Just take a look at Abraham Devine, girls!!!!!!!!!!!! He is 23, fresh out of Stanford, and he was one of the top swimmers there during his four undergraduate years.
He is also a hottie, with that swimmer's body And he is openly gay.
Now, what do I know about sports, darlings? According to Devine, he was not invited back to the postgraduate team. I never heard of a postgraduate team. Is this common in college sports? Or is it only related to swimming, or even Stanford?
I would like to understand all this. But I would like to understand a great deal more. Devine says homophobia and his being gay had to do with him being not asked back. The team officials deny it. But then Abraham goes on to add that there were surface level reasons for him being kicked off, but the larger reason is homophobia.
I feel bad for Devine, and would like to support him. But I wish he, or someone, would clarify what these surface reasons are.
Because if the surface level reasons are legit, I would not want to think homophobia is being used as a scapegoat. That will set the LGBQT Rights Movement back some steps.
I wish Abraham Devine would step further forward.
From the little perspective I have, I always understood that swimming and gymnastics were the least homophobic sporting events, and the most accepting of gay men .
So, enlighten me, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A great start to the week!
ReplyDeleteSeen several articles about this, and something smells. It has all the earmarks of "entitled brat crossed the wrong person, got slapped back down, and is now claiming bigotry to extract revenge/restore their former position".
ReplyDeleteThe biggest stink in the room stems from both Devine and Stamford itself deliberately obfuscating what the on-paper reasons were for his training privileges being revoked. This would indicate both parties colluding to cover up something untoward that would be bad publicity for both, yet Devine couldn't resist stirring the pot anyway with claims of anti-gay bigotry.
The smaller stink stems from Devine somewhat misrepresenting what happened. He was not "kicked off the team" - he graduated, meaning he is no longer eligible to be on the team. What actually occurred was termination of his privilege, as an accomplished alum, to train alongside the current school team. It is common for celebrated athletes to continue training with their school team after graduation as a "perk' - akin to free membership at an exclusive, dedicated gym or sports facility. If Devine's privileges were revoked, an incident of some kind prompted it.
Judging by the phrases he uses in his social media posts, he made the fatal mistake many newly-out people make: assuming your new self-acceptance and joy means anything whatsoever to the straight world at large. Modern acceptance of homosexuality can be a double-edged sword: it can lead the unwary newly-out person in to false assumptions and traps. Just because your immediate social or professional group respond to your coming out with gestures of support and affirmation DOESN'T mean they want to hear about it, talk about it, or deal with it every single day for the rest of your tenure with them.
They treated your announcement respectfully, and are trying to maintain an accepting environment where you continue to be respected: but that is the limit of what you can reasonably expect. Push against those limits by making some sort of spectacle of yourself, or becoming gratingly political, and the ground will get pulled from under you. I'd hazard a guess Mr Devine got a bit too full of himself and was Larry Kramer-ing it all over campus. That routine doesn't go over so well with us gays, so you know damed well it ain't going over any better with sttraight-oriented college sports franchises.
It is telling that Devine makes no mention of filing suit against Stamford: if he was genuinely discriminated against, the lawyers would be all over this already. Since they aren't, this will almost certainly reveal itself to be a story of personality clashes.
ReplyDeleteImages Animated Gif,
Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteDarling,
You raise some interesting points,
like no evidence of a lawsuit. I never
heard of Devine before this, but I can
understand the whole entitlement thing;
I mean, he is at Stanford.
That said, I would like to know more.
If he wants to push his agenda, I agree he
should cool it. And when you have swam on
a team with the same guys for several years,
you can't tell me none of them didn't have
some idea about Devine?
As I said, while I want to be supportive of
Devine, I have to wonder if he is just playing
this for media, or not!