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A REAL Story about Homophobia in Sports
A REAL Story about Homophobia in Sports
02/22/2008 (03:48 PM)
Once again, there is a genuine story of homophobia and bigotry going on in the world of figure skating, and fans of the sport are hoping that GayWired.com will seriously report on it.
We fans hate the way that homophobia rules this sport and taints both scoring results and the way the athletes are treated, but the mainstream media is afraid to take the issue on, and quite frankly you have disappointed us in the past by trying to turn a serious issue about prejudice that affects real people into some kind of tawdry snippet about "bitchy male figure skaters -meow!- are they the next Tonya and Nancy?"
The current issue revolves around the Stars on Ice tour, created and owned by Scott Hamilton. Since the Champions on Ice tour has gone out of business this year, SOI is now the only game in town for skaters to earn money to support their careers, and there are only eleven tour dates available after the competitive season ends in March until SOI's tour ends in April when the competing skaters might be able to join the SOI tour and earn some money with them. SOI put up a poll on its website asking the fans to vote on which of the eligible competing skaters they most wanted to be invited to join the tour for those dates. Immediately, Johnny Weir garnered more votes than the other eight skaters in the poll combined (he currently has 631 of the 1152 votes). Evan Lysacek, in comparison, has only 60 votes.
Yet Stars on Ice announced today that Evan Lysacek has been awarded the contract to appear in all eleven of the tour dates that will take place after the competitive season ends, starting immediately after the World Championships in March. Johnny has not been asked to appear at all. On the front page of the Stars on Ice site, Lysacek is now referred to as "one of America’s top hopes for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver" and "one of the most ambitious American male skaters".
Fans have long grumbled and gossiped on discussion forums about the lack of a certain "type" of male skater on the SOI tour - let's just say that Rudy Galindo was never invited to join, despite his national title, World medal and great fan popularity. Michael Weiss, Todd Eldredge, Kurt Browning and all of the other married male skaters with kids have been staples on SOI over the years. Scott Hamilton will not discuss Johnny Weir when asked about him by reporters, but will gush about Evan Lysacek. There is no doubt in the minds of fans that their wishes to have Weir on the tour were completely ignored because he does not fit the "type" of male skater that Hamilton and company have ever allowed to appear with Stars on Ice. The poll was a complete farce.
PLEASE look into this story and report on it seriously. For the sake of our sport, figure skating fans need the media to restore fairness and dignity. Lord knows the USFS, the judges and the old school skating establishment are not going to do it on their own.
Tevyah Feldman
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