In the early days of the modern gay rights movement, while being Gay was still illegal in most locales in the United States, there were those brave individuals that made their stand for our right to exist. My long time readers will remember I have always advocated for those of us in that generation to pass the legacy down to the current generation of out and proud members of our community. Without the knowledge of the struggles we have gone through, today's generation can not fully appreciate the limited freedom we have. The day is coming when we will all have equality under the law. Despite the best efforts of our current Emperor and the fundamentalists that are his core of followers, we will achieve what is rightfully ours. On this opening day of the NFL regular season, I would like to tell you about one of my heroes of the movement. His name is David Kopay and he was the first NFL player to come out of the closet. At the time I was struggling with my own acceptance of my sexuality and I was encouraged by the his coming out. I had always felt "less than normal" people and here was this guy who was a player in one of the most macho sports around and he was telling the world he was gay. It could not have been easy for him as even today homophobia is rampant in sports in general and the NFL in particular. His stand for Gay rights chronicled in the 1977 book "The David Kopay Story" gave many of us the courage to take our own stand for our right to live openly as a homosexual without fear of discrimination or retribution. To be sure the intervening years have not been without their moments of terror and hate perpetrated against us, Matthew Shepard and Gwen Araujo come quickly to mind as well as the bashings I have received at the hands of Texas rednecks. However, thanks to people like David Kopay and Billie Jean King, among others those beginnings have led to events like Lawrence v Texas that overturned anti-sodomy laws in the United States and will eventually lead to marriage equality and full civil rights for all GLBT people.
I write about David today because he has taken another step in our road to equality by endowing his Alma Mater, the University of Washington, with a 1 million dollar scholarship fund for GLBT students. He was honored on Friday at a special dinner for those who have endowed the school with at least 1 million dollars. "I never thought I'd ever be in a position to make a pledge of a million dollars," said Kopay, 65, who is retiring this year from his family's flooring business in Los Angeles. "It humbles me. … The impetus, I think, was getting older, the idea about retiring and wanting to make a difference in this world." George Zeno, executive director of scholarships and student programs at UW said of David "There are more demands on the universities in our country to showcase how their alumni are making a difference in this world and Dave is an incredible testament to what our alumni are doing. We hope this will continue to demonstrate that the University of Washington is a learning place for all of our citizens of this state and that this is a welcoming and nurturing environment to receive a world class education regardless of self-identification." David sees this as a way to help these at risk students as many GLBT young people are ostracized by their parents and staying in school is not easy to do without parental or scholarship support. "The fact that I can be part of a support system for kids is important for me" says David who remembers though he was co-captain of the football team he still had many times he felt "so lonely with no place to go". As part of the endowment celebration he will be giving welcoming remarks to incoming GLBT students which he says "scares me and empowers me at he same time."
In addition David will be inducted as a Huskie legend at halftime of the UW home opener with Boise State. He jokes that if it was homecoming he would ask to be escorted by the homecoming king. David is also being honored by the Advocate in the upcoming 40th anniversary issue as one of the 40 Gay and Lesbian heroes of our times. David is considering a move back to Seattle after his retirement to take an active role in The David Kopay Endowment."People told me how much my coming out has meant to them over the years," he says. His pledge ensures that David Kopay will long mean something to future generations. I add my personal thanks and congratulations to this true hero of the GLBT rights movement.
With all that being said, I will close with some eye candy to distract you from all those tight pants on those football heroes of today showing on your TV. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
All photos processed with Picasa2
I write about David today because he has taken another step in our road to equality by endowing his Alma Mater, the University of Washington, with a 1 million dollar scholarship fund for GLBT students. He was honored on Friday at a special dinner for those who have endowed the school with at least 1 million dollars. "I never thought I'd ever be in a position to make a pledge of a million dollars," said Kopay, 65, who is retiring this year from his family's flooring business in Los Angeles. "It humbles me. … The impetus, I think, was getting older, the idea about retiring and wanting to make a difference in this world." George Zeno, executive director of scholarships and student programs at UW said of David "There are more demands on the universities in our country to showcase how their alumni are making a difference in this world and Dave is an incredible testament to what our alumni are doing. We hope this will continue to demonstrate that the University of Washington is a learning place for all of our citizens of this state and that this is a welcoming and nurturing environment to receive a world class education regardless of self-identification." David sees this as a way to help these at risk students as many GLBT young people are ostracized by their parents and staying in school is not easy to do without parental or scholarship support. "The fact that I can be part of a support system for kids is important for me" says David who remembers though he was co-captain of the football team he still had many times he felt "so lonely with no place to go". As part of the endowment celebration he will be giving welcoming remarks to incoming GLBT students which he says "scares me and empowers me at he same time."
In addition David will be inducted as a Huskie legend at halftime of the UW home opener with Boise State. He jokes that if it was homecoming he would ask to be escorted by the homecoming king. David is also being honored by the Advocate in the upcoming 40th anniversary issue as one of the 40 Gay and Lesbian heroes of our times. David is considering a move back to Seattle after his retirement to take an active role in The David Kopay Endowment."People told me how much my coming out has meant to them over the years," he says. His pledge ensures that David Kopay will long mean something to future generations. I add my personal thanks and congratulations to this true hero of the GLBT rights movement.
With all that being said, I will close with some eye candy to distract you from all those tight pants on those football heroes of today showing on your TV. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
All photos processed with Picasa2
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