Tom Daley coming out as gay is a big deal.

Hi, this might be the first time you've visited my blog, welcome :)

Today Olympic diver Tom Daley came out as gay in a self made Youtube Vlog and in the scheme of things in the greater world we live in, this shouldn't be a seen as a big deal, nor should people be judging him or criticising him, although obviously some out of touch brain dead people will be doing that on twitter as I type this.

But, in the world of sport, it's a massive deal. Tom Daley is among very few now that have let the world know that they're Lesbian, Gay, Bi, or Transgender, it's a problem in sport, at least for those who feel they have to hide who they really are. In what I consider to be 'my' sport, Football, the amount of players that are openly gay is minute. For Tom Daley to make this step and tell the world without a care for what people think is fucking brilliant. I hope it encourages more sports stars to do them same should they wish too. Homophobia is a wide spread problem in the perceived, alpha-male sports, not only from those that jeer from a spectator stand point but by peers that would judge their potential team mates unfairly.

Below wikipedia kindly compiled a list of LGBT sports men and women that have 'come out', one day coming out won't even be a thing will it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT_sportspeople
It's a scary thought that that amount of people on that list amount to a similar number that a professional football club signs to their team from youth level to the first team. That list isn't from the past 10 years, it's in the history of modern day sport, 16 of which English. So that table is telling us that out of the thousands of people playing sport professionally in England, less that 20 feel comfortable in coming out. Attitudes need to change.

It should be noted that Tom Daley didn't have to tell anyone, and many people don't, I myself am not gay but that doesn't mean I don't witness homophobia while watching or playing sport, it's often not even aimed at someone that's gay, it's often used and covered up by a term which I cannot stand, 'Banter'. So for anyone that's reading, being homophobic or a bully or a general prick is not 'Banter', that's you being a complete dick, a stain on the society that we live in, and it 2013, your views aren't welcome. It must make it bloody difficult to come out if you're playing a sport in which half your team are mocking someone that isn't even gay, knowing that you are.

In summary, well done Tom Daley, I've no doubt you'll inspire many with your decision to tell the world that you're not ashamed of who you are :)

Thanks for reading :)

Ben

Weekend Break

Kinda a bit late to say this but I won't be blogging at the weekends unless something good or interesting goes on.

Thanks :)

We don't choose our news.

Hi Gang,

Yes I've called the readers of this blog 'a gang', I doubt that's a very accurate description of my so far 'regular' readers, I do though know that over 100 of you read my last blog, so thanks a bundle!

I thought I'd drive off road for this blog. I'm going to tackle the news and how it's been pretty dire to read recently.
2012 was a very happy year wasn't it? Everyone was excited about Royal business or the Olympics being in London, life was pretty good in England, even the weather was nice!

2013 rolled road though didn't it, typical, I've gotta be honest and say I was expecting it. This years news has been so depressing, I've always felt that the media don't do enough to promote positive news, genuinely, I feel it's because people aren't too quick to push the success' of young people because of a fear that we'll blow up a school or knife a boy of different race the next week. BUT a great deal of cool stuff that goes on in this world is done by a younger generation, which to me is only natural and not at all a slant at the elders among us. It's just we've grown up with the world wide web, a source of information unlike any other, vast, frequent, instant and potentially vile. The media, especially in England tend to put a dampener on success, I don't mean that they shoot down excellence, I mean that they've made the decision for people reading or watching that a negative story is more interesting. Is that true? Is that a fair representation of what goes on?

Why do we allow it? Well simply, we have no choice, we're fed stories of child abuse, rape and murder, not because it's what we want to hear but because corporations have made the 'informed' decisions that it's what 'sells'. It's as if we've been trained to accept these awful things simply because of just how common they are. We aren't sat around shocked and appalled by the incidents that sicken us, we think, 'yeah, why int I surprised'.

I hate it, I hate that we're now numb to terrible things happening, it's NOT because it's happening all day every day (at least I'd fucking hope not) - it's that the mainstream media feed us these stories day in day out. I understand that some people are interested and potentially it raises awareness to prevent it in the future but I'd much rather find out that someone who's 15 has found a cure for a terrible illness, it does happen! If you've ever seen any video conferences via TED.com you'll know that people are coming up with ideas and theories to problems everyday. People are made to feel scared not inspired and I sit here thinking more could be done. I wish the news were forced to headline a positive idea everyday, it'd be great.

Something different, feel free to leave a comment in the section below, I'd love see what other people think about this :)

Thanks 'gang'

Ben