My hero

[youngiskander]

I have a new hero. Seriously. Matthew Mitcham is awesome.

Also, bugger NBC for saying nothing to a generation of gay kids about their amazing new role model. Wankers.

Comments

[youngiskander]

Every fucking athlete that they interviewed that had an opposite-sex spouse, partner, casual lay or hook-up (or cancer) was reported on. Every single one.

The ONLY out gay man in the entire 2008 Olympics (he came out in May, in the Sydney Morning Herald), whose mother and partner's trips to Beijing were paid for by Johnson & Johnson's sponsorship program, who took the only diving gold not won by the Chinese, who's had a difficult and tumultuous time until realising that happiness in one part of his life spilled over to success in the other... yes, I think that was the kind of inspiring personal story that should have been reported. I think so, very much. Especially how much other heteronormative stuff was reported automatically. "And that's his wife/fiancée/shack-up in the crowd..." hundreds of times.

It's just NBC being douchebags, frankly. They should be ashamed of themselves. When I think what a difference it might have made to my life in 1980 or 1984 to hear about the world-beating, world-record, gold-medal-winning athletic performance of an otherwise completely normal gay guy, I'm appalled at the missed opportunity. At best its cowardice, at worst it's blunt prejudice.

The link shows his amazing performace (and the crowd-diving kiss he gives his partner, Lachlan, briefly). There's other great video of him with his mom and Lachlan, that is so wholesome it's delicious.