John Amaechi: changing the way sport reporters examine gay athletes.
In 2007, John Amaechi became the first former National Basketball Association (NBA) player to publicly announce he was gay. Former NBA star Tim Hardaway made a series of homophobic remarks a week later. A textual analysis was used to analyze narratives on Amaechi's revelation and/or Hardaway's comments published in 50 international newspapers. Four dominant themes emerged from the data. While most of these themes supported narratives that gay males remain unwelcome in men's team sports, all were challenged consistently, thus, showing the fluidity of hegemonic masculinity and the increasing societal acceptance of gays and gay lifestyles. Moreover, print media writers exhibited little homophobia and frequently called for more acceptance of gays, particularly within sport.
Kian
Edward Ted M
ET
Department of Child, Family and Community Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816-1250, USA. ekian@mail.ucf.edu
Anderson
Eric
E
D001741:Black or African American; D049674:History, 21st Century; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000266:history; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000266:history; D011287:Prejudice; D013177:Sports / Q000266:history; D014481:United States