op-ed Athletes among accepting students at Middlebury

Author: Nikko Arger

Last Friday at Dolci, one of my friends called me and asked me, as a gay man, what I thought of the display in the library concerning homophobia in athletics. Seeing that I live in BiHall, I was naturally confused by his question because it seemed so ridiculous to me - why are athletics being targeted as homophobic?

As a member of the gay community, I would first like to apologize to all of those athletes at Middlebury that were hurt or upset by this sweeping generalization. I would like to give my perspective on the situation and emphasize that targeting athletes as generators and perpetuators of homophobia is not only wrong, but creates a divide where there need not be one. When I think of my friends on sports teams here at Middlebury, I immediately think of how they are such a great group of guys and girls, and how accepting they are. I can always count on my friends on the lacrosse, basketball or football teams for being comfortable and actually being genuinely interested when I discuss issues regarding being gay here at Middlebury.

I was the manager of the football team for three years, and was never once made to feel uncomfortable by either the staff or the players - they never assumed I would act inappropriately and were always appreciative of my help. If anything, my straight friends on sports teams have been the most supportive of me being gay. In fact, when I was a first-year, my roommate, who was on the varsity lacrosse team and is now the captain of that team, was the one who encouraged me to come out and reassured me that if this is who I am, that's the way it is and there is nothing wrong with it.

I myself played football, lacrosse and track in high school, but at the end of my senior year, a series of bone cyst surgeries ended my career in contact sports and kept me from joining a team as a first-year. Since then, I have contemplated joining either the cross-country or track team here at Middlebury and have often thought about how it would feel to be gay on a male team. I have always known that members of these teams would be very accepting, and many have actually told me so when we have discussed the matter.

In reality, the reason I have not joined a sports team is because of the immense time commitment it involves, which conflicts with lab time, and really, how could I give up my title of "That Crazy Guy on the Treadmill?" That being said, I would like to say that I am always in awe of those who can balance the immense workload here, especially in lab sciences, and still be varsity athletes, like many of my friends are. In general, I would agree that there are aspects of playing on a sports team, especially male ones, which promote a hyper-masculine mentality that would seemingly discourage homosexuality. However, if as a gay community we are to confront these issues, targeting athletes in general and even preventing athletes from coming to Middlebury does not promote constructive discussion or work to solve the issues we are facing. I always have respected the fact that Middlebury celebrates diversity - this includes people that come from backgrounds where being gay is seen as negative.

Being the type of institution we are, it is not our place to reject those students, but instead help educate and promote understanding among those who have different views. Otherwise, we make Middlebury less and less like the real world and prevent ourselves from developing those skills which help us cope with unaccepting people. Again, to say that those types of people are athletes is a gross generalization, one that I am personally offended by. We need to bridge differences in upbringing, gender and sexual orientation, not create new ones.

Nikko Arger is a senior from Napa, Calif.