Doug Cooper Spencer
  • Doug Cooper Spencer
    • Excerpts
  • Gather the Bones (excerpts)
  • Ella Pruitt (excerpts)
  • This Place of Men: book 1 of trilogy (excerpts)
  • People Like Us: book 2 of trilogy (excerpts)
  • Leaving Gomorrah: book 3 of trilogy (excerpts)
  • A Letter to a Friend (excerpts)
  • Memory Pieces: Stories From My Past
  • Black LGBTQ People in History
  • The Photo Slide
  • Blog: The View from Here
  • Essays and Interviews
  • Reviews
  • About the Author/Contact

The Interesting Case of (Possibly) Outed Football Player Kerry Rhodes and the NFL

4/26/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
I don't think it's cool to out someone unless they're actually SGL (Same Gender Loving) and have chosen to take a hostile stance towards the SGLT (Same Gender Loving/Trans)  community.

If Kerry Rhodes wants to deny that he's SGL, he has a right to do so (unfortunate, but I think he has all the right to do that), but to out him because he allegedly has asked you to play down your relationship with him? I mean, didn't the alleged 'scorned lover' know all this before they got together and all while they were together? Probably, but now that he feels he's being left out the alleged 'scorned lover' is going after him.

I don't think that's right. There's a lack of integrity on both of these guys' parts, if you ask me... Nonetheless, I have to admit, that regardless of their actual relationship (and the photos do seem to tell a lot) I'm interested in following Kerry Rhodes' story in pro-football now that he MIGHT be the first SGL football player to be known as SGL while still in the game (even though he is currently a free-agent). The fallout of all of this will have a HUGE effect.

Someone wrote to me that this 'story' shouldn't be a story at all.  They wrote that it's idle gossip and that there are more interesting things to talk about in professional sports.  I disagree. 

During a time when professional sports is dealing with homophobia in a society that seems to be doing an about face when it comes to SGLT equality-- taking a decidedly 'pro' stance-- and given the number of professional athletes who come out after their careers are over (a number of them being from the NFL) there looms the great possibility that there are SGL players on teams.

In the real world of culture and economics professional sports is a monster.  As an industry, not only does professional sports pull in income that would put many other industries to shame, but it affects what is important to us-- our view of who we see as our heroes (like it or not, that is truth).  The players in the industry of professional sports are who millions model themselves after even in terms of ethics.  And the leader of the pack in terms of revenue and impact on our psyche is the NFL.

So what does the NFL do if Kerry Rhodes or any of its players come out?  Will any athlete that comes out while still in the game be our Jackie Robinson?

The NFL, in particular, has tried to approach this subject as respectfully as it can.  Just  look at this past Super Bowl show when the subject of homophobia was discussed for the first time in front of the largest TV audience in the country, and one of the largest viewing audiences in the world.  The  NFL has broached the subject and appears to be prepared to face what will eventually become reality: that the NFL has SGL players.

If Kerry Rhodes does come out it will be interesting to see how his move out of the closet will affect a multi-billion dollar industry and the culture that surrounds it.   And that's why it's definitely a story worth following.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Doug Cooper Spencer is a novelist, short fiction writer, and essayist living in New York City. Doug is the author of four novels: 'This Place of Men' (1999), 'People Like Us' (2008),  'Leaving Gomorrah' (2011) (which are books in a trilogy), and 'Ella Pruitt' (2015), as well as a book written as an epistle 'A Letter to a Friend' (2007).  He has also written numerous essays, short stories and autobiographical memoirs which he calls ‘memory pieces’.
       
        In 2016 Doug's novel 'Ella Pruitt' was named as 'one of the best works of fiction for 2016' by The Phillis Wheatley Book Awards.
        Currently Doug is at work on his sixth book (his fifth novel), a collection of short stories and memory pieces, in addition to a screenplay.

    StoriesDougCooperSpencer@Gmail.Com
    http://facebook.com/doug.cooperspencer
    http://dougcooperspencer.tumblr.com/
    www.Dougcooperspencer.com
    (Author's photos by Gregory Cooper Spencer)

    Archives

    July 2018
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed