Steve Davies comes out

[GIMH]

Given how prevalent racism is at football matches, an openly gay footballer is not something I can envision in the near future.

 

[benchmark00]

Who deleted my post? Some things need to be said ffs.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Great news. I couldn't care less whether he is gay or not, but I think it's great that he's got the nuts (insert lame joke here before anyone else does) to be the first to come out. Hopefully it'll encourage more sportsmen to do so, and in the process make it a total non-issue.

 

[Jarquis]

Have a lot of respect for what he's done, must've taken a lot of courage considering the current sporting climate.
I second what Burgey said about how it should be a non-event. Hopefully this is a step towards that.

 

[silentstriker]

Good stuff. Hopefully cricket treats him better than some other sports would.

Would like to see it happen in the subcontinent but I think we're quite a bit away from that.

 

[silentstriker]

I think the question to ask yourself is would you do it in his position? Frankly, at the beginning of my career, I don't think I would, because aside from possible discrimination in selection (there's usually very little to separate people and it just takes one old prejudiced guy on a selection panel), you also have to face fans/players (on your team as well as the opposition) who have the potential to make your life really annoying, and it's possible you could lose sponsorship and other sources of income, if you are good enough to get it.

So the fact that I probably wouldn't have the courage to do it, and he did it, makes it a 'Big Deal' in my book. Good for him, definitely a brave thing to do and hopefully enough people start coming out in the future as to make it a total non-issue.

 

[Howe_zat]

Okay. I've taken a while to respond because I didn't really know how I ought to feel about this. Other than having repeated a few words of acknowledgement for the guy's bravery, how it's a progressive step and the like, and a fantastic piece on cwb.

Having had the time to think about it I've only just started to realise quite what a brave move this is, and the professional manner in which he's done it. I don't think I can honestly say I could, for the reasons SS gave above and for my own reasons. (I'm not going into that here).

I see that he has already told his family and close friends first, and his teammates some time ago. I think that's important. What we want is a society where everybody is comfortable with this but before we can get that, gay people need to be confortable with themselves, and so allowing them to take their time is crucial.

For Davies it's harder than for the majority. It's not hard to see how it could have seemed a nigh-impossible thing to come out as for a footballer, just reading some of the posts here is slightly depressing. Remember that Davies isn't just a cricketer, he's a sportsman. In high school he will have been involved with football, athletics and the like. He will almost certainly have been witness to the homophobia that is still rife there.

And now he is in the public eye. Everything he does is on show, and if he makes it into the side permanantly he'll be offering himself to the masses. Jonathan Trott gets called obsessive, Stuart Broad a ladyboy, etc, etc. Just out of snippets we hear in the press and what they look like. This is the biggest press release Davies has ever done.

Davies knows there is excessive homophobic bullying in sport, it will come at him. And he is willing to take it on, for the principles he stands for, for honesty to himself and to inspire those in the same position.

I have a simply staggering amount of respect for him.

Played, Steve.

 

[silentstriker]

It's also so great to see his family (especially the parents, and even more especially the father for men) is OK with it and supports him. Anecdotally, from knowing some people who came out of the closet, that's where the biggest issues arise and what makes the transition so tough for people. If you don't have supportive parents, you can really feel alone in the world and it can lead to massive depression and even suicide.

 

[zaremba]

Was it the Sun that broke the story as an exclusive? Sorry to be cynical but when a famous person "comes out" in the Sun, one always suspects it's because they are effectively blackmailed into doing a nice exclusive "I'm so relieved" interview with the said filthy rag.

Be that as it may, great stuff to hear that we at last have an openly gay cricketer, let's hope that others will follow suit and that his ***uality is treated as the complete irrelevance that it should be. Good luck to the guy.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Was it the Sun that broke the story as an exclusive? Sorry to be cynical but when a famous person "comes out" in the Sun, one always suspects it's because they are effectively blackmailed into doing a nice exclusive "I'm so relieved" interview with the said filthy rag.

Be that as it may, great stuff to hear that we at last have an openly gay cricketer, let's hope that others will follow suit and that his ***uality is treated as the complete irrelevance that it should be. Good luck to the guy.

Cricinfo and the Beeb both reported it as a Torygraph exclusive and they're obviously from the less populist, more high minded end of the broad chuch that is our Conservative media. Hopefully it's completely of Davies's own volition.

In all fairness, politics aside, their sports coverage is pretty bang on.

 

[Teja.]

Would like to see it happen in the subcontinent but I think we're quite a bit away from that.

Indeed. Regional movies(South Indian specifically) to date have shockingly degrading jokes and/or stereotypes about the gay community which I'm not sure why the censor board never acts on. The majority of society here while stating that they're tolerant on a general level, are not ready to assimilate directly with the community and there are an astounding number of ridiculous stereotypes regarding the community.

The worst part though is enculturation, All these societal models are being passed on to the younger generation at a pretty impressionable age and there are no awareness campaigns strong enough in India to counter this. From my experience, Indian high schools are incredibly homophobic tstl. Don't think a sub-continent cricketer will come out of the closet in the next 30 years IMO.

 

[Blaze 18]

Good on him. It takes a lot of courage to do something like this.

 

[grecian]

Cricinfo and the Beeb both reported it as a Torygraph exclusive and they're obviously from the less populist, more high minded end of the broad chuch that is our Conservative media. Hopefully it's completely of Davies's own volition.

In all fairness, politics aside, their sports coverage is pretty bang on.

Yep, the story originally from the Telegraph, but there wasn't a link to it last night, whilst there was the Scum.

Anyway good luck to the bloke, TBH I don't see too much abuse from the duffers in County Cricket, and ATM, unfortunately, that's all he'll be playing in front of. Hopefully the novelty will be forgotten soon and he can get on with being the best batsman in Limited-overs cricket in the country.

 

[WorcsRoyal]

Steven Davies gay? Steven Davies surprisingly dropped from the WC squad?

Where are all the conspiracy theories!

 

[zaremba]

Cricinfo and the Beeb both reported it as a Torygraph exclusive and they're obviously from the less populist, more high minded end of the broad chuch that is our Conservative media. Hopefully it's completely of Davies's own volition.

In all fairness, politics aside, their sports coverage is pretty bang on.

Good to hear. Agree with you re the Telegraph's sports coverage, and also with your implicit disdain for their politics.

 

[Cruxdude]

Really brave of him to come out so early in his career. I do not see him being sledged for being gay by cricketers. Really hope I don't have to eat my words later.

 

[kingkallis]

 

[angad]

Would like to see it happen in the subcontinent but I think we're quite a bit away from that.

Problem in sub-continent esp. in rural areas of North India & Pakistan is that Dominant partner is not even considered gay, infact people feel proud, they brag about their so called achievements with frens. It happens in Police stations/Religious places too!!! Discrimination is only against passive member of partnership. I hope you get what I'm trying to say.

We dont have word equivalent to Gay in Indian languages. We have words like Gaandu, Launda, Hijra, Khusra etc which represent only one side of story or completely off topic.

BTW interesting read - BBC : Gay Pakistan - 'less inhibited than West'

 

[Cruxdude]

Problem in sub-continent esp. in rural areas of North India & Pakistan is that Dominant partner is not even considered gay, infact people feel proud, they brag about their so called achievements with frens. It happens in Police stations/Religious places too!!! Discrimination is only against passive member of partnership. I hope you get what I'm trying to say.

We dont have word equivalent to Gay in Indian languages. We have words like Gaandu, Launda, Hijra, Khusra etc which represent only one side of story or completely off topic.

BTW interesting read - BBC : Gay Pakistan - 'less inhibited than West'

 

[angad]

Dude verdict of my post was Rural people assume that when two gay men are in a ***ual relationship they will adopt roles which are traditionally feminine. They believe that gay people can be identified by the way they look and talk. Thinking, for example, that gay men look more effeminate than straight men and lesbian women look more masculine than straight women.

See Teja' post #51.