Tuesday, January 3, 2012

2012 Yay. Aren't we supposed to die now?

Well it is now 2012 and we are all supposed to die this year. We will see. I am sitting at my computer contemplating everything I had tried to do over the past 5 years and feel perplexed in that I have done so much but got nothing really accomplished. I have met many great people on my journey and many have tried to help. Unfortunately I have learned through my endeavor that my many fans would love to see me compete but the people that can make that happen have no interest. Gay people in sports are not new and I don't claim to be the only. I am the only one that tried to do it while being honest with myself, my fans while staying active in my sport. I wanted to help people come to terms with their sexuality and have someone that is a sports figure that happens to be gay and out. I also wanted to bring light to GLBTQ teen suicide prevention. I had contacted people of wealth, who claim they are trying to give their fortunes away to good causes. Not. I tried major corporations that have forward thinking mission statements and ones that cater to a younger demographic. Not. Evidently having someone out and trying to help our community is not a good enough cause. I had a few calls with secretarys and associates but it seems to be always the same answers. Not interested. My question is why would someone trying to help a community get no support but when someone tries to tear the fabric of a community millions rally to destroy? I chalk it up to our communitys damaged upbringing. I hope future generations get past this before too much damage is done. Many of my generation have grown up being told how bad we were as people for being the way we are. Some of us lost much of our youth and innosense trying to come to terms with our sexuality with no role models or proper education on certain subjects (GLBT/sexual/HIV etc) so we had to fend for ourselves. Over the years we build up defenses that are hard to get past and it affects our relationships with family and our outlook on society in general. A church has a support structure that helps each member be a part of something. If you help your church you will always have friends and some kind of security. Our community lacks this in a big way. we cant usually look across a room and feel like there are others like us. Being gay can be very isolating. Why would anyone try and come out and help when no one is helping me? This seems to be common not just in sports but in life in general. Hollywood is homophobic. Wall Street is homophobic. I don't even have to mention politics as many of our closeted Republicans have already proven with horrible damage. It is going to take people from all walks of life to accept and understand that our "lifestyle" is not a choice. Until people start helping people feel confident in society this will never happen on the scale most of us dream about. At least not in our lifetime. I tried to make a difference and am paying for it. If your contemplating coming out and you are a sports or public figure, think long and hard about it. You will not get financial help so if you are in sports you will need alot of personal wealth behind you. I have 2 proposals out there and I am hoping for the best with them and that these companies can come with me on a journey to help our community move forward in our endeavor to be looked upon as people, humans like everyone else. If ANY of my readers wanted to help me now is the time. If you know anyone that would want to help or any corporation wanting to market the GLBT community with the added benefit of marketing to tens of millions of sports fans, let me know. I also have a paypal button on my website.

Thanks for listening!
Evan