Aussie Diver Matthew Mitcham is Gay, It’s No Big Deal, and We’re … SportingNews.com

Posted on August 27, 2008
Filed Under Gay News Blog

Contrast this storyline’s over-emphasis with the complete absence of Matthew Mitcham’s story. NBC mentioned his departure from diving to take care of “personal issues,” and the fact he’d returned to the sport just a year earlier, but completely omitted any mention of Mitcham’s unique status as the sole openly gay male athlete at the Olympic Games.

There are two possible explanations: either we’re all so comfortable with gay athletes that it doesn’t even merit a mention, or NBC thought it was too delicate an issue to touch at all. I would love to assume it was the first, but suspect it was the second, especially since his coming out was such an essential part of Mitcham’s comeback story. The first person Mitcham greeted in the mixed area with media was the reporter who worked with Mitcham on his coming out story, so it’s not like Mitcham himself played it down. He left that job to NBC, who may have omitted one of the more compelling sidelines in the name of not offending those who might — gasp! — be shocked to find out a male diver was homosexual.

Aussie Diver Matthew Mitcham is Gay, It’s No Big Deal, and We’re …
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