Baseball Has an Amazing Gay History. It’s Time to Recognize It.
Glenn Burke, a black man, came out to his teammates and management in the 1970s; he was treated to the kind of vitriol you’d expect an out, black player to experience forty years ago.
Let’s not let him also experience the ignominy of being forgotten.
It is a travesty that in 2015, there are no out players in major league baseball. It is a travesty that you can take your children to ballgames and expect 50/50 odds they’ll hear the word “faggot” tossed around as an insult, or “gay”, or “you suck dicks” or “you take it up the ass” or any other number of things in the same vein. It is a travesty that this is still the environment baseball tacitly endorses, by not actively working to change it. And it is a travesty that in my 3+ decades as a baseball fan, I’ve never heard Glenn Burke’s name until today.
You want to be looked up to? You want to be heroes? You want to inspire people and give them joy? Start by recognizing the not-insignificant number of fans who are actively excluded by the hostile environment you’ve created. Start by acknowledging that it’s a problem. Start by making an atmosphere in which other players might feel comfortable coming out; in which fans can be represented, and children can believe they can grow up to do *anything*, no matter their sexual orientation.
Start by honoring Glenn Burke, and making him a household name.