From The Press Box
Michael Alwood Chronicles Gays in Sport
by Michael Daniels
As a former sports reporter, Michael Alwood has seen the evolution of gays and lesbians in sports from curiosity and anomaly to tolerance and acceptance. His career spans more than three decades, during which time he’s seen – and talked to – some iconic GLBT athletes. Michael’s pro-GLBT credentials continue to this day, and he was the producer of our Radio Outlook program when WVKO-AM was still progressive talk, and Chris and I were still on the air. I gave Alwood a call and asked him to share his experiences and insights on how being gay – and out – in sports has changed over time, across cultures, and among genders.
“I interviewed Martina [Navratilova] in 1980 when I was working for American Forces Network in Germany as a TV reporter and sports anchor,” Alwood tells me. “She didn’t officially come out until 1981, but when I interviewed her it was not a secret that she was gay, and when she came out officially, it certainly wasn’t a shock in the least,” he says. “There was no real reaction. She was just Martina. I think a part of that – a part of her not getting backlash – was that she was just quite simply one of the most professional, warm, and gentle athletes I’ve ever met. In an era of ‘tennis brats’ like John McEnroe and Jimmy Conners, Martina was a lady. I think just her personality made people like her, so when she came out, it was no big deal. It was just part of who she was.”
Navratilova’s coach, however, was a slightly different story. “At the time I interviewed Martina,” Alwood continues, “Renee Richards was her coach. [Ed Note: Richards is an icon in the GLBT movement, having been born Richard Raskind, playing professional tennis as a man, transitioning and having gender reassignment surgery, then returning to the game as a woman. She was denied entry into the 1976 US Open by the United States Tennis Association who cited an unprecedented women-born-women policy. She disputed the ban, and the New York Supreme Court, in a landmark trans rights decision, ruled in her favor in 1977.] Renee’s surgery was greeted by some shock, but more, I think, by a sense of curiosity than of malice,” Alwood says.
Since then – since Martina and Renee and a few others – there’s been a somewhat slow but steady evolution toward GLBT diversity and acceptance in sports, with some leagues moving faster than others. “It’s far better now than it was 25 years ago,” Alwood says.
I asked Alwood if he thinks that it’s easier for female athletes to come out than for males. “Absolutely, without question,” he says. “And I think there are a couple of factors there. One, I think that women are just generally more tolerant and accepting of differences than men are. With men, there’s always a pressure to fit in, to be ‘one of the boys,’ to not be different. With women, that pressure often just isn’t there. Two, the male culture has built into it stereotypes and phobias associated with ‘machismo’ – a preconception of ‘what it is to be a man.’ And anything that goes against that preconception, like being an out gay athlete, is a problem. Female culture doesn’t have that kind of built-in fear of being different.”
Alwood and I chat for a few minutes, discussing athletes who have come out during or after their careers. It dawns on me that far more European and Australian athletes have come out than American athletes, and I ask Alwood for his take. “I think that makes sense,” he muses. “It’s a cultural thing. In general, Europeans today tend to be more tolerant of race, of differences all around. If you live in Europe, you don’t have to go very far before you find people who look different than you, speak a different language than you, and have different cultural norms than you, so you learn to appreciate differences. In the States, you can drive from Massachusetts to California and pretty much see the same culture and language the entire time.” America likes sameness, Europe celebrates difference, or so it seems.
As our conversation draws to a close, I ask Alwood if he thinks sports follows culture, or if it leads and causes change. “Oh, sports is a key element of social change,” he says emphatically. “I have no doubt about that at all. Putting a face and a name – a person to hold as an example – can make a huge difference. I think that’s exactly what Jackie Robinson did in 1947 for people of color, and what players in leagues like the WNBA have done for female athletes. It’s what Martina and Renee did, and what others continue to do today.”
“I absolutely envision a day when being out in sports isn’t an issue,” Alwood concludes, “though I’m sure there will still be some who rant and some who whine, but as the population ages and the culture changes and matures, GLBT prejudice will fade away. It will never be totally gone, just as racism and sexism will never be totally gone, but it will fade away.”
And for that, young out athletes of today can thank Martina and Renee and Joan Guetschow and Billy Bean and Esera Tuaolo and Billie Jean King and Dave Kopay and Greg Louganis and … and … and …
