http://outfrontblog.com/2008/08/the-olympic-closet.html The Full Spectrum of LGBT Communications Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:29:42 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://outfrontblog.com/2008/08/the-olympic-closet.html/comment-page-1#comment-224 Ad Insider Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:05:31 +0000 http://outfrontblog.com/2008/08/the-olympic-closet/#comment-224 @ Guido. You might be the only one. Or at least in the minority. The US Media did cover other medalists sexuality - either directly or inadvertently - every time they mentioned a wife or husband or boyfriend or girlfriend they were covering the athletes' sexuality . I wouldn't want to see "GAY gold medalist Matt Mitcham..." every time he's mentioned either. But ignoring his partner's embrace after he won after an incredible come back and shutting out the Chinese from a clean sweep was a poor choice by NBC. Who the heck does NBC think is watching Men's Diving anyway? Duh! @ Guido. You might be the only one. Or at least in the minority. The US Media did cover other medalists sexuality – either directly or inadvertently – every time they mentioned a wife or husband or boyfriend or girlfriend they were covering the athletes’ sexuality .
I wouldn’t want to see “GAY gold medalist Matt Mitcham…” every time he’s mentioned either. But ignoring his partner’s embrace after he won after an incredible come back and shutting out the Chinese from a clean sweep was a poor choice by NBC.
Who the heck does NBC think is watching Men’s Diving anyway? Duh!

]]> http://outfrontblog.com/2008/08/the-olympic-closet.html/comment-page-1#comment-223 Guido Schmitz Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:53:44 +0000 http://outfrontblog.com/2008/08/the-olympic-closet/#comment-223 Is it just me or could there be anything less irrelevant than the fact that a gold medalist belongs to the LGBT community? I think instead of complaining that Mitcham was not portayed as the GAY gold medalist but simply as the gold medalist should be seen as a step in the right direction. This is about a victory in sports and the achievement has nothing to do with his sexuality. I would agree with you to a certain extent if the US media covered other medalists including their partners. As I can only speak of the German media landscape I can only say that this happened only in rare cases. Therefore, I am more than happy that Mitcham's sexual orientation was not part of coverage over here. Of course I would appreciate if Mitcham became an advocate of the LGBT community as a gold medalist now and created media attention. But at the moment of his victory he was a sportsman and just that. Is it just me or could there be anything less irrelevant than the fact that a gold medalist belongs to the LGBT community?
I think instead of complaining that Mitcham was not portayed as the GAY gold medalist but simply as the gold medalist should be seen as a step in the right direction. This is about a victory in sports and the achievement has nothing to do with his sexuality.
I would agree with you to a certain extent if the US media covered other medalists including their partners. As I can only speak of the German media landscape I can only say that this happened only in rare cases. Therefore, I am more than happy that Mitcham’s sexual orientation was not part of coverage over here.
Of course I would appreciate if Mitcham became an advocate of the LGBT community as a gold medalist now and created media attention. But at the moment of his victory he was a sportsman and just that.

]]>