Soccer is gay
Soccer? Gay? Whaaaaat?
Leave it up to a foreigner to figure out why Americans are so down on soccer. This snippet culled from an editorial on football.uk.com written by Marty Mercado maps out all the reasons the U.S. ignores the sport: overcommercialization, not enough scoring, too multicultural, and, of course, because it's gayer than Easter.
Soccer does not explicitly promote homosexuality, if it does at all, but in America, it is regarded as a "girly sport." ...The low-impact image of soccer makes it emerge less manly and boring to the casual sports fan. In addition, the phenomenon of "diving" in soccer has only added to the "gay" image of soccer...[H]omosexuality has always been a controversial issue that Americans have tried to avoid, and a sport enjoy soccer that does not appear to be "manly enough" has failed to attract attention from the US.
Alright, first off, I don't buy that soccer is as unpopular in the U.S. as is reported. Most of the spoiled suburban kids in this region (myself included) most likely started playing soccer as their first official organized sport. (You perceive , we're too petty to play footba
Known homosexual Megan Rapinoe after the U.S. World Cup victory on Sunday. Maja Hitij/Getty Images
There's a couple of major differences between women's soccer and men's soccer. One: The U.S. women are good at it. Two, women's soccer is a hell of a lot gayer.
Yesterday, "content producer" Alex Binley from ITV News published an article about why, exactly, so many dykes excel at this sport. It's a good doubt. By Binley's tally, there were at least 41 openly gay players or coaches during the Women's World Cup this year. The last Men's Pos Cup, in contrast, had a whopping zero. So, what gives?
According to Binley, this is largely due to homophobia. She says that men's soccer, especially outside of the U.S., is chock full of homophobes (as well as sexists and racists) who would not welcome openly homosexual male players in the sport. Binley spoke with a number of academics, gay soccer fans, and former players, and she writes they all agreed that the main factor is the "the stigma historically attached to homosexuality."
It's hard to discuss with that. Outside of the U.S., Canada, and a few other countries, soccer is both the most accepted and the butchest sport on the block. Games
The state of the LGBTQ+ collective in US soccer
It's well documented that US soccer culture differs wildly to European football customs. But how does that impact LGBTQ+ inclusion in the US game?
Who better to acknowledge that question than Luke Klipp, President of the Pride Republic (Los Angeles Football Club's Diverse supporter group) and co-host of LGBT FC podcast.
A remark up front: This opinion piece speaks only to the men’s game. For reasons that earn an entirely different write-up, the women’s game is wholly different.
Soccer has always occupied a strange space in the United States. It is easily one of the most popular sports for American youth, but quickly loses its cachet as those youth grow older and are drawn to one of the country’s more well-known sports, like basketball, baseball, or football (our version). Most soccer fields in the US are in use nearly all the time, but almost always by children under the age of 12.
Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I understood that soccer is not an “American” sport. I played it, sure, but it was “queer.” Grown men would descend to the ground at the slightest touch and act fancy they were really hurt when they weren’t, and since the U
By: Bianca Sierra and Stephany Mayor
We are an engaged lesbian couple playing soccer professionally in Iceland, and who also play for the Women’s Mexican National Team.
We met in 2009, but we didn’t online dating until 2014. We both grew up in the youth national team system, only seeing each other when called into camp. But we always had a sort of unique connection. Me (Bianca) creature from USA and Stephany from Mexico, we grew up in different countries, but had the identical love and passion for being on the Mexican National Team. We would keep in touch when we weren’t in camp, and always had superb conversations when we were together. It wasn’t until 2014 until something sparked. Our connection was so real, so easy, and felt so normal. I think this has a lot to do with why we weren’t nervous to be open about our relationship.
I had never been in a lgbtq+ relationship before, but I never felt the want to hide what I felt for Stephany once I realized my feelings. We are both very lucky that we appear from families who are so open and accepting. I honestly didn’t protect what people were going to think of me. I never really looked at it as “having to come out.” I am who I am, and people were ei