Sports, Sexual-Minority Men in

This entry examines the relationship between organized sports, such as baseball, basketball, and football, in relation to gay and bisexual men. It takes as a starting point that sports as they developed in the 20th century were a highly homophobic enterprise but that larger cultural changes in the 21st century have made sports increasingly welcoming for gay and bisexual men.

Until recently, there was little academic research exploring the relationship between men’s sports and homosexuality. This was perhaps a dual effect of the high homophobia of the era, which kept gay athletes closeted and thus unable to be studied—and perhaps a lack of research interest since there have historically been exceptionally few openly gay male athletes. In fact, the first substantial research project on the topic, ...