New Study: USA Ranks Worse in Homophobia in Sports

The Christofascists and their minions in the Republican Party like to blather about American exceptionalism.  A new study of English speaking countries confirms that yes, America is exceptional when it comes to homophobia in sports.  Of the nations in the study, America ranked dead last.  Apparently mistreating and abusing others is one of the things that makes America exceptional in the deranged and fear stricken minds of the godly folk and their political whores.  Time looks at the study findings.  Here are excerpts: 

Throughout most of high school, Michael Martin—a senior at Musselman High School in Inwood, W. Va.—kept his sexuality hidden from his soccer teammates. “I was afraid I would get harassed, tormented, made fun of a lot,” said Martin, who knew he was gay since middle school. “I wasn’t afraid of physical abuse necessarily. But I thought guys would do stuff like throw the ball at me. On purpose.” Martin says he heard the word faggot all too many times.

According to new research released on Saturday, Martin is far from alone. The study, entitled “Out On The Fields” and billed as “the first international study on homophobia in sport,” is a survey of nearly 9,500 people, mostly from six countries (the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand). The researchers found that 80% of all participants and 82% of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) participants “said they have witnessed or experienced homophobia in sport.” Of those reporting personal experience with homophobia, 84% of gay men and 82% of lesbians said they had received verbal slurs like faggot and dyke. Also, 81% of gay men and 74% of lesbians who were under 22 at the time of the study reported being completely or partially in the closet to teammates while playing youth sports. Nearly half of gay men and 32% of lesbians hid their sexuality while playing youth sports because they feared rejection by teammates.

The study found the U.S. had the highest percentage of gay men reporting that they had received verbal threats in a sports environment, and the highest percentage of gay men who heard slurs. In fact, of the six countries surveyed, the U.S. ranked worst in sports homophobia and discrimination, as measured by the “inclusion score” developed by the researchers. (Canada had the highest score, followed by Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., Ireland and the U.S.) “It’s sad that the U.S. fared so poorly,” . . .

This is the largest study of its kind yet to be undertaken. The results illustrate the extent to which LGB sport participants across multiple nations share common experiences of harassment, bullying, and even physical violence. It reaffirms what most LGB and straight athletes in these contexts already know, that homophobic language and action remain effective techniques for normalizing heteronormative masculinity in the sports domain. If we are going to take issues of (in)equality and civil rights seriously, this study reminds us that there’s no better place to start than on the sports field.”

York County, Virginia Schools Won't Stopping Bullying Despite Student Suicide

I have written about the ongoing bullying problem in the nearby York County, Virginia, school division in the aftermath of the Memorial Day weekend suicide of 16 year Christian Taylor last year here and here. One of the problems is the apparent total indifference to well being of all students in the ranks of the school administration. The second and even larger problem is that Virginia's laws more or less absolve both the bullies persecuting other students and the indifferent and negligent school administrators. Only actual physical assault or utterly gross negligence will open the threshold for accountability of the bully and school administrators, respectively.

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But back to Christian's family eight months after his death. Given Christian's suicide, one would think that the York County schools would go out of their way to protect his surviving siblings from harassment and bullying. But sadly, such is not the case as is evidenced by this story on WVEC-TV 13 by a reporter friend, David Ham ( a print version of the story can be found here):

As a parent, the school division's obscene disregard for Christian's siblings - and I suspect many other students as well - makes me furious. EVERY child deserves to be able to go to school without harassment be they gay, lesbian, black white, Hispanic, Christian, Muslim or Hindu, etc. Is this simple right too much to ask for? I hope readers will widely disseminate this story and force York County to clean up its act if not for the right reason only so as to stop the negative publicity.

U.S. Can't Link Bradley Manning to Wilileaks

As this blog and many others, Bradley Manning has been held - one could argue illegally - in solitary confinement at Quantico, Virginia, because of his supposed role in leaking classified information to Wilileaks. His treatment, in fact, seems akin to something that would have been done under the regime of Chimperator Bush and Emperor Palpatine Cheney (something Barack Obama claimed would cease by the way). There's only one huge problem - according to NBC News, the U. S. military cannot find any evidence to link Manning yo Wikileaks. If such is indeed the case, Manning needs to be released and one would hope he'd bring a lawsuit based on his improper treatment. The whole affair increasingly looks like precipitous action by military leaders who were none to pleased to have the American public find out that our troops are committing atrocities as claimed by surviving victims. It would seem the better action would have been to punish those involved in the atrocities rather than punishing those seeking to see them cease. Here are highlights from NBC News:
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U.S. military officials tell NBC News that investigators have been unable to make any direct connection between a jailed army private suspected with leaking secret documents and Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
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The officials say that while investigators have determined that Manning had allegedly unlawfully downloaded tens of thousands of documents onto his own computer and passed them to an unauthorized person, there is apparently no evidence he passed the files directly to Assange, or had any direct contact with the controversial WikiLeaks figure.
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WikiLeaks' release of secret diplomatic cables last year caused a diplomatic stir and laid bare some of the most sensitive U.S. dealings with governments around the world. It also prompted an American effort to stifle WikiLeaks by pressuring financial institutions to cut off the flow of money to the organization.
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Assange told msnbc TV last month that WikiLeaks was unsure Army PFC Bradley Manning is the source for the classified documents appearing on his site. "That's not how our technology works, that's not how our organization works," Assange said. "I never heard of the name of Bradley Manning before it appeared in the media." He called allegations that WikiLeaks had conspired with Manning "absolute nonsense."
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On Monday, U.S. military officials also strongly denied allegations that Manning, being held in connection with the WikiLeaks' release of classified documents, has been "tortured" and held in "solitary confinement" without due process.
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Anti-war groups, a psychologist group as well as filmmaker Michael Moore and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg have called for Bradley to be released from detention.

Spousal Abuse Around the World

I cannot help but wonder how much of these shocking statistics derive from patriarchal religious belief systems that subjugate women to men. It is very sad. Very sad, indeed.

Random Thoughts - Updated Saturday Evening

UPDATED: I have modified this post. I am trying to find out more information, but it seems that there was a reason for my friend's seemingly - from my perspective - out of control behavior. In deference to him and all the wonder moments we have shared, I have deleted the rant portion of the post I wrote this morning. Please keep my friend in your thoughts and prayers.

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This coming week should be interesting since my new subtenant for a portion of my office space will be moving in, with full occupancy to take place on Friday. I'd prefer not having an additional sub-tenant, but with the current economic slow down and utter crash of the residential real estate market, cutting overhead is a must. And who is my new subtenant you ask? The eastern office of the Virginia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA"). They were seeking new office space in the general area of my office and a realtor friend who attends my parish brought them by since he knew I was looking for ways to lower overhead costs. Everyone seems very nice and hopefully all will go smoothly with us sharing the lobby area and the main conference room and kitchen. Whether or not they realize they are moving into the midst of a gay enclave remains to be seen. :) I believe that the strongest witness gays can make is to just be themselves and dispel the distorted stereotypes that some may hold - both I and my gay staff member will try to do our part in this cause.

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On the romance front, I had a date on Wednesday evening with a very nice guy who is smart, personable, age appropriate as some might call it, seems totally comfortable with himself, and who is totally out. Hopefully, we will see each other again sometime soon. I truly do not want to get involved with someone in the closet because of all the baggage that goes with it. After years of hiding and worrying about be found out, it is SO liberating to just be able to be who I am with no pretense or apologies. I truly do not believe I could go back to living that way or with someone who lived in constant fear of discovery. To me the term "discrete" one sees in personal ads equates to repressed and a lack of self-acceptance.

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Speaking of romance, next month my friends Martin and Christopher are having their long delayed wedding celebration. They were married last summer on 7-7-07 in Canada but never had a chance for a real celebration party due Christopher's mother's health (she died last summer). His mom was a truly great lady and a true inspiration for me and so many, many people. The affair will be on Virginia's Eastern Shore at a fabulous B&B. The house was originally built in 1746 and was destroyed in a fire around 1960. It has been faithfully restored and as the photo above and additional photos on the web site reveal, it is gorgeous. I still need to find a date for the affair. Any interested takers out there? :)

When Relationships End Violently

I usually do not post in the morning, but I was awake several times during the night thinking and pondering about relationships that end and why some people cannot accept that for whatever reasons, the relationship is over and that it is time to move on. This is particularly true where things have deteriorated to a point where one member of the couple has been physically violent to the other individual. In my view, NOTHING ever gives one the right to hit another person and once the first physical blow has been received, the relationship by definition has moved to a point where salvaging it is in all likelihood hopeless. At least if the goal of the parties is a truly loving and mutually respectful relationship. The fact is that remaining in the relationship is potentially dangerous for the party who has been attacked physically. A former neighbor of mine, in fact, found herself in the emergency room one night due to her fear/failure to end an abusive relationship with her husband.

Nonetheless, there are some aggressive members of relationships who want to point blame at the party who has been assaulted. They refuse to take responsibility for their conduct and to accept the fact that THEY are the one who in effect ended the relationship with that first blow. Even more incredibly to me, some abusers think themselves the victim when the party that they have physically abused cannot resume the relationship due to fear and concerns of future physical harm. The abused party should not have to bring assault charges or seek protective orders so that they can go on with their life. Nor should they have to receive abusive communications, fear being stalked, find themselves being impersonated online by the abuser, or any number of others actions the unrelenting party may undertake in their attempt to continue to possess and control their victim. Sadly, some abusers apparently leave their victims with no option but to initiate criminal charges.

I do not understand the mindset. It is one thing to pine over the loss of a lover. Most of us have had such an experience at some point in our lives. It is something totally different to threaten and intimidate the supposed beloved to try to force him/her to return to the relationship which, in fact, has already ended due to the physical violence. All the aggressor accomplishes is to push the supposed beloved farther and farther away to a point where even friendship will be impossible in the future. Total possession and control of another is not love under any definition.