Ian McKellen Wants Gay Sports Stars

Recently Ian McKellen, an English actor, came out against the sports industry for a lack of acceptance for gay athletes. McKellen has been openly gay since 1988 and has been a prominent spokesman for the LGBT community. McKellen has argued that many sports stars are too afraid to come out and be openly gay. He believes that there are many gay start athletes that are keeping their sexuality a secret because they are fearful that if they were to be open and honest about their homosexuality they would lose all of their fans and any of their support as well. He says that these stars fear being booed during games. He believes that the world’s attitude towards homosexuality is changing and becoming more accepting, but that they sports industry is severely lagging behind.
I completely agree with Ian McKellen. When I try to think of a gay sports star, I struggle to think of any. However, I am sure that they exist. I think that sports stars have an image that they want to uphold in order to gain and keep fans. They may be fearful to come out as being gay because they may believe that this would cost them their success. Walters discusses the representation of gay and lesbian characters on television in her article All the Rage. She speaks about the fact that the visibility of gay characters has increased and it is this visibility that is necessary for gay and lesbian Americans to gain rights. I think that this lack of openly gay sports stars can be somewhat to blame for the lack of gay rights in this country as well. I think that if gay people had more visibility and Americans had a gay sports star to look up to, then gay rights would not be as far off in the future. Sports in this country is a very popular pastime. Young children grow up having a sports star as a hero that they look up to. I think that it would be phenomenal if there was an openly gay sports star that children looked up to and adults admired. They could really be an important voice in the fight for gay rights in this country. Hopefully, this is not too far off.