GROWING UP GAY
I Need A Hero — A Queer (Sports) Hero
Hiding in the shadows isn’t helping anyone
We all need someone to look up to. Someone to admire, maybe even emulate.
Growing up I looked up to the superheroes in comics — do-gooders with superhuman strength to conquer the negative forces of evil in the world. In those stories, good always wins out in the end.
Even celebrities and sports figures capture our admiration, as long as they are straight. When you’re queer it’s a little harder to find those heroes among us.
Whenever a character’s sexuality was even hinted at in a TV show, movie or book, I was hooked. But I was usually disappointed. The gay character turned out to be neurotic, spiteful, or sometimes even a serial killer.
There were no heroes there.
As a rising star emerges in popular culture, and they happen to be LGBTQ+, more often than not, their success is overwhelmed by their sexuality. They usually become the target of negative publicity.
When we learn that a historical figure was LGBTQ, society tends to downplay and even dispute the person’s queerness. Alexander The Great? Oh he couldn’t have been gay.
