Jason Collins, former NBA star, was on the cover of Sports Illustrated along with a spread about his coming out story as a gay athlete in American sports. On the other hand, Brittney Griner was the number one draft pick in the WNBA but she received little to no media coverage when she came out. Athletes who are gay or lesbian often face stigmatization in sports. The mainstream media tends to focus its attention on male athletes when they come out while female athletes are often left out of the media when they reveal their sexual orientation.

This is Michael Sam celebrating with a kiss with his partner after being the first openly gay football player drafted for the NFL. This kiss between Michael Sam and his partner received backlash from many people and in particular athlete Marshall Henderson was especially critical of the kiss as he sent out this tweet.

Due to a lot of homophobia in the UK after Robbie Rogers came out as openly gay, he retired for a short period of time and then moved to the US to play for the LA Galaxy. Robbie has talked about how sports culture is very homophobic, advocating for less tolerance for homophobia in sports. It was recently reported that homophobia is very prevalent in sports, with the US being considered as having the most homophobia.

The Jim Rome show is a popular radio talk show among heterosexual men The Jim Rome show is a popular radio talk show among heterosexual men. People call in to comment on the happenings in sports for the day. Many heterosexual men have commented that the Jim Rome show is a safe place for them to reaffirm their masculinity, a "locker room for guys." However much of this dialogue contributes to structures of heteronormativity and homophobia. The Jim Rome show reinforces notions of male hegemony. Although there have been instances where the host shows that he is against homophobia, these conversations usually blame one individual and doesn't address the link between organized sports and homophobia (Gender, Race, and Class in Media, David Nylund). Thus the Jim Rome show is a space where heterosexual men make homophobic statements and jokes on a regular basis without the larger structure being taken into question. This contributes to the stigmatization of gay athletes as heterosexual men can have discourse in this way without repercussion and this adds to the culture of homophobia in sports. 

Jason Collins came out as an openly gay basketball player in the NBA Jason Collins came out as an openly gay basketball player in the NBA. He has talked about how gay athletes hold back on coming out because of the repercussions that tend to arise after doing so. Statistics show many male athletes receive physical threats after coming out as gay and it is partly because of the fact that American sports are so heavily based on creating a masculine demeanor and being gay is perceived by many to go against that image.

Women athletes who come out as lesbian are regarded differently by the mainstream media and are often left out of the news when they publicly reveal their sexual orientation. Some examples of female athletes who have come out include Brittney Griner, Megan Rapinoe, and Amelie Mauresmo who are pictured above. These athletes were at the top of their respective sports when coming out. However news of their coming out did not make as big of a story as Michael Sam, Jason Collins, or Robbie Rogers coming out. Some explanations for this include that women who are athletic threaten gender norms and also muscularity in women threatens male hegemony and a way for it to be reasserted is by labeling female athletes as other and hyper masculine (Gender, Race, and class in Media, James McKay and Helen Johnson). Thus many female athletes are viewed as undesirable for men because they threaten the male hegemony in society and so they are labeled as lesbians and masculine in order for male hegemony to be reasserted. So when female athletes come out it doesn't make the news as much as when male athletes do, and it could partly be because of the way female athletes are viewed by society.

In conclusion, gay and lesbian athletes face a lot of stigmatization in our society because of structures of heteronormativity and homophobia. When male athletes come out it is broadcast all over the media because it goes against the normative image of male heteronormativity in sports. On the opposite spectrum, female athletes don’t receive as much coverage when they come out because of structures of male hegemony that label them as hyper masculine and lesbian.