware that there’s homophobia in sport – especially soccer. We were praising recently of Gareth Thomas – the most capped Welsh rugby player, now playing for Cardiff Blues – who had taken a brave step and had come out as gay, and is now a patron of LGBT History Month, which is this month.

But the big problem is soccer. (The only out mainstream soccer player has been Justin Fashanu. He ended up committing suicide in 1998 after being accused in the States of sexual assault against a 17-year-old youth. In his suicide note, Fashanu said the sex was consensual.)

The Football Association, the UK’s governing body for soccer, has postponed the premiere of a short film about homophobia in the sport. It was due to take place next Thursday at Wembley Stadium, but FA chiefs now say they need more time to work on the project. A new date has not been set.

Two of those consulted over the project are the gay human-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and former NBA basketball player John Amaechi, who have both criticised the film. Amaechi described it as an “expletive-laden rant”.

Pink News tell us that Amaechi has condemned the cancellation and attacked the film as “further proof of the FA’s willingness to window-dress its most serious problems”.

It’s not clear why he condemned the cancellation, or postponement, if he didn’t like the film, but perhaps we’re not getting a clear version of the story.

It does seem to show that the FA’s commitment to kicking homophobia out of soccer is a half-hearted affair, and one has to question the organisation’s commitment.

Tatchell, of the gay-rights group OutRage!, says, “The video produced was not in the style that OutRage! and I wanted. We had always pushed for a video that was positive, uplifting and joyful, with a strong music track backing to appeal to fans and which featured vox pops from players.

“The FA is saying [the premiere] is postponed, not cancelled, pending a reconsideration of how it fits into the FA’s strategy. The strategy was agreed over a year ago so I don’t understand why it has to be reworked.”

What won’t have helped in getting players to come out is the recent advice by the PR guru Max Clifford for them to remain in the closet.

While I can appreciate that a player wants to keep his career, he would be doing a far more noble thing to come out and encourage others to do the same. If we take Clifford’s advice, no player will ever come out, and being gay will continue to be seen as something intrinsically wrong, and organisations such as the FA will continue faffing about and not really doing anything about it.

Stay in the closet, says PR guru

The British PR guru, Max Clifford, is advising gay soccer players to remain in the closet. His advice follows the coming-out of the most capped Welsh rugby player, Gareth Thomas.

But Clifford says he could not imagine a Premiership footballer doing the same. He says he’s counselled gay soccer players that their careers would be ruined if they came out.

Yet, in Thomas’s case, his player colleagues were OK about the revelation. Who’s to say soccer players wouldn’t be?

But, then, you’re dealing with a more yobbish element among soccer supporters than among rugby supporters, which is probably part of what lies behind Clifford’s thinking.

While I can appreciate that a player wants to keep his career, he would be doing a far more noble thing to come out and encourage others to do the same. If we take Clifford’s advice, no player will ever come out, and being gay will continue to be seen as something intrinsically wrong.

I’m put in mind of Justin Fashanu, the (so far) only prominent soccer player to come out. He ended up committing suicide after being accused in the States of sexual assault against a 17-year-old youth. In his suicide note, Fashanu said the sex was consensual.

As we said a few days ago over Gareth Thomas’s coming-out, it’s a dreadful state of affairs when people have to choose between their careers and being honest with the world around them; being free to be who they are; being able to have a relationship openly without having to hide it. And some, no doubt, simply deny themselves sexual gratification, probably even suppress their sexuality, leading, potentially, to all kinds of psychological problems.

However, while (not exclusively, but chiefly) religionists continue to obsess about the “wrongness” of being gay, what can we expect?

Coming out in sport

What a state we’re in when a person has to go through what this rugby player had to go through just because he’s gay.

The whole sorry saga is reported by the BBC, which tells how the former Wales and Lions rugby captain Gareth Thomas “has broken one of the major taboos that surround sport” by revealing he is gay.

The 35-year-old joins stars like basketball’s John Amaechi and hurling’s Donal Og Cusack who have come out.

“Just because you are gay, it doesn’t mean you fancy every man who walks the planet,” Thomas told the Daily Mail.

And of course he’s right. But to hear antigay bigots speak you’d think that homosexuality was different from heterosexuality in that hetties are discriminating in whom they fancy while homos just fancy anything male that has a pulse. And that just isn’t so, of course.

The story tells of how Thomas approached the coach, the coach approached some players and the players eventually said it was no big deal.

But the fact that Thomas had had to go through all that palaver, all that agonising, speaks volumes for the sort of society we’re living in, in which it’s still taboo to be gay. And that’s largely down to religious bigots of the Right-most tendencies, who seem to think it’s anything to do with them what a guy does with his bits and pieces.

Well done, Gareth Thomas! Pity it had to be an issue at all.

The hex factor

Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to action after nearly two months of injury woes could be short lived.

This is according to a Malaga sorcerer, known only as Pepe, who said he was introduced into the occult by a Mexican sorcerer over thirty years ago. He says he’s been paid €30,000 by a “famous” former girlfriend of Ronaldo to put an injury curse on the player.

“The best is yet to come,” the 57-year-old is quoted as having told the news agency AFP at his office in the Mediterranean port, which displays burning candles, incense and statues of the Devil.

“I have given myself four months to end his career and I have said everywhere that once Cristiano started playing again he would play just one to three matches before being injured again.”

Playing gay

For once a Muslim can be sensible about coming into contact with that extremely haram phenomenon: being gay.

A 24-year-old actor from Cardiff – Said Mohamed – plays a gay man in a new film, Colonial Gods, which is being premiered at the gay and lesbian Iris Prize Festival in Cardiff.

His approach to the part – and he says he’s not gay – is one of professionalism, he says. He hopes most actors would bring a similar attitude to bear.

It’s not the first time a gay Muslim has been depicted – and at a higher-profile level, too. Dev Patel, star of the successful Slumdog Millionaire, played a gay Muslim, Anwar, in the British TV drama Skins. (Lovely line, when his mother knocks on Anwar’s bedroom door: “Anwar? Anwar? Are you masturbating? You should.”) And there was the celebrated kiss – not just a gay kiss but a gay Muslim kiss – in the UK soap EastEnders.

All a far cry from the Muslim footballers in France we blogged about yesterday, who, we were told, didn’t wish to play against a gay team, but we are now informed they will be playing after all (thanks to Dave McKeegan for that tip-off).

Talking balls

So much for the sporting spirit. A team of Muslim football players have refused to play against a gay team in France (see also here).

It’s against their religion. Being gay, that is (as if there were no gay Muslims!). And their superstitious beliefs are more important that football. They would probably complain if a gay (or any other) football team pulled out because they didn’t agree with Islam.

You would think the relevant football authorities had ordered both teams to have a group shag in the showers afterwards.
__________
See an update on this here (see last paragraph).

Match of the day

The big match tomorrow will be Christians versus soccer fans (we often wish it were the Roman tradition of Christians versus lions, but you can’t have everything!) – and the religious types are up in arms about it.

They don’t want the UK’s Premier League to show what they claim is “disdain” for Christians by holding big games on Easter Sunday.

A number of bishops, according to the Daily Telegraph, say there will be chaos as Christians struggle to get to church.

Perhaps they have a point, but without knowing just how difficult it would be to get to church it’s hard to say, and it sounds a bit like a throwback to the Lord’s Day Observance Society.

One point the bishops raise is a valid one – even if not really relevant to their concerns for worshippers’ safety – and it’s this: why should the big shops, such as garden centres, not be allowed to open on Easter Sunday (just as they can’t on Christmas Day) while soccer matches (just as commercial) can go ahead?

I’m not one for defending religion just because it’s religion, but find myself agreeing with it on a point of fairness. No doubt they’d like to see no soccer and no garden centres. But why not the other way round: have both garden centres and soccer games?

One has to ask, though, why should these restrictions apply only at Easter and Christmas and not other days? In other words, why favour one activity – religion – over others merely by recognising the days religion holds as anniversaries of impossible events in a belief system that has outlived its worth as an explanatory model?

And what is it to the religionists whether garden centres can open or not, while 22 men kick a ball around a field? Why are they making this comparison if it’s the football games and churchgoers’ safety they’re worried about? How does the restriction on one outlet bolster their argument for restricting another?

Their main concerns, though, seem to be about elderly and disabled people who would want to go to church on Easter Sunday, but, if a soccer game is being staged near them, they may not be able to get out – or may feel too intimidated to do so.

We have to create safe space for everyone, and often the roads around soccer games are not all that safe – whether to the Deluded Herd or to others.

Oh, didn’t really mean that bit about the lions. Only the virulently bigoted and homophobic ones deserve that. Anyway, where can you find lions on a Sunday?

S&M in G&LH

On Monday, the Guardian ran an interview with FIA president Max Mosley in which, among other things, he talked about his successful suing of the News of the World for invasion of privacy, and, as a result, his calling for and winning a vote of confidence at the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile).

The tabloid newspaper had printed details of a private S&M sex party attended by Mosley, claiming – falsely – that it had Nazi overtones. Since the story ran and the resulting court case, Mosley has been open and frank about his interest in and enthusiasm for sadomasochistic practices and tells the Guardian that he has no intention of stopping. (Good for him!)

According to the interview, “his greatest sense of injustice is against the tabloid culture, for the invasion of privacy that he says devastated his family”:

To live in a society where the rules are made by the [tabloid] editors, I think, would horrify most people. Particularly as it’s very one-sided. They never hesitate, for example, to use completely illegal means to get information, such as bribing people with access to the police computer. So they can’t talk about morality, they are immoral themselves.

The interview also reveals that he has defamation and privacy cases – some of which are criminal proceedings – in Germany, Italy and France, and is targeting the British government at the human rights court in Strasbourg, proposing a law to force editors to contact a subject before printing, which would give them a chance to seek a court injunction to stop publication.

People say, “But this will cast a chill on investigative journalism.” Well no, because . . . the judge isn’t going to suppress that which should not be suppressed. But he will probably suppress the revelation of people’s most private lives for no better purpose than to sell newspapers.

To this end, he has set up a fund for less well-off victims of intrusion of privacy to help them bring cases against newspapers.




In the current issue of G&LH, Diesel Balaam discusses the Max Mosley–News of the World case and reflects on our attitudes to consensual sadomasochism.

Circular blogic

Yesterday, the new issue of G&LH reported on the 400th blog entry:

We began the blog in March 2008, and by early August had notched up going on for 280 posts [and when it's] reached a mini-milestone (the 101st post, for instance, the 180th post, the 200th, the 300th – even the 365th (the number of days in a year, give or take the quarter) – and the 400th (Circular blogic), we’ve found a novel way of marking it.

This is the 400th blog entry! See what we’ve done?

If you haven’t p(cl)icked up the latest issue of G&LH yet, what are you waiting for?

We're back!

News release

Gay humanist mag rises from the ashes of controversy

We’ll have a no-holds-barred policy, say editors

Gay & Lesbian Humanist, the magazine that suspended publication amid controversy in 2005, is back. And its editors have promised a no-holds-barred policy concerning political correctness.

G&LH’s return has been warmly welcomed by Barry Duke, editor of Britain’s oldest freethought magazine, the Freethinker, who says it plays “an important part in getting the message across”.

The new online publication takes over from the print version, which had been publishing quarterly since 1981.

The magazine has, throughout its life, carried a lively mixture of in-depth feature articles, regular items, events news and general news on matters concerning humanists, lesbians and gays worldwide.

In a statement today, the magazine’s editors say:

Many people will remember G&LH. Some may remember why it suspended publication following a protracted dispute about content.

After a period of change and restructuring within the PTT, the trustees decided to resume publication. In order to optimise the trust’s work and cost-effectiveness, and to reach a wider audience, it was decided to make G&LH an online publication.

On the magazine’s policy, the statement adds:

Much is often said about the right-wing threat to our liberties, but far less attention is made of threats from the left wing and elsewhere. However, we will expose threats wherever we find them, without fear of or favour to any established dogma, and with chromatic indifference to the whole political spectrum.

If it stands for anything, G&LH stands for reason, free speech and open debate. There are no sacred cows or no-go areas. Full stop.

The editors’ statement says everyone has the right to free speech within the confines of the law. “The only way to strengthen something is to question it, test it,” they say.

Truth is not protected by never being challenged, but by always being challenged. Where there is no truth, there is no education. The educative process knows no bounds.

We hope that, by providing feature articles examining all aspects of humanism, sexuality, dogma, threats to free speech, we fill a gap not addressed by other publications.

Barry Duke, editor of the 127-year-old Freethinker, said today:

As one who helped launch the Gay & Lesbian Humanist, then witnessed with enormous pride its development over the years, I am delighted that the magazine has resurfaced in electronic format.

I always believed that the magazine could play an important part in getting the message across that, not only was it good to be gay, it was even better to be a gay person free from the dreadfully debilitating and hugely harmful influences of religious belief.

I like to think that the magazine – with its top-notch reportage and in-depth coverage of important and often controversial issues – provided its readers with a vital and unique stepping-stone from the tyranny of religious dogma to the freedom of a guilt-free, rational lifestyle.

Welcome back!

And a former editor of G&LH, George Broadhead – who is also secretary of the PTT – had this to say: “I was very sad that the previous print version of G&LH ceased publication. I am enormously pleased we will now be able to continue where we left off.”

On arriving at the magazine’s website readers are greeted by a montage of covers from the print edition going back to the late nineties, when it began printing in colour. On clicking the “Enter here” button they are taken to a mixed content of serious articles, some more light-hearted material, a roundup of news from Britain and around the world, and an invitation to visit the magazine’s sister publication, the blog Pink Triangle.

Kicking homophobia out of soccer

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to us, of course, but there are more gay soccer players than we are led to believe.

So, anyway, says Paul Elliott, who played for Celtic, Chelsea and Aston Villa during his 12-year career, who was speaking at an event called “Homophobia: Football’s Final Taboo”, hosted by the UK’s Football Association at its central London headquarters. He claims to know around a dozen gay footballers.

The online Pink News says that Elliott, who now works as an adviser to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, “said gay players do not come out because they fear the reaction of fans”.

Kick It Out, the organisation dedicated to removing prejudice from football, yesterday launched a new campaign.

Professional footballers will link up with schools, universities, community and youth centres, for a nationwide stand against discrimination and for diversity. More than 1,000 events and activities are scheduled to take place.

At last night’s event gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: “I would like to see the FA organise a dozen Premier League straight players to condemn homophobia in a MTV-style video. Straight voices are likely to have the strongest impact on homophobic fans.”

One of the UK’s most celebrated gay footballers was Justin Fashanu, who committed suicide in 1998.

Matthew Mitcham (un)covered

Golden Boy! Cover Boy!

Just thought I’d let everyone know that the current issue of DNA magazine sports the Australian Olympic-diving champion Matthew Mitcham on its front cover (left).

And very hot he looks, too!

DNA is an Australian gay publication. Click here to preview the online edition, or here to subscribe to the print edition. You can read all our coverage of Matthew Mitcham here.

AfterMatthew

Following Matthew Mitcham’s Olympic triumph in Beijing last month, and NBC’s failure to make any reference to the fact that the young Australian was an out gay athlete, AfterElton.com recently conducted a wide-ranging interview with the broadcaster’s Olympic host, Bob Costas.

Mitcham, who was the only out gay male athlete at the games, won gold in the men’s 10-metre platform diving event, preventing a gold-medal sweep by the Chinese men’s diving team. What’s more, he did it in dramatic fashion, winning on his final dive and posting the highest recorded score ever for an Olympic dive by a man!





As we reported here in August:

Mitcham’s journey has not been an easy one. He’s already battled depression, retired while still a teenager after becoming physically and emotionally burnt out, then, nine months later, resumed his sport to build himself into the champion he now undoubtedly is.

But, at the time of the Olympic coverage, NBC chose to ignore all this.

As AfterElton.com points out:

It’s a combination of sports history in the making and moving personal story that usually makes for great Olympic coverage.

Yet during NBC’s two evening’s worth of platform diving coverage, neither Mitcham’s status as the only out gay male athlete, nor his moving personal story was ever mentioned. This dramatic and historic information was instead replaced by the commentators with a vague reference to Mitcham overcoming “personal issues”.

In August, AfterElton.com led the coverage, which was soon picked up by LGBT organisations and publications, including Pink Triangle, around the globe. Everyone was dismayed at NBC’s apparent homophobia. AfterElton.com contacted NBC Sports, who gave an initial response indicating that they had no problem with their coverage of Mitcham, only to later follow that up with an apology when they contacted the broadcaster again.

Now, in the interview with AfterElton.com, Costas talks about gay people in sports generally and about Mitcham specifically, admitting that he – Mitcham – had not been an athlete he’d been focusing on: “But had [I] been, I would have thought [Mitcham’s sexuality] was a worthwhile thing to mention.”

You can read all our coverage of Matthew Mitcham here.

Take a break . . .

Every Friday afternoon, like clockwork, Newsline – the weekly e-bulletin from the National Secular Society, edited by NSS President Terry Sanderson – has pinged! into my email inbox.


Newsline, which has appeared weekly since the beginning of 2001 (and before that fortnightly), is a handy resource for anyone wanting to keep up to date on religious and secular news.

Though I’ve often wondered how Sanderson manages to produce it with such regularity, I’m grateful that he does. This week, however, it (and Sanderson, presumably) has taken a rest.

Deprived of my weekly read, I decided to have a look back over a couple of the more recent issues and was reminded of Sanderson’s editorial for 8 August edition, which asked, Is Bob Pitt a new McCarthy?:

Richard Dawkins made headlines this week when he accused British schools of allowing creationism to flourish in schools’ science lessons if it was being promoted as part of Islam. He told the press: “Most devout Muslims are creationists – so when you go to schools, there are a large number of children of Islamic parents who trot out what they have been taught. Teachers are bending over backwards to respect home prejudices that children have been brought up with. The Government could do more but it doesn't want to because it is fanatical about multiculturalism and the need to respect the different traditions from which these children come.

“The Government – particularly under Tony Blair – thinks it is wonderful to have children brought up with their traditional religions. I call it brainwashing. It seems as though teachers are terribly frightened of being thought racist. It’s almost impossible to say anything against Islam in this country because if you do you are accused of being racist or Islamophobic.”

Indeed, right on cue, Professor Dawkins was immediately denounced as an “Islamophobe” on the website Islamophobia Watch by “Martin Sullivan”, the site’s leading light. Mr Sullivan wrote: “On the other hand, there are those of us who would argue that paranoid delusions about the impact on educational policy of a minority faith community who comprise less than 3% of the population of the UK are quite accurately categorisable as Islamophobia.”

According to Johann Hari of the Independent, and several other reliable sources, Martin Sullivan is an alias. The site is almost certainly a one-man band run by a bloke called Bob Pitt, a radical left-winger who imagines he is protecting Muslims by siding with their most reactionary leaders and spokespeople.

Bob Pitt sees “Islamophobia” everywhere. His website is packed with “examples” of how “Islamophobia” is spreading through Europe. Such is his obsession that just about all public utterances that are not completely fawning about Islam are recorded and denounced by Mr Pitt as “Islamophobic”. Needless to say, the NSS and its honorary associates figure prominently.

Could one go so far as to say that Islamophobia Watch contravenes the incitement to religious hatred laws? Could it not be argued that Islamophobia Watch is, in fact, a place where Islamic fanatics could go to find the names of people they can then identify as their enemies? Certainly I have seen people who have been named on the site (often complete with their pictures, for easier identification) expressing alarm at what the consequences might be, and at least one has received hate mail following being named. Indeed, I am not happy about my own picture being repeatedly featured with the implication that I an incorrigible "Islamophobe". (According to the site, being critical of any element of Islam the religion is the equivalent of being anti-Muslim people).

I wonder if Mr Pitt’s conscience is at all pricked by the fear his site inspires in those it brands, McCarthy-style, as “Islamophobic” simply because they wanted to contribute to the debate on Islam and religion generally? I wonder if he ever imagines that some of the things that are criticised by his so-called “Islamophobes” (stoning women to death, hanging dissidents, assassinating critics) might be worthy of harsh criticism?

See also:
Johann Hari on Islamophobia Watch
Leicester Secularist blog
Why Islamophobia Watch doesn’t like Maryam Namazie
Bob Pitt’s web of lies (spun at tax-payers expense)
Britain is letting sharia sneak in

As a cursory browse on Pitt’s website will prove, Islamophobia Watch finds Islamophobia in anything that is short of praise for all things Islam and, just like many Islamists, it seems, doesn’t believe in the right to freedom of speech – try posting a comment to the site!

A month ago, my colleague Andy Armitage emailed Pitt under the subject heading "Johann Hari article":

Attention Bob Pitt
=============

Dear Bob

You'll be aware that Hari has written a piece about your blog, Islamophobia Watch. At the bottom, he writes:

"POSTSCRIPT: You can ask the editors of the Islamophobia Watch website why they continue to demonise gay men who resist sharia law at editorial@islamophobia-watch.com."

I am genuinely curious about this, too, and have been for some time, because I, too, have come in for criticism on your site. My understanding was that there would be a lot of common ground among minority groups. If I've misinterpreted your intentions, then tell me. But it does look as if – as Hari and Terry Sanderson of the NSS say – you find "Islamophobia" in anything that is short of praise for all things Islam, and then call it racism.

I hope I'll hear from you.

Best wishes
Andy Armitage

Of course, we didn’t expect a reply and, true to form, we didn’t get one.

Stamp of approval

Matthew Mitcham, the Olympic diving champion who dazzled the world with his winning dives at the Beijing Olympics last month, is to be given his own official Australian postage stamp (pictured).

Mitcham, who single-handedly prevented the Chinese from their expected clean sweep in the male diving events, achieved the highest score in the history of the Games! He is the first gay man to have been open and honest about his sexuality before competing in the Olympic Games and, consequently, the first out gay male Olympic champion.

Mitcham was not in the closet to his friends and family, but came out publicly earlier this year following discussions about how the decision might affect his chances of sponsorship. It seems that he needn't have worried.

Chris White, the manager of fellow Australian, swimmer Stephanie Rice, has stated that Mitcham’s sexuality won’t hold back his earnings potential:

It’s about consistency of performance and personality. Swimming is a sport with huge interest in Australia and sponsors are attracted to it.

And according to the Sydney Morning Herald, there has been a great deal of interest in Mitcham from those wishing to secure a deal with him.

You can read all our coverage of the Australian golden boy here.

Pathetic and bathetic: the music of the spheres as played by a journalist

Now here's logic for you – and an indictment of the state of popular journalism. First a quotation from a story about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) (see "D:REAMs and conCERNs" from yesterday's Pink Triangle posts) on the BBC website:

It [yesterday's historic switching-on of the LHC] is not the first time that a scientific study of the universe has inspired awe and wonder.

The crew of Apollo 8 were so moved by their experience, they felt moved to read passages from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the moon on Christmas Eve in 1968.

OK (apart from the clumsy repetition of the word moved), by all means mention an emotional moment among a group of astronauts. Who among those of us who have never seen Earth from way up there or seen the moon close up can say just what emotions they felt, and who can deny them the right to express them in whatever way they wished? Anyway, even to us godless hellspawn – the secularists and atheists and doubters who are responsible for all the ills of the world – Bible language is poetic and great to read aloud.

However, that quotation followed this short passage:

He [physicist-turned-priest the Rev. Professor Sir John Polkinghorne] said: "Physicists are deeply impressed with the order of the world. It is rationally beautiful and structured, and the feeling that there is a mind behind it is a very natural feeling to have."

Does that juxtaposition of paragraphs, that conflation of situations, not strike you as the typical way in which a journo will try to find a link, however tenuous, to hold a story together? I mean, the astronauts are clever people and all that, and need to know lots of really brilliant technical stuff to get themselves into space. But they're not particle physicists (unless by a happy coincidence). They're not studying such things as the so-called "God particle", the Higgs boson, that "crucial part of the standard model of particle physics", to quote a long article in National Geographic.

So to come down from such heady speculation on the origins of the universe to how the astronauts reached for the Bible when they saw their planet from a great height seems to me to be bathetic in the extreme (yes, they were likely all Judeo-Christians, but my point would cover the Koran if they were Muslims or the Vedas if they were Hindus or the words of Guru Nanak Dev if they were Sikhs).

Genesis may be poetic, but it isn't particle physics, merely a metaphorical way of describing how the world began (though thought literal by many people, even today). And it was the world in those days whose origins they thought they were describing – i.e. the planet, geocentric, flat – not the universe we have since come to know as something huge beyond imagining, of which that Earth is a small part.

Perhaps I'm making too much of this. It just seemed an odd conflation by the journalist: on the one hand, a team of physicists speculating scientifically on the God particle and another group – whose own science didn't create the planet, or the moon, but merely allowed them to fly far away from the former – reach for the Bible on seeing Earth from a distance, beautiful though that may be, and read passages from it.

Did you see . . .?

If you were watching coverage of the Beijing Olympics, did you see . . .?



As already reported by us here, what you definately did not see on NBC was that when Australian Olympic-diving champion Matthew Mitcham (above) won his gold medal, no mention was made of his being gay, nor were shots shown of his kissing and hugging his long-time partner Lachlan Fletcher.

Of course, as also reported by us here, NBC have since apologised, though a little belatedly, but if you were unlucky enough to be watching their coverage and haven't seen the footage, well, thanks to GayClic.com, now you can!

Blip.tv have made available online an 8-minute video, which shows Mitcham’s final dive, the celebration afterwards where he hugs practically every other diver, the medal-awards ceremony and him jumping into the stands to give his flowers and a kiss to his partner, Lachlan Fletcher.

Note: Mitcham races into the stands at around 6:20.

Matthew Mitcham Olympic Gold Tribute Video

Posted using ShareThis

You can read all our coverage of Matthew Mitcham here.

NBC – now they have!

Yesterday, we reported NBC’s failure to apologise for the homophobia they displayed by their feeble coverage of Matthew Mitcham’s triumph at the Beijing Olympics.



Today, on a happier note, we can report that NBC have done just that – apologised.

Earlier this week, the gay entertainment blog AfterElton.com led the protests about NBC’s coverage, only for the US television network to issue their lame excuses. AfterElton.com pointed out exactly how much time NBC did devote to many other athletes’ personal stories during its coverage of the Games:

Michael Phelp[s]’s record setting eight Olympic gold medals and his relationship with his mother, Usain Bolt’s gold medals and world records, and even Sanya Richard’s relationship with her fiancée who plays for the New York Giants.

Was Mitcham’s win simply not that noteworthy? Given that he single-handedly kept the Chinese from winning every men’s diving gold medal, that explanation is highly unlikely.

At the time, Greg Hughes, a spokesperson for NBC Sports, responded pathetically:

We don’t show everyone. We don’t show every ceremony. It’s not possible to cover the entire personal story of every athlete regarding their performance. It’s just not possible to single out coverage.

However, according to a story in Pink News, Gary Zenkel, NBC’s head of Olympics, has told AfterElton.com that they were at fault:

We regret that we missed the opportunity to tell Matthew Mitcham's story. We apologise for this unintentional omission.

The story is being widely reported in the Australian media, and you can read all our coverage of Matthew Mitcham here.

Johnson & Johnson 1, NBC 0

In our Gay Pride! blog entry on Monday, we praised Johnson & Johnson for awarding Matthew Mitcham a grant through its Athlete Family Support Program so that his partner, Lachlan Fletcher, could be in China to support him while he took part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In their coverage of the 10m diving event, the US television network NBC has been taken to task for not once mentioning that Mitcham was openly gay or that his partner was there to support him. Furthermore, during the awards ceremony, when the pair shared a kiss in front of millions of television viewers, NBC did not show it.

AfterElton.com raised the issue with Greg Hughes, a spokesperson for NBC Sports, which has subsequently been picked up by Outsports.com:

When asked why at no point during the coverage did NBC mention Mitcham was gay or that his partner was in the stands, Hughes [told AfterElton], “In virtually every case, we don’t discuss an athlete’s sexual orientation.”

When it was pointed out that in fact the network does exactly that by telling viewers about Olympic athletes’ various spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, and even in one case a heterosexual “love triangle” Hughes responded, “Not in every case. Not every athlete has a personal discussion. I could show you 500 athletes we didn’t show. We don’t show everyone. We don’t show every ceremony.” …

“It’s not possible to cover the entire personal story of every athlete regarding their performance. … It’s just not possible to single out coverage.”

NBC’s lame excuses are pathetic and don’t stand up to even the closest scrutiny (see here, where Outsports.com takes apart each of them). Hughes’s claim that “[n]ot every athlete has a personal discussion” is true of course, but earlier NBC had seen fit to make reference to “personal issues” – Mitcham’s suffering from depression, which had led to his earlier retirement from diving – but had failed even then to add that Fletcher had supported him throughout that period in his life, helping him back into the sport and on to these Olympic Games!

There’s no doubt that Mitcham’s story is unique: the only openly gay man taking part in the 2008 Olympics, the only openly gay male Olympic champion, Mitcham is also the first man to go to any Olympics having come out as a gay man prior to the event!

Given all this, NBC’s last claim, that it’s “not possible to cover the entire personal story of every athlete regarding their performance”, is particularly laughable, especially considering that they did choose to cover plenty of smaller stories – such as a volleyball player who lost her wedding ring, a love triangle involving French and Italian swimmers, countless shots of wives, husbands, girlfriends and boyfriends cheering their straight partners and, wait for it … plenty of shots of weeping, smiling, joyous athletes greeting and kissing their loved ones after receiving their medals!

The Outsports.com piece concludes by saying that they’re “not yet ready to accuse NBC of homophobia”, but NBC has been homophobic. Not just because of its actions on the day but because, unlike Mitcham who had the courage to be out and proud, NBC haven’t had the courage to admit they were wrong.

You can read all our coverage of Matthew Mitcham here.

Gay pride!

So many stories concerning the treatment of gay people are negative. Day after day, we hear about homophobia directed towards us from individuals, religious organisations, governments or companies. Therefore, it’s great to be able to report something really positive.

Australia’s Matthew Mitcham, the only openly gay male athlete competing in this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, is also now the only openly gay male 2008 Olympic Champion.

Mitcham came out publicly in an interview he gave just weeks ago to the Sydney Morning Herald. At the time, the Australian newspaper described his decision, of being the first Australian to go to the Olympics declaring his homosexuality, as “a historic and courageous step”.

Mitcham’s journey has not been an easy one. He’s already battled depression, retired while still a teenager after becoming physically and emotionally burnt out, then, nine months later, resumed his sport to build himself into the champion he now undoubtedly is.

Lachlan Fletcher, his partner, has been at his side for the entire tumultuous journey, and was there to see the 20-year-old Mitcham (pictured) win a gold medal for the 10m platform diving event. Fletcher received a grant through the Johnson & Johnson Athlete Family Support Program so that he could be in Beijing. Mitcham said that they couldn’t afford to pay themselves, so he’d nominated Lachlan as the support person he wanted to go with him. Afterwards, the pair shared a kiss in front of millions of television viewers during the awards ceremony.

Australia’s Golden Boy has done himself proud!

You can read all our coverage of Matthew Mitcham here.