FanHouse Gay

The New York Times has mixed up a Molotov cocktail of a hockey story this morning: Chronicling the complaints of gay fans about a "a toxic atmosphere during Rangers games" that features unregulated homophobic slurs; and attacking some of the well-worn, vulgar traditions of hockey fans in the cheap seats. From "When Tradition and Taunts Collide":

Kevin Jennings, a Rangers fan who is gay, said he stopped attending home games for about a month this season because he felt so uncomfortable with the homophobic epithets that are shouted to the players. Ray Stankes, 50, of Bayside, Queens, said he canceled season tickets he had had for 25 years in part because of the antigay environment. "This is a place where I grew up, and I never really felt uncomfortable at the Garden," Stankes said. "I didn't wear it on my sleeve that I'm gay. If I take a friend who is also gay who, for lack of a better term, is not as masculine, I'm always sitting there a little tense. Like, is somebody going to say something to us? And it's made it not quite as fun as it used to be."

A Rangers spokesperson in the article said the offensive parties are (ironically) a minority, and some have been ejected from the arena for anti-gay remarks. Jennings, who is the executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, offered to create PSAs to be shown in the arena "urging fans to be more respectful." The Rangers smartly declined, understanding that the same fans that booed when the New York City Gay Hockey Association's name was flashed on the scoreboard will do the same, and worse, for a video like that. Heck, they'll jeer a guy who gets the in-game trivia question wrong.

This is a problem no PSA or arena policy can solve. I grew up in the cheap seats in New York and Jersey, and I've been hearing about teams and players sucking or swallowing for as far back as I can recall. Sure, some media attention and pressure from advocacy groups could end chants of "Homo Larry" during dance routines at the Garden. But it'll take generations before using sexual orientation for public degradation is considered a cultural taboo at a hockey game.

For any NBA players out there who were considering the sound financial move of revealing their homosexuality to the world, here's one reason to reconsider: someone might kill you.

At least, someone might threaten to kill you. I tend to think that threats of this nature are usually from cowardly homophobes. But real or not, John Amaechi, the former NBA player who recently told the world he was gay, received these death threats.

It's just odd because two weeks ago, no one gave a damn about John Amaechi. Even hardcore NBA fans ... if anyone ever thought of John Amaechi, it was just something like, "Oh yeah, John Amaechi ... boy, I really could care less about this guy." And now, people feel strongly enough about him to want to put a bullet in him. Fantastic.

I'm still really rooting for an active gay athlete to come out ... I truly hope it happens, because it's the only way that the small-minded out there, like Shavlik Randolph, for example, are going to get over the juvenile "this guy will stare at my package and try to rape me in the shower!" mentality.

The death threats sort of bring back into focus the reality of the situation, though. It wouldn't be easy for a guy to do.

I've wondered about this, and I think Mark Cuban is on point here. I'll let him explain. These are comments he made to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

"From a marketing perspective, if you're a player who happens to be gay and you want to be incredibly rich, then you should come out, because it would be the best thing that ever happened to you from a marketing and an endorsement perspective. You would be an absolute hero to more Americans than you can ever possibly be as an athlete, and that'll put money in your pocket."

Always thinking of the bottom line, that Mark Cuban. And I think he's right. Not every company would hop on the rainbow bandwagon, but a lot would. I don't think Mark Cuban is wrong on a high percentage of business-related things. Hell, someone like Mikki Moore should just tell everyone he's gay, even if he's not, and get himself some money.

Something I hadn't considered was the marketing response towards athletes who are less than cool with a gay teammate. There may be some corporate backlash against a guy who's seen as closed-minded and bigoted.

"On the flip side, if you're the idiot who condemns somebody because they're gay, then you're going to be ostracized, you're going to be picketed and you're going to ruin whatever marketing endorsements you have."

Hm. Something to think about.

And this is not me saying, "Hey, gay NBA players (and they're out there), tell the world you're gay!" Obviously, there are a myriad of issues that this doesn't address. A guy will face a backlash in the locker room. There will be some general mangers who don't want him. The player will take abuse from fans. He will be under constant media scrutiny. And I'm not saying that any endorsement money is enough to compensate for that, or attempting to tell any player what he should do.

But someone has to be, and someone will be first. It's like my man Isiah Thomas says, "If we're not tolerant, we'll become tolerant." And if corporate America has some sway in that, then hey, they're good for something. We'll take it.