Here’s a thoughtful article written by one of my favorite columnists, LZ Granderson, who writes for ESPN and CNN. Granderson is gay, so he’s writing from a personal and professional perspective.
On the other hand, given the bigotry that still exists, Granderson acknowledges that these reporting decisions protect the lives of athletes who are gay or lesbian. It’s a great question of respecting the rights of individuals or promoting the rights of a group as a whole, since increased coverage demonstrates the acceptance and normalcy of a variety of sexualities.
This article reflects how gender is created through how we culturally link gender to sexuality.
I feel that this can be a very positive thing. For one, not a ton of people like the media all in their business, including gays and lesbian couples. We get pictures of numerous people shoving cameras out of their faces and ignoring the camera. While in another sense, some people love the attention they get from the reporters. This can lead to positive things because we get to view star families in their everyday lives, husband and wife, out with their kids, enjoying a great day. Including gay and lesbian couples in on the publicity, we can have a culture widely known that gay and lesbian couples are here to stay, and that we are all just people no matter the relationship.
I feel that this can be a positive thing either way it goes. On one hand I feel that some gays and lesbians like that their love life isn’t all over the media and being talked about. On the other hand, I feel that they should get equal coverage. Not for the fact to talk about their lives but to get the image of them out there. The more we see of something the more we get use to it. The article talked about how when images of gays and lesbians were shown on the TV or internet that people turned a blind eye or let it fall on deaf ears. That isn’t a good way to others to accept that gays and lesbians have every right to the way they live their lives. I believe that if reporters were to cover the lives of gays and lesbians that others would get use to it and it would be acceptable for those who normally wouldn’t want anything to do with it.