I'm happy for Nico and think it must be a big weight off his shoulder. That being said. I do have one quibble with tpart of his statement.
This is a quality of myself as well as so many other people that should be accepted and celebrated just the same as a straight person’s identity is.
Why does he talk about a straight person's sexual orientation being celebrated? Is being heterosexual ever celebrated? No it's not. No ever puts a "straight" flag on their front porch. The closet being straight comes to being celebrated is maybe a baby shower but you can have a baby shower for a gay couple as well.
There is no straight equivalent of PFLAG - Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian and Gays. So being straight isn't celebrated.
I think it's really sad that you think being celebrated means having a flag or a PFLAG/GSA.
The whole reason that both of those things exist was a way to resist discrimination and bigotry. Not to be blindly celebrated. PFLAG was created for parents to combat the discrimination that their LGBT children faced in the world. Parents were kicking their LGBT kids out of their homes. PFLAG was an example of solidarity.
The flags are a form of pride, and Pride was started after gay people were pushed around forced to hide, and harassed they finally started fighting back and living their truth against a lot of oppression.
You want straight celebration? Watch any Disney movie. Read any fairy tale. Watch any rom com. Watch the freaking titanic. Watch majority of television shows, which for all the crying from the right, still remain mostly heteronormative. Go on ANY distance runner's instagram page besides Nikki, Nico, GDS and Matt Llano. There are endless pictures of how wonderful and lovely and perfect their straight SO is. Go to weddings, wedding showers, bachelor parties, bachelorette parties, gender reveals, etc etc etc.
Heterosexuality is persistently "shoved down" society's throat. Through media, through instagram, through customs.
Yes. He isn't saying what he is thinking or feeling. He is telling you what he is doing. I am in a committed marriage. I am attracted to other women but I don't act on those feelings. I wouldn't tell anyone in an internet post that I am attracted to other women, except in an anonymous forum.
When you are 20, you CAN NOT say you like "boys." You just can't. You are in college ... you can not say you like boys. There are no boys in college. Boys are in high school and in middle school.
Sandy P, why are you making up lies as if we don't have is actual words? He never uses the word "boy" once in his instagram post: "I like guys, not girls." Why are you smearing Nico for something he DID NOT SAY?
While you can see that Nico edited the post from "boys" to "guys" in the history, it doesn't really matter what word he wrote, we knew what he meant. "Girl" and "boy" are used interchangably with young men and women all of the time. Those videos of college women partying during spring break are not called "Women gone wild". Anyways, he is 20 and it is totally fine for him to go out with an older 18 year old anyway (for which USATF still clasifies as a boy). This is really silly grammar policing, that is all.
Don’t be pedantic. He contrasted boys with girls, not boys with men.
When you are 20, you CAN NOT say you like "boys." You just can't. You are in college ... you can not say you like boys. There are no boys in college. Boys are in high school and in middle school.
Actually, sandy, you can. His meaning was 100% clear, and it's intellectually dishonest to pretend otherwise.
When my middle-aged brother says he's going to grab a drink "with the boys" down at the bar, do you assume he's hitting the cocktails with a bunch of 15-year-olds?
When people on the Bachelor constantly refer to the women on the show as "the girls," do you suddenly have amnesia about their real ages?
Calling BS on this. He posted it on Instagram. That does not make it your business. You could have noted it and moved on. You did not have to come on here and post and pretend you really didn't want to. But you did and that speaks volumes.
What volumes does it speak? Instagram is about as public as it gets. The gentleman in question wants everyone to know his sexual orientation. He chose to make it public. You must expect people will comment on it. I would much prefer a world in which people kept their sexual proclivities to themselves.
Being public does not mean you had to read it, had to comment, had to let everyone know how it was an affront to you that he practically made you have to comment. Sounds like you are too deep in the world of social media to understand real life. You do know you can just pass some things by and not show your true colors while pretending to hide them.
Your comments and many others on this board, deleted and not, show why Nico wanted to let people know on his own terms and get it out of the way. Comments like above are the problem, not Nico's post.
Sandy P, why are you making up lies as if we don't have is actual words? He never uses the word "boy" once in his instagram post: "I like guys, not girls." Why are you smearing Nico for something he DID NOT SAY?
While you can see that Nico edited the post from "boys" to "guys" in the history, it doesn't really matter what word he wrote, we knew what he meant. "Girl" and "boy" are used interchangably with young men and women all of the time. Those videos of college women partying during spring break are not called "Women gone wild". Anyways, he is 20 and it is totally fine for him to go out with an older 18 year old anyway (for which USATF still clasifies as a boy). This is really silly grammar policing, that is all.
You are too kind in saying it was grammar policing. It was typical old-school LetsRun homophobia/trolling/attention grabbing.
A wedding between a man and a woman is a public celebration of heterosexuality. Do you refuse to celebrate or accept the couple because it is none of your business?
Sadly, in cases like that I would have no choice but to deal with it publicly. I do not agree with recognizing same sex relationships as marriage. So no, I do not celebrate a same sex married couple. Like I said, it’s their business, and it is legal in America. That doesn’t mean that I have to agree with it, or celebrate it.
With a ratio of 68 downvotes to 20 upvotes, it appears that this inclination is well on its way to being weeded out of our populace. Hang in their Mikeh because it's not getting better for the gay haters.
I would assume many avoid making comments for fear of being called homophobic. Labeling people with dissenting opinions is a feature of the LBGTQ movement. Same dynamic you see with BLM. Antithesis of the larger traditional American society, like or not.
I would assume many avoid making comments for fear of being called homophobic. Labeling people with dissenting opinions is a feature of the LBGTQ movement. Same dynamic you see with BLM. Antithesis of the larger traditional American society, like or not.
Right? So much fear in being called homophobic. What a difficult and tragic thing to go through. The labels are SO wrong! like, why can't I say that LGBT people shouldn't have the same rights and respect as straight people, or that it's against my religion and I think they are going to hell? Why can't I express my discomfort whenever I see an LGBT person around without being called homophobic! This is just awful! all my rights are being taken away!
I would assume many avoid making comments for fear of being called homophobic. Labeling people with dissenting opinions is a feature of the LBGTQ movement. Same dynamic you see with BLM. Antithesis of the larger traditional American society, like or not.
Right? So much fear in being called homophobic. What a difficult and tragic thing to go through. The labels are SO wrong! like, why can't I say that LGBT people shouldn't have the same rights and respect as straight people, or that it's against my religion and I think they are going to hell? Why can't I express my discomfort whenever I see an LGBT person around without being called homophobic! This is just awful! all my rights are being taken away!
Respect is in your own head. Predominantly in our society people don’t give much thought to an individual’s lifestyle. On the other hand the woke movement is pushing an agenda that runs counter to traditional American values. That is both obnoxious and irritating. You can quantify societal rejection by falling profits for businesses that have been at the front of woke promotion.
I have a different take on it. If you don't see someone else being gay as an issue you wouldn't necessarily care either.
So, good for Nico but, I am more interested in him as a runner. Whatever he is in his private life I respect... but like Oscar I don't really care.
As a gay man, I appreciate your take on this. In a utopian world, someone being gay wouldn't matter because it would be treated as a normal acceptable thing. In the world we live in, where there is so much mistreatment of gay people, it does. As Nico said, he struggled with accepting himself due to societal messages he received about being gay. Thus, his coming out in that societal context matters to him and many other gay people (myself included) who at one point in their lives struggled with self-acceptance. As midpackgal noted, his coming out is particularly significant for younger gay runners to be able to see him as a role model.
I would add that it's one thing to not care about people's private lives (with the caveat that our relationships are actually rather public when you think about it), it's another to type "who cares" on a message board about a high-profile runner coming out. Simply posting "who cares" can come across as insensitive at best and dismissive at worst, which is why I downvoted it. Using the handle "Oscar Wilde" also raises some questions about that poster's motive. I would ask the person who posted that to reflect on why they felt the need to type "who cares" on this thread. There are lots of threads on this board I don't care about. I simply don't click on them. I don't see people typing "who cares" on other threads. Why this one?
Yeah, you nailed it. The people who are passive-aggressively writing "who cares" obviously care enough to post that.
Right? So much fear in being called homophobic. What a difficult and tragic thing to go through. The labels are SO wrong! like, why can't I say that LGBT people shouldn't have the same rights and respect as straight people, or that it's against my religion and I think they are going to hell? Why can't I express my discomfort whenever I see an LGBT person around without being called homophobic! This is just awful! all my rights are being taken away!
Respect is in your own head. Predominantly in our society people don’t give much thought to an individual’s lifestyle. On the other hand the woke movement is pushing an agenda that runs counter to traditional American values. That is both obnoxious and irritating. You can quantify societal rejection by falling profits for businesses that have been at the front of woke promotion.
Haha that's funny considering when you thought that the makers of Aunt Jemima were "going woke" by rebranding you went out and loaded up on their syrup to stick it to them - great self-own in helping their profits!
Anyway, this thread is evidence of why coming out is significant.
My post pointing out that it could be more challenging to come out in different peer cultures like a football team was somehow bigoted. Constantly amazed at their powers of reasoning.
Right? So much fear in being called homophobic. What a difficult and tragic thing to go through. The labels are SO wrong! like, why can't I say that LGBT people shouldn't have the same rights and respect as straight people, or that it's against my religion and I think they are going to hell? Why can't I express my discomfort whenever I see an LGBT person around without being called homophobic! This is just awful! all my rights are being taken away!
Respect is in your own head. Predominantly in our society people don’t give much thought to an individual’s lifestyle. On the other hand the woke movement is pushing an agenda that runs counter to traditional American values. That is both obnoxious and irritating. You can quantify societal rejection by falling profits for businesses that have been at the front of woke promotion.
Society gives tons of thought to LGBT people and you are proof of it right here. There's a difference between someone coming out as gay and companies profiting off of pride month.
Respect is in your own head. Predominantly in our society people don’t give much thought to an individual’s lifestyle. On the other hand the woke movement is pushing an agenda that runs counter to traditional American values. That is both obnoxious and irritating. You can quantify societal rejection by falling profits for businesses that have been at the front of woke promotion.
Society gives tons of thought to LGBT people and you are proof of it right here. There's a difference between someone coming out as gay and companies profiting off of pride month.
Truth is if Nico makes a U.S. team Americans will cheer him regardless of his lifestyle choices, same as every other athlete. People don’t care. What people do care about is this Administration, and Liberals pushing a woke agenda. We’ll soon see how many Americans have tired of it.
Respect is in your own head. Predominantly in our society people don’t give much thought to an individual’s lifestyle. On the other hand the woke movement is pushing an agenda that runs counter to traditional American values. That is both obnoxious and irritating. You can quantify societal rejection by falling profits for businesses that have been at the front of woke promotion.
Haha that's funny considering when you thought that the makers of Aunt Jemima were "going woke" by rebranding you went out and loaded up on their syrup to stick it to them - great self-own in helping their profits!
Anyway, this thread is evidence of why coming out is significant.
Rebranding has failed, Aunt Jemima used on every ad, electronic or print.
Society gives tons of thought to LGBT people and you are proof of it right here. There's a difference between someone coming out as gay and companies profiting off of pride month.
Truth is if Nico makes a U.S. team Americans will cheer him regardless of his lifestyle choices, same as every other athlete. People don’t care. What people do care about is this Administration, and Liberals pushing a woke agenda. We’ll soon see how many Americans have tired of it.
lol @ calling being gay a "lifestyle choice"
are you making a "lifestyle choice" to be straight?
Truth is if Nico makes a U.S. team Americans will cheer him regardless of his lifestyle choices, same as every other athlete. People don’t care. What people do care about is this Administration, and Liberals pushing a woke agenda. We’ll soon see how many Americans have tired of it.
lol @ calling being gay a "lifestyle choice"
are you making a "lifestyle choice" to be straight?
Whatever bothers you with words lives in your head. I am certainly don’t live in your world of chosen pronouns.