‘I May Be a Sexual Minority, But My Views Are a Majority’
October 26, 2009 • By Alyse DiNapoli,
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The embodiment of the invincible “tough guy” image can be difficult to attain for any male athlete, but when one is gay, the struggle becomes more difficult. Brian Sims, currently a successful 31-year-old lawyer from Philadelphia, was the first openly gay college football team captain in NCAA history.
He shared his story through an intimate speech in the Health and Human Services building Wednesday. The event was co-sponsored by Madison Equality, JMU’s support organization for gay, bisexual and transgender students as well as LGBT-Ally Association (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender).
Despite his struggle, Sims did not prevail solely through strife and courage. His speech was an optimistic reflection on both the instant support of Sims’ formerly conservative Republican family and friends and the faith he has in the college-aged demographic to improve the rights and treatment of gays.
“The majority of the 18 to 30 [age group] demographic supports LGBT, equal gay rights, non discrimination, housing and employment. As progressive as you are, you only think that a third of your peers are that progressive,” said Sims, in reference to the overwhelming percentage of college-aged students who support gay rights. Although he knew he was gay since high school, he spontaneously came out of the closet as a senior at Bloomsburg University while attending a Jell-O wrestling tournament with the football team.
“I was walking around with one of teammates when he just asked me, ‘Sims, are you gay?’ and I was like ‘Yeah, man.’ ”
With conservative football players as friends and Republican parents both serving in the military, Sims was surprised to have such a welcoming response from the most important people in his life.
“I couldn’t go anywhere without one of the football guys coming up to me,” he said. “I got a lot of apologies for jokes they might have told in the past. My teammates were genuinely concerned they had offended me.”
His experience, though not the universal response from all family and friends of gays, gives hope that even those who have not been advocates for gay rights in the past may very well become more accepting with the realization of a close gay family member or friend.
Sims joked about the immense support he unexpectedly received, like when his three burly teammates literally threw a man out of a bar because of a nasty remark directed at Sims for being on a date with another man.
“I got a lot of ‘Hey, just don’t check me out in the shower’ from people you’d never check out in the shower,” Sims said. He added the need for straight people to help mitigate the negative stigma of homosexuality.
“An unexpected ally is going to be infinitely more powerful than I am,” Sims said. “It’s because you have to look at options and come to a conclusion against your background. It’s the guy in the teens and 20s saying ‘Let my wife vote’, or the white guy in the Martin Luther King marches.”
Naomi De Gallery, the treasurer of Madison Equality, seemed to agree with Sims on these key issues.
“Solidarity is important, looking around and seeing we’re not alone. The more you put the issue out there, the more it exposes minds,” De Gallery said. Chris Booth, a sophomore SMAD major, found the speech inspiring, interesting and easy to connect with.
“One of my best friends who I’ve known forever is gay. In high school, I would hear vicious rumors about her being gay. She had a hard time dealing with it,” he said. Booth also agreed that straight peoples’ ability to help out the gay rights movement was something that could and should be done.
“I never thought about it. You need straight people to help you out,” Booth said.
Because of the support he has received, Sims remains optimistic for the future.
“We don’t know how truly progressive we are on gay issues. I may be a sexual minority, but my views are a majority,” Sims said.
Correction: This article was corrected at 12:05 a.m. on Oct. 27 to correct the errant spelling of views in the headline.
Contact Alyse DiNapoli at dinapoap@jmu.edu
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Reading the headline for this article makes grammar hawks like me shudder…
Thank you guys for changing it! Good work.