Michael Irvin appears on cover of gay magazine

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-falcons/michael-irvin-appears-on-1012516.html?cxntlid=thbz_hm

 

what if someone dosent want to support it?

 

Wow, what an idiotic thing to say. Howsabout you take responsibility for your womanizing, Mr. Irvin? If you're going to do it, OWN it. Jeepers. His poor brother.

 

Indeed.... though womanizing is one manifestation of homophobia or even being closeted.

 

more context

DALLAS (AP)—Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin says his womanizing may have stemmed from seeing an older brother whom he idolized dressed as a woman and learning the brother was gay.

In the latest issue of Out magazine, Irvin said he was 12 when he discovered his older brother Vaughn’s secret life. He said his father told him: “Yes, that’s your brother. And you love your brother.”

The former Dallas Cowboys star now appears on the NFL Network and on his own radio show in Miami. He has supported same-sex marriage on his radio show and has said he’s waiting for an active player in the NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL to declare publicly that he is gay.


“Until we do that, we’re going to be stuck in the Dark Ages about a lot of things,” Irvin told the magazine. “When a guy steps up and says, ‘This is who I am,’ I guarantee you I’ll give him 100 percent support.”

Irvin said carrying the burden of Vaughn’s secret gives him a hint of how tough it must be for a homosexual athlete to hide his orientation in a locker room.

“If I’m not gay and I am afraid to mention it, I can only imagine what an athlete must be going through if he is gay,” Irvin said. “I would like to see players come forward and be happy with who they are. Hopefully, as we move forward, we’ll get to a place where there’s no way it’s even considered; it just is what it is and everybody can do what they do. That’s the ultimate goal.”

Irvin said he believes the fast life he’s led was to accentuate his heterosexuality. He said he wanted everyone in the locker room to see him have the most women and the nicest car “so that everybody says, ‘Michael’s the man.”’

“Maybe some of the issues I’ve had with so many women—just bringing women around so everybody can see—maybe that’s residual of the fear I had that, if my brother is wearing ladies’ clothes, am I going to be doing that? Is it genetic?” Irvin said. “I’m certainly not making excuses for my bad decisions. But I had to dive inside of me to find out why I was making these decisions, and that came up.”

Irvin said Vaughn’s cross-dressing was never discussed among the family, which included 17 children. Throughout his career, he said, he feared that Vaughn’s sexual orientation would become publicized and shame the family. It wasn’t disclosed until the Out article.

Irvin said he remained close to his brother, a bank manager, until his death in 2006. He was 49 when he died of stomach cancer.

“He was the smartest, most charismatic man I’d ever seen in my life,” Irvin said.

 

Except he hasn't stepped up and said "This is who I am," he's said, essentially "I screwed around because of fear of buttsex!"

 

actually this make totally sense.....well maybe not sense, but this is understandable. We are talking about the 70s, not 2011 where you can now see fairies on TV, and celebrated stars. So we can judge the past based off our present.

 

Powerful

 

Its funny how they used a sexual pic of him for such a serious topic. A bit of self inflicted typecasting by the magazine.

 

Oy.

 

Yeah I noticed that too.

 

well it's comes down to the fact that consenting adults should be able to do what they want.

 

Bingo. I'm originally from Massachusetts, which isn't quite the liberal bastion people think it is - it's more old fashioned New England Yankee "You mind your own damned business and I'll mind mine." Which is why MA was the first state to legalize gay marriage - it's the realization that what other people do with their personal lives, who they love, who they sleep with, who they marry, is none of anyone else's business. Considering that interracial marriage wasn't legal everywhere in the states until the Loving v. Virginia decision in 1967, I'd think the folks who post here would be first in line to support the right of other people to marry as they choose.

 

you have to remember this is from his perspective. none of us know him personally to say what he should or shouldn't do..... sexual addiction/womanizing is no different than any other disease, it was there to compensate for another issue. by coming to terms with the real issue, homophobia, he can address the womanizing.

 

that's my feeling as well.....but ppl can be funny about these things, they don't see it as the same struggle.

 

I'm an equal opportunity progressive. Homophobia makes me rage just as much as racism and misogyny. It *is* the same damned struggle - the struggle to allow people to live their lives free of bigotry.

 

you tell it sister....