Gay bashing?

By Tiangang Li

I happened upon this video the other day on Youtube and it just triggered a whole series of interesting topics racing through my mind. The video is a dissection of a college football coach apologizing for a gay slur. I decided to look into the story more and dug up some more articles, and actually managed to find the original audio clip. If you’re not familiar with the story, Hawaii’s head coach, Greg McMackin made this to and opposing team, Notre Dame: “[The Notre Dame football players] do this little F****t dance” (Rhymes with Maggot).

Where to begin? First of, I personally don’t find the word offensive, but I can easily see how someone else may. I liken it to the infamous “N-Word” used as a derogatory term against people of colour. However, as one of the commentators (Cenk) states in the Youtube video, he immediately redacted the statement. Even if he didn’t, he did tearfully apologize. He lost seven per cent of his salary, and suspended by 30 days from the league.

Moving on to point number two. Personally, I think what he went through was harsh enough, but there are people out there who say that he should be punished more! Alright, punish the guy who made the statement, but what about all the reporters in the conference who laughed at the statement? Listen to the audio clip again; you hear those bouts of laughter every time he mentions the word? Are they not just as guilty as he is? What about all of the anonymous commentators on Youtube and news sites who leave gay bashing remarks? Should we track them down and fine them as well?

Lastly, one of the other commentators in the Youtube video, Jayar, made an excellent point about how the football field is very heternormative, perhaps even homophobic. It reminded me of the recently released movie, Bruno. Growing up, I’ve always been exposed to media portrayals of the locker room as highly homophobic. Whether this is true or false in actuality is less important than the fact that it is publicly perceived to be this way. Why has no one tried to change this?

I think as a culture, we are just too quick to jump on some random scapegoat and ignore the problems at their roots. There are plenty of anti-gay and homophobic individuals in our society, but I think punishing this guy does not solve anything at all. If you want to do something constructive, go tackle some public spokesmen who say that homosexuality is unnatural, or that it goes against God’s will, or that it’s a punishment from God. Those statement are much more insulting and hurtful than what Mr. McMackin said.

Audio of event: