Johnny Weir article lead story at ESPN.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=100114/JohnnyWeir

Great article. Really great article. Still don't understand why he talks about gender and masculinity but dodges the sexuality question...

But a great article. Nice to get some major American press for skating.

doug_log said:

Still don't understand why he talks about gender and masculinity but dodges the sexuality question...

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His bots will appear and explain that to you very quickly.

Hsuhs said:

His bots will appear and explain that to you very quickly.

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His bots have taught me better to ignore if you can't say something nice about him

Hsuhs said:

His bots will appear and explain that to you very quickly.

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Sigh. Why is it that it some people think it is so very smart and clever to demand that Johnny publicly declare his sexual orientation to the media, but anyone who takes the other view that it isn't the public's business and he shouldn't be required to declare who he sleeps with to the press is derided as a "bot" or an "uber"?

Since when is YOUR point of view the only one that is allowed to be presented without derision and declarations that anyone who disagrees is just an obsessed fan? Trying to pre-empt disagreement with your viewpoint by attacking anyone who might oppose it in the future seems rather like obsessed behavior to me.

Hey, Pippa. Sigh, indeed.

I think your use of "demand" is too strong. All I said was that "I don't understand." Gender, sexuality, and masculinity are so intertwined in American culture, that discussion of two without the third leaves a glaring hole. I agree that in an ideal world, absent of stereotyping and discrimination, we could isolate one idea. But I think we all know that this is not the case.

doug_log said:

Hey, Pippa. Sigh, indeed.

I think "demand" is too strong a word. All I said was that "I don't understand." Gender, sexuality, and masculinity are so intertwined in American culture, that discussion of two without the third leaves a glaring whole. I agree that in an ideal world, absent of stereotyping and discrimination, we could isolate one idea. But I think we all know that is not the case.

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doug, the sigh wasn't directed at you, it was for the poster who declared that anyone who responds to your question is a "bot". And we did have a thread on this board just a few months ago from a poster or two who demanded that Johnny announce his orientation publicly. Fortunately, it was closed and deleted by the Mods.

Johnny gets asked about his orientation all the time by the media, and he has explained as well as anyone could why he doesn't want to give them a label to put on him. He wants people to appreciate his skating and know him for who he is and not for one single aspect of what he is. Unfortunately, I think we all know that is exactly what would happen if he made a public declaration of his orientation.

The level of homophobic hatred in many of the comments attached to that ESPN article kind of says it all for me. I can't blame Johnny for not feeling safe to make an announcement when there are so many people like that in the world. People say he should just declare his orientation publicly, but if he did, plenty of people would attack him for that, too, and say he should have kept it to himself - and he's probably scared that among all those homophobic creeps would be a few who might actually do something. He had to shut his MySpace page down last year after it was repeatedly hacked by someone making threats and blackmail attempts concerning his orientation - I can't imagine dealing with that made him any more willing to go public.

I thought it was a very well written article and Johnny was fantastic as usual. I especially enjoyed all the video clips of them getting their mani/pedi, very cute! Wow I've never seen so much Johnny press in one month! Work it in Spokane Johnny! You can do it!

pippa said:

Sigh. Why is it that it some people think it is so very smart and clever to demand that Johnny publicly declare his sexual orientation to the media, but anyone who takes the other view that it isn't the public's business and he shouldn't be required to declare who he sleeps with to the press is derided as a "bot" or an "uber"?

Since when is YOUR point of view the only one that is allowed to be presented without derision and declarations that anyone who disagrees is just an obsessed fan? Trying to pre-empt disagreement with your viewpoint by attacking anyone who might oppose it in the future seems rather like obsessed behavior to me.

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I agree with you. If Johnny doesn't want to disclose his sexual orientation, that's his right and he shouldn't be criticized for it.

People should stop asking this silly question to Johnny, as I've said before, he won't tell no matter how you ask. On the other hand, I don't think Johnny is afraid of the result if he tells the specific. I just think that he wants to be the way he wants, that's the reason that he acted this way. So let's be the way it is. It really doesn't matter one way or the other.

Great article! I am getting the feeling that Johnny will really go out with a bang. This is the biggest he has been in a long time ( namely this time 2006)

janetfan said:

His bots have taught me better to ignore if you can't say something nice about him

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like that's ever stopped you before

Great article and thanks for posting! I love Johnny and hope against hope that he reclaims the top spot at Nationals... He does it his way. He's a true original!

jennylovskt said:

People should stop asking this silly question to Johnny, as I've said before, he won't tell no matter how you ask. On the other hand, I don't think Johnny is afraid of the result if he tells the specific. I just think that he wants to be the way he wants, that's the reason that he acted this way. So let's be the way it is. It really doesn't matter one way or the other.

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People shall stop asking silly questions to Johnny when Johnny stops giving interview during mani-pedi-facial.
What do you expect the guy to ask when he was like, let's buff and paint our toe nail. Seriously. I personally don't care and actually find him entertaining, but don't get all hissy when he's asked because the questions aren't exactly out of the blue. Where there's smoke, just saying.

FlattFan said:

People shall stop asking silly questions to Johnny when Johnny stops giving interview during mani-pedi-facial.
What do you expect the guy to ask when he was like, let's buff and paint our toe nail. Seriously. I personally don't care and actually find him entertaining, but don't get all hissy when he's asked because the questions aren't exactly out of the blue. Where there's smoke, just saying.

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It's true. But why ask? If you ask, it's silly to me.

FlattFan said:

People shall stop asking silly questions to Johnny when Johnny stops giving interview during mani-pedi-facial.
What do you expect the guy to ask when he was like, let's buff and paint our toe nail. Seriously.

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I came out of the closet when I was 16 - I was still skating and competing at that point - and am now 27. I never had any problems and I still don't. I firmly believe, however, Johnny's choice to not discuss his sexuality in the media is very much his own. That said, what kind of a message is it sending out to the hundreds of young gay and bisexual boys and men coming up through the sport when a flamboyant and popular U.S. skater is dodging the issue, so to speak? Maybe that's not Johnny's problem. It just reminds me so much of the Rhianna/Chris Brown situation even though it's so different - when you choose and indeed celebrate your celebrity and media attention and you have those people looking up to you as a role model, is that a price you have to pay? Does Johnny have an obligation to be an advocate or is his life really his own business? I see valid points in both areas but I think there's really only one real answer: the latter of the two. I do know one thing though, from experience, because my life has been very public and out in the open as well - when you welcome the media/attention etc. you welcome the consequences and responsibilities that come with that, you do. However wherever you choose to cross that line and say no to a question, you are making a statement in itself and the public will not uniformly interpret that one way or the other. They will interpret it both ways.

Not meaning to be controversial - just offering up my two cents.

Nice post, n_halifax.

It's definitely a difficult topic and obviously very personal for the concerned athletes.

I respect those skaters' decisions, very few of us can possibly understand how it is to be in the spotlight and be gay / bisexual etc.

But that doesn't change the fact that I think it sends the wrong kind of message. We hear so much in the news about other skaters' marriages, girlfriends, babies, engagements. The fact that no active skater and very few retired skaters are openly gay / bisexual tells the world, the young boys (and girls), that being gay in the skating world is not desired - in contrast to all those happy "normal" heterosexual stories. It sends the message, that even in the skating world, homosexuality is wrong.

I don't think that Johnny owes it to anybody to make a statement of that kind. Nobody would ask that question of Brian Joubert or Evan. That is his own business...and like he said should have nothing to do with weather or not you admire (or hate) his skating.

n_halifax said:

I came out of the closet when I was 16 - I was still skating and competing at that point - and am now 27. I never had any problems and I still don't. I firmly believe, however, Johnny's choice to not discuss his sexuality in the media is very much his own. That said, what kind of a message is it sending out to the hundreds of young gay and bisexual boys and men coming up through the sport when a flamboyant and popular U.S. skater is dodging the issue, so to speak?

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Yes but did you ever come out to the international media, knowing it would be reported worldwide? Because I'm pretty sure that Johnny is completely open about his personal orientation with all of the people in his life, and has been since he was a young teen. But that's not the same as making a public announcement about it to the international media. I don't think the two can really be compared.

Let's remember that Johnny doesn't have endorsements from big sponsors, and he is already banned from the only skating tour left in the US (he is the one and only top US skater never even to be invited to guest star on SOI, even when he was the top-ranked US man and National Champ, and even though several SOI-conducted polls have overwhelmingly voted him as the most-desired cast member). The only chance he has to earn a living in this sport is the few skating shows he is invited to perform in each year in Japan and Korea, two very socially conservative countries. If he were to publically announce to the media that he is gay, there is a very good chance that his invitations to Asia would disappear as well, and he would have no income at all.

It's easy to say that he should tell the media his sexual orientation because he seems flamboyant anyway, but we don't have to live with the loss of income, and he does. Johnny has to support his training (about $100,000 a year for an elite skater), and he also has to help out his family, who used their savings to support his skating when he was younger. He also has all the bills and expenses that the rest of us have (rent, groceries, utilities, gas, insurance, etc.).

We also don't have to live with the crazy death threats from the many homophobic loonies out there who would respond to a media announcement like that. Johnny had a bad experience with someone who was hacking his personal website and visiting his fan clubs to make threats against him; perhaps that frightening occurence has something to do with his decision, as well.

I think it would be great if every gay athlete could feel free to come out to the media and face no serious repercussions, and I'm sure Johnny thinks that would be great, too. But until we all have to deal with the same repercussions of that decision that such athletes do, it's just too easy to sit back and judge them for not doing so.

By the way, there are a number of other currently-competing, top-ranked male skaters who are widely known to be openly gay in their private lives, but not one of them has made any announcement to the media about it, either, likely for the same reasons. No one ever seems to feel they should be obligated to do so because it would be better for gays if they were more open.

Tinymavy15 said:

Nobody would ask that question of Brian Joubert or Evan.

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I'm sure if they acted the way Johnny has been acting, they would have tons of same questions surrounded them. In this sense, I don't think that Johnny is afraid of anything. It's fun to play up people's curiosity, isn't it?

pippa said:

Yes but did you ever come out to the international media, knowing it would be reported worldwide? Because I'm pretty sure that Johnny is completely open about his personal orientation with all of the people in his life, and has been since he was a young teen. But that's not the same as making a public announcement about it to the international media. I don't think the two can really be compared.

Let's remember that Johnny doesn't have endorsements from big sponsors, and he is already banned from the only skating tour left in the US (he is the one and only top US skater never even to be invited to guest star on SOI, even when he was the top-ranked US man and National Champ, and even though several SOI-conducted polls have overwhelmingly voted him as the most-desired cast member). The only chance he has to earn a living in this sport is the few skating shows he is invited to perform in each year in Japan and Korea, two very socially conservative countries. If he were to publically announce to the media that he is gay, there is a very good chance that his invitations to Asia would disappear as well, and he would have no income at all.

It's easy to say that he should tell the media his sexual orientation because he seems flamboyant anyway, but we don't have to live with the loss of income, and he does. Johnny has to support his training (about $100,000 a year for an elite skater), and he also has to help out his family, who used their savings to support his skating when he was younger. He also has all the bills and expenses that the rest of us have (rent, groceries, utilities, gas, insurance, etc.).

We also don't have to live with the crazy death threats from the many homophobic loonies out there who would respond to a media announcement like that. Johnny had a bad experience with someone who was hacking his personal website and visiting his fan clubs to make threats against him; perhaps that frightening occurence has something to do with his decision, as well.

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I think you are over sensitive on the issue. If Johnny ever has had these concerns, he wouldn't have acted the way he's been acting.

I have mixed feelings about whether Johnny should personally be open about his sexuality to the public and media. But I think part of this whole deal has to do with the stereotype that male figure skaters are gay. I personally don't have anything against gay people, and don't care if many male skaters are gay, but I feel like questions of sexuality and skaters coming out or not coming out are just reinforcing this stereotype (I'm not sure if this is sounding like what I meant to say...). I feel like male skaters are pressured to defend their sexuality in the face of the stereotype (whether they're straight or gay), and I'm sure some skaters (like Weir) don't want to go there.