It's hard to gauge who did more to advance the cause of legalizing gay marriage in the past week -- New York Rangers forward Sean Avery (the first pro athlete to publicly support New Yorkers for Marriage Equality), or the father-and-son sports agent team of Don and Todd Reynolds, whose swift attacks of Avery's stance caused a remarkable thing to happen. The Reynolds' reactions caused thousands of other people to step forward and out themselves as gay rights supporters, too, in a louder, longer show of support for Avery on Twitter and Facebook, radio and TV, in blogs and newspapers and sports fan message boards than Avery's appearance in a video advertisement for the marriage equality campaign might have generated on its own.
All of which led to a second surprise: Avery's support for gay rights isn't unique in male pro sports at all.
That last point is worth lingering on because it challenges an enduring canard that we've been told about gays and male sports for forever -- that revealing yourself as a supporter of gay rights is only slightly less risky than admitting you are gay.
All of which led to a second surprise: Avery's support for gay rights isn't unique in male pro sports at all.
That last point is worth lingering on because it challenges an enduring canard that we've been told about gays and male sports for forever -- that revealing yourself as a supporter of gay rights is only slightly less risky than admitting you are gay.
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