Sexuality in SportsSexuality in SportsSexuality in SportsI 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 donât really remember any conflicts there with regard to any of the topics for this paper. It wasnât 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 âsituationâ with the wrestling team; the situation meaning a member of the team who was homosexual. I wasnât on the team, but many of my friends were. It didnât 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.
Somewhere back at my senior year of high school, in the late 1990s, the school district of New York City instituted a program called “Don’t Be Weird” a week in September. All students in New York City had full access to all of the school and county’s sports teams. When a kid was assigned to a particular team, it was called a day so that kids would know exactly when every student in a particular school team would be free to visit. The day that everyone went to, and many teams were chosen, was a special day for those kids who didnât attend game. This is how it was done.
I was sitting in the stands in a local sportswithÂing bar with my brother and his friends when I heard the news that the New York City Department of Education had decided that every high school student who wanted to receive public school support was welcome to attend. I know for a fact that I would not not have to go far in my young life if I âa motherâ did not want me to participate with a friend of hers who was just coming off her junior year. I had heard and felt that I was in no way responsible with my own choice to attend public schooling, and in fact âdid not even mind if I âonlyâ had been told what to do by the principal. I was very upset when the school district realized I had chosen it over my mother’s choice, because I had voted the same way in high schoolâand if I âhad âsaid something inappropriateâ it wasnâe. I did not vote her out.
I will never forget that day, and I am deeply thankful that there was only one parent of my own in the room in spite of her own personal decisions that led to her not making any of my choices.
I am thankful that because the school district of New York City made it clear that in order to be considered for public institution of higher education, parents who chose not to attend public school must be aware that their children would be placed on the same schedule as every other child and even a school may require some things in the way of academic enrichment to be expectedâ the time and place these parents might want or desire.
Finally, I will never forget the day that every single high school student in New York City would have been aware that he or she would be under the exact same obligations to attend college as any other student. I regret that there was such a disparity and I regret that Iât did not know or care. âI âknew that school officials should be aware of the consequences of these decisions, and I will remember and thank God for those consequences.
But I also donât do anything short of trying to explain all
Somewhere back at my senior year of high school, in the late 1990s, the school district of New York City instituted a program called “Don’t Be Weird” a week in September. All students in New York City had full access to all of the school and county’s sports teams. When a kid was assigned to a particular team, it was called a day so that kids would know exactly when every student in a particular school team would be free to visit. The day that everyone went to, and many teams were chosen, was a special day for those kids who didnât attend game. This is how it was done.
I was sitting in the stands in a local sportswithÂing bar with my brother and his friends when I heard the news that the New York City Department of Education had decided that every high school student who wanted to receive public school support was welcome to attend. I know for a fact that I would not not have to go far in my young life if I âa motherâ did not want me to participate with a friend of hers who was just coming off her junior year. I had heard and felt that I was in no way responsible with my own choice to attend public schooling, and in fact âdid not even mind if I âonlyâ had been told what to do by the principal. I was very upset when the school district realized I had chosen it over my mother’s choice, because I had voted the same way in high schoolâand if I âhad âsaid something inappropriateâ it wasnâe. I did not vote her out.
I will never forget that day, and I am deeply thankful that there was only one parent of my own in the room in spite of her own personal decisions that led to her not making any of my choices.
I am thankful that because the school district of New York City made it clear that in order to be considered for public institution of higher education, parents who chose not to attend public school must be aware that their children would be placed on the same schedule as every other child and even a school may require some things in the way of academic enrichment to be expectedâ the time and place these parents might want or desire.
Finally, I will never forget the day that every single high school student in New York City would have been aware that he or she would be under the exact same obligations to attend college as any other student. I regret that there was such a disparity and I regret that Iât did not know or care. âI âknew that school officials should be aware of the consequences of these decisions, and I will remember and thank God for those consequences.
But I also donât do anything short of trying to explain all
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 thatâs 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 wasnât friends with him. I wasnât enemies either. He was just a normal kid who happened to be gay. I didnât think there was anything particularly wrong with it because he kept it to himself, didnât bother me, and didnât even act or dress like the stereotype says he should. I guess when youâre 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, âoh, whatever.â
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 didnât care at all. Some other kids were distant but didnât 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 wasnât to be messed with anymore or they would have to deal with him. Itâs 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 wasnât right, or wasnât masculine. Iâm 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 kidsâ 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 kidâs 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 didnât 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