Since the MLB is both in Canada and the U.S. it is undoubtedly now an International event - but homophobia goes further abroad than that.
Some questions to consider:
What parts of the world are taking steps to address homophobia?
What other parts of the world commit human rights abuses towards the gay lesbian and bisexual community?
How can these abuses be resolved - How can equality be achieved (consider certain countries where the culture doesn't permit homosexual behaviour) ?
Photo source: tmz.com
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ReplyDeleteEscobar was completely in the wrong and deserved the punishment he got. It was not publicized as much but this has not been the first time he has written homophobic slurs or talked about them. I feel he deserves to be suspended for the rest of the season, no matter what religion he has or what values he has on this topic there was no reason for him to make it obvious that he is homophobic. However Escobar is not the only person in sports that demonstrates these acts in Penn State University a star player by the name of Jenn Harris was kicked off the basketball team because there were accusations of her maybe being gay. 1) The coach herself added “A no lesbian policy” which meant if she thought you were gay she told you to find somewhere else to play, which she did with Jenn. However most countries such as Jamaica also have a “no gay policy”, 2) Jamaicans such as a man by the name of Brian was beaten because of his homosexuality. In Jamaica they even have a song called Boom-Bye-Bye which states that gays have to die. Jamaica has been said to be one of the most homophobic countries and I think that is not right. I believe that these people should be punished but in Brians case and in many others cases like these slip because of “lack of evidence”
1)
Deletehttp://lesbianlife.about.com/od/sports/a/RenePortland.htm
2) http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1182991,00.html
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ReplyDeleteThis is my weekly post:
ReplyDelete“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” It’s quite apparent that Escobar doesn’t know the meaning of this phrase. His main argument was that what he said had no meaning and was directed toward no one. If it wasn’t aimed at anyone, then why would he do it in the first place? Even if the word was something the team always said, that doesn’t justify bringing it onto the field for the world to see. Did it not occur to him that in this culture, homophobia isn’t tolerated? Did it not occur to him that as a public figure, doing this would offend a vast range of people? Being a public figure means you need to watch what you say and be careful of what you do—personal beliefs should not be brought to the public, especially controversial beliefs such as this.
“Tu ere maricon” has a history of offending people, thus proving the word isn’t a joke intended to be taken lightly, but rather a word that drastically harms the feelings of the victim. In 1962, a welterweight by the name of Benny Paret called his homosexual opponent, Emile Griffith, a “maricon”. Griffith was so offended by the name-calling that he beat Paret to death. (1)
However, homophobia in sports is not something new—especially on male teams. Gender roles and the expectation that these roles are met is the main cause of homophobia in sports. (2) Men are expected to be strong, well-built and competitive, but the moment he is found out to be gay, it’s as if his strength is now overshadowed by his sexuality. There is an idea that homosexual men are “feminine” and being feminine is the worst thing one can be on an all-male sports team. The reason for homophobia in sports is the presumption that a gay man is simply not cut out to be a male athlete because he is “too feminine.”
Luckily, there are organizations out there that support homosexuality being accepted in sports (3) and hopefully in the future, homosexuals will feel comfortable with coming out and not have to worry about being cut from the team because of their sexual preferences.
(1) http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/article/1258218--was-yunel-escobar-s-face-painted-with-a-homophobic-slur-not-so-fast
(2) http://laworgs.depaul.edu/journals/sports_law/Documents/Gregory%20Homophobia%20In%20Sports.pdf
(3) http://www.caaws.ca/homophobia/e/index.cfm
This is my weekly post. I feel that what Escobar did was wrong but it was just a joke. People have blown this out of proportion. Personally I think homophobia is a world issues but this whole thing with Yunel Escobar is not a big deal. The only reason everyone found out about thins is because whoever took the pictures just wanted attention. No body would of known about this if the pictures hadn’t been taken. The punishment he received was just right. The Blue Jays Organization realized that this wasn’t that big of a deal but to keep everyone happy they suspended him. Yunel is on of their best players so they only suspended him for 3 games. The MLB season is 162 games, so this suspension was a very small one. We are so concerned with a baseball player writing a homophobic slur on his face when really, we are missing the big picture. Every two days it was estimated that one gay was killed in Latin America in 2005 because of his sexuality.(1) Yet we never heard about this happening. No, we got bigger things to worry about like a man who make millions of dollars writing a slur on his face. Now that is wrong and we need to do something about it. Unlike North America, Latin America has began to take a stand and is now addressing this concern to the public. “In Brazil where 2,509 gay men were murdered between 1997 and 2007,the government has publicly acknowledged the impacts of homophobia and begun to engage civil society groups in campaigns to promote LGBT rights.”(1) Another country taking steps to stoping homophobia is India. They made a choice to stop laws that criminalizes homosexuality in July 2009.(1) Some countries like the UK and the USA are still struggling. Both countries have made head way, for example in the the UK they made same-sex unions legal in 2004 but, 41% of 1,145 gays, lesbians had been physically assaulted.(1) In the USA 43% of americans said that they thought same-sex relationships are morally wrong.(1) Also they have some states that tolerate homosexuality such has California.(1) Some Countries still commit human rights abuse for example 36 countries in Africa. One being Burundi. The president passed a law which criminalizes same sex relations. (1) The law states “that homosexuality carries a penalty of three months to two years imprisonment and a fine of 50,000-100,000 Burundian Francs” (2)
ReplyDeleteWe need to show that gay and lesbians are any different then straight people. They don’t want any special attention. Too stop the abuse and the phobia towards same-sex relationships, we need to make it seem more ordinary and normal to be gay. Put up images, just make it seem like nothing different then a straight couple.(3) We need to get to know gay, and lesbians for who they really are. If we can do this we can stop the hatred and bullying.(3) We also need to go into school and show the students that being gay or lesbian is not wrong it’s the same as any other couple.
1.http://www.avert.org/homophobia.htm
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Burundi
3. http://www.helium.com/items/879695-how-to-prevent-and-fight-homophobia
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ReplyDeleteI know it may seem to many class mates that what Escobar did was something completely wrong and derogatory. However, in my opinion it is not so simple as to agree with most of North America in this matter. He states many times that "“It’s said around amongst Latinos,it’s not something meant to be offensive. For us, it doesn’t have the significance in the way that’s being interpreted. “It’s a word used often within teams, a word without meaning.” He stated this as the beginning of his apology to all of his fans. I think that understanding other cultures and how they use specific slang words is a big reason why he believes so strongly that he has done nothing wrong and a lot of the rest of the world believes that he has. Within our own culture there are many terms in which we use every day which could be seen as derogatory and offensive however since we use them all the time, we do not mean them in any sort of derogatory manner. In many different articles Escobar has showed how much remorse he has over the subject. Saying all of this though, I feel his punishment is just because if he were not have been punished the world views of the blue jays and of the baseball league would have been compromised.
Other parts of the world are either far ahead with the equality of all people and very acceptant of all those homosexual and straight. However, in Kampala Uganda, a british producer David Cecil was arrested for staging a homosexual play. He is being charged for "disobeying lawful orders" after he ignored the government's regulatory media council. He will appear in court again next month where he could be facing up to two years in jail. Throughout the many countries there are in this world, our country is one of the most understanding for differences whether those be homosexuality or anything else.
* http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/17/blue-jays-yunel-escobar-uses-gay-slur-in-eye-black
*http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1260084--uganda-jails-british-man-for-staging-play-about-homosexuality
*http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mlb/bluejays/story/2012/09/18/mlb-investigates-homophic-slur-on-blue-jays-shortstop-yunel-escobars-eye-black/57797488/1
I understand what you're saying, but he still shouldn't have said it regardless. He is in Canada; a country that does not tolerate homophobia. He needs to adjust to the Canadian culture and realize that using a word like that here is unacceptable.
DeleteI agree with Ren, it should not have been said regardless. He should not have said it in a country where we accept gays. He should have known it would have been found offensive, and respected that. Also, even if it was not meant to offensive he did not need to say it if in the first place. What good does it do? Even though we are one of the most understanding countries in the world, it does not mean we should just ignore his comments.
DeleteEscobar very easily could have been lying. As I've stated previously, calling someone a maricon has a history of offending people; a welterweight named Benny Paret had called his opponent named Emile Griffith (who was also homosexual) a maricon before a match which then provoked a very offended Griffith to beat Paret to death. (1) Thus saying, maricon is not a meaningless word that gets tossed around by "the boys"; it's a harmful word that has a target and intent to offend.
Delete(1) http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/article/1258218--was-yunel-escobar-s-face-painted-with-a-homophobic-slur-not-so-fast
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ReplyDeleteI believe that Yunel Escobar got the right punishment, but considering that he did this during a game and that he’s a professional athlete, I wouldn’t have been opposed to a longer punishment. I understand where everyone is coming from when they talk about how in his culture, the phrase isn’t meant to be taken as homophobic, but with the MLB being one of the leagues where not a single player has come out while still playing, I think that his actions needed a punishment to prove that the MLB is making strides to change that. The MLB isn’t the only professional sports league that has never had someone come out; all four of the big sports leagues in North America have never had a player come out well still playing. Part of Escobar’s punishment is to participate in outreach initiative to help to educate people about tolerance when it comes to someone with a different sexual orientation.
I think the bigger problem with this issue is that it has never really been brought to attention. So few professional athletes come out, and the ones that have, have only done so once they’ve retired. In the NHL, Patrick Burke, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, created the “You can play” campaign, to help change the mindset of professional athletes when it comes to the LGBT community.(1) This is a huge stride for pro sports, for athletes to have an organization that makes them feel more comfortable with who they are. There have been a few athletes who have brought attention to this issue before, like Billy Bean, John Amaechi, and David Kopay, who all came out after their careers were over.(2) The most recent person involved in the sports world to come out publicly was the brother of Patrick Burke and the son of the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager, Brendan Burke. He wasn’t a player when he came out, but a manager to the University of Miami hockey team and here is a video of him and his father being interviewed in November of 2009.(3) He talks about how his teammates still just considered him as the same guy, and how people who say a homophobic slur don’t necessarily mean it, like in the way of Escobar, but that players and people don’t think about the consequences when they say, or write things like Escobar did.
1. http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/polling/2012/03/gay_athletes_predict_the_date_when_an_mlb_nba_nfl_or_nhl_star_will_come_out_.html
2. http://youcanplayproject.org/
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr2hrc7Tw7M
This is my weekly post
ReplyDeleteI think that the punishment Escobar was very fitting considering that millions of people would have seen his blatantly homophobic slurs on national TV. In our society intolerance such as this is no longer acceptable and I think that he could have even gotten a harsher sentence just to show other players that this behavior is unacceptable. Even though homophobia is steadily declining we still have incidents such as this: In 2011 Nigerian football coach Eucharia Uche had some choice words to say about homosexuality “ Uche said that since she had become coach of the team "the problem" of lesbian players had "been cleared up" and that "there [were] no more lesbian players on [her] team." She went on to say "She could not tolerate [that] dirty life." Let's just say she no longer coaches the Super Falcons.” (1) As you can tell, this attitude is dealt with in a very serious manner so that discrimination has some very serious repercussions. While there are still homophobic acts in professional sports there is also a lot being done to eradicate homophobia. Brian burke the general manager of the Toronto maple leafs has created a program called you can play to support all athletes regardless of sexual orientation in amateur sports. This foundation was created after his openly gay son was killed in a car crash and was founded in his memory. He is a truly brave man for what he is doing and this quote strongly supports that ““It’s important for straight athletes at all levels to step up and let gay athletes know they will be accepted, and to let other straight athletes know that homophobic language and attitude is never appropriate,” Patrick Burke was quoted as saying in the news release out of Denver.” (2) to sum up my post homophobia is not tolerated in major league sports and it’s best said with this gem “ Three games isn't a lot of time, but Escobar will be forced to think about what he's done while a strong message is sent to the league's other players: Homophobic messages aren't acceptable on or around the diamond. “ (3)
1 http://www.complex.com/sports/2012/06/recent-history-of-homophobia-in-sports/homophobia-24.
2 http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/story/2012/03/04/sp-nhl-brian-burke-youcanplay-campaign.html
3 http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/yunel-escobar-apologizes-gay-slur-eye-black-says-203605396--mlb.html
There is 1,500 species that display homosexual tendencies, yet homophobia is only found in 1. Some people may argue that homosexuality is learned, rather than an instinctual inclination to the same sex. I believe the opposite is true. Love isn’t really something that can be picked up through life, it kind of just happens. I believe that homophobia is taken too lightly in a lot of situations, such as the incident with Yunel Escobar. His homophobic slurs written on his eye black were written intentionally to make a statement, a hurtful one. I believe that Escobar’s homophobic slander was not given a just punishment. Every day, we lose gay teens/adults to suicide because of such ignorant behavior. His slurs could have been responsible for someone’s death, a devoted homosexual fan maybe. I think that instead of a 3-game suspension and ‘sensitivity’ training, he should have been exposed, first hand, to what it’s like to be homosexual in such a small-minded society. There have been many examples throughout sports history of anti-gay slander. Around the summer of 2009, Italy’s National Soccer Teams’ coach, Marcello Lippi, uttered a completely un acceptable anti-gay statement. After an act of anti-gay violence in Rome made headlines, Lippi said that he'd ‘Never allow openly homosexual players to play for Italy because it would create scandal.’ He got off punishment free. I think that if everyone would just drop their ‘norms’ and accept each other, the world would be a much nicer place. If people were made to realize that we’re all the same on the inside, gay, black, fat, skinny, it doesn’t matter, the world would just be so much more peaceful.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.complex.com/sports/2009/08/a-history-of-controversial-homophobic-remarks-in-sports
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/1259993--escobar-s-homophobia
http://www.news-medical.net/news/2006/10/23/20718.aspx
This is my post for this week...
ReplyDeleteI think that he had a just punishment. I think we do nee dot understand that no matter how much we suspend someone or fine them, they aren't going to change their views on how they see certain people. Some people are just ignorant and are bred on hatred. In an interview he stated that he had nothing against the gay population(1) and he also had friends who were gay, which is quite ironic considering he had "you're a faggot" under his eyes. Yunel Escobar is an MLB player who obviously has people looking up to him, he shouldn't be so quick to discriminate against a group of individuals that have been fighting for years for equality. Although controversial, he has every right to feel and believe in what he wants to. But I do I believe that there is a social responsibility for celebrities/athletes/social icons to either show tolerance or shut up about most discrimination issues.
(1): http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/article/1258364--blue-jays-yunel-escobar-suspended-three-games-for-homophobic-slur