Again, if you DON'T think this is a risk, even a minor one, then I don't know what to tell you. Google "hate crimes against gays" and see what pops up.

ok

stop posting itt

Kudos to Jason, and +1 for the theme of the poker table being open to everyone - definitely one of my favorite aspects of the rooms I frequent is the fact that they're very diverse in just about every respect, yet people get along for the most part (and, if they don't, it rarely seems to have much to do with cultural differences)

jfc, if you think I'm generalizing his position with that of people in the ******ed counties of Mississippi you're wrong. If he was doing this in high school in Alabama he would probably run some risk. He, however, runs almost no risk at all of even being criticized let alone face actual harm.

I don't know why you think all thins that happen to kids in one place represent what goes on everywhere. The guy clearly runs no risk of harm.

i think its kinda lame you would even include negreanu/dwan speculation in your blog. congrats tho, being gay is way more fun than being straight

Yeah, because bigots never travel.

You seem pretty ignorant about the risks the LGB community faces. How long you stay ignorant is up to you.

Edit: Besides, ultimately the courage is less about the risk of physical harm and more about the risk of just being DIFFERENT in a way that a lot of society still stigmatizes. That discrimination doesn't often take the form of overt physical assaults (although it certainly does in some places), but the small every day forms of bigotry can be detrimental as well.

Did you know that young men consider "gay" to be the worst possible insult to be labeled?

Society in general still has a long way to go until there isn't some courage necessary to declare openly, to the world at large, that you aren't the straight person that everyone has assumed you were since birth.

Somerville is right that outside of Selbst, there aren't any high-profile gay poker players. Replace "poker players" with "athletes," and you get the same result -- sports is one of the few remaining institutions that hasn't accepted this kind of diversity yet, for one reason or another.

So while it may not be news that any given person has come out, it's news that a high-profile poker player has chosen to come out. 2012 is way better off than 1912 or even 1982. But there's still more than enough homophobia around, which is why large institutions haven't made it that welcoming for gays to come out. The more people like Jason who have the courage to do it publicly (also cf. Todd Glass's episode of WTF with Marc Maron), the more people in general will have the courage to do it. And that means any kid in any house on any street corner in America.

But what's even more important is not to speak to people who are looking for the courage to come out; it's to speak to bigots and potential homophobes who look for any chance to rip on the gays. The more people they know who are out, the more likely they'll be to think twice about making homophobic remarks, and might even change the way they think.

@ northeast, ok sorry its hard to tell at times esp. in NVG

@ people arguing with Go Get It. its kinda useless imo. I don't think he'll ever get it. I really don't blame him though.

@ private joker. Very well said. Though I think Ben Grundy is also a gay high profile poker player.

sampling bias.

oy.

and GGI, why is physical injury the only negative outcome you're focused on? the spotlight and attention alone for this kind of thing, not to mention the inevitable slurs and slights from *******s, would be (is?) enough to turn most people away.

did he?

Because, now that he's out, people are going to travel and attack him? If not what was the point of mentioning that?

Also you seem to over state how much anti-gay violence actually happens. Not to say it doesn't happen, but to assume, infer, imply w/e that it's a risk is overblown imo.

Go Get It, imagine you walked into a random poker room with a dozen full tables and asked people to raise their hands if they support gay marriage. I think you'll see a huge discrepancy between the number of hands raised (which I would estimate would be close to zero in most rooms) and the number of people who in reality support (or perhaps more appropriately phrased don't oppose) gay marriage but are still worried about how they'll be perceived if they support anything gay. That's why threads like this are important. We have a long ways to go as a society. While it's true that supporting gay marriage is not synonymous with supporting homosexuality, I think you get the point.

Yeah, that's obvious now. Still, seems logical to try. People can change.

+1... not many have had the courage to do this... our community seems to be more homophobic than almost any other profession I can think of... Mad respect to Jason for doing this (and I don't even know him personally)...

Gay marriage is one thing. I agree that most in a card room would prolly take an anti gay marriage stance. But he didn't write the blog about gay marriage.

I posted this in the TWSS LGBT thread, which explains more clearly (because I quote a text) why discrimination and verbal attacks constitute a threat: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...8&postcount=82

There's courage in coming out less in the risk of physical violence (although, again, this does happen, and while relatively rare it's more frequent then most people would think) and more in opening yourself up to the small daily slurs that some people think are fine to throw around.

Society in general is improving (slowly), but is still remarkable heterosexist. Identifying yourself as a belittled minority, especially one that you COULD hide, takes courage that many don't acknowledge or understand.

Go Get It what are you hoping to achieve by tarding up this thread?

Its so easy to talk like this when your not gay. Homophobia is insanely strong in the world today, in all society's. This makes some people have a very difficult time accepting themselves/coming out because it just isn't that easy. Mbn to live in your fairy tale world.

Besides you are missing the point of this thread. He is the first high profile male poker player to publicly come out as a gay person. What is wrong with congratulating him for it? Surely there is at least one other male well known gay poker pro out there.

Meh, to each his own. If he or others think it's a big deal it's certainly his or their right to think so. I happen to think it's not a huge deal that someone comes out in this day in age.

Much respect. Despite what ignorant posters say, it's definitely not easy and impossible to understand unless you're the one actually doing it.

I think I remember the video you're talking about and I think you're reading way too much into that.

Much respect for coming out dude, SERIOUSLY. I for one don't give a **** who u like to have sex with.

I have always supported a man's right to choose to be gay.

You seem to be quite ignorant. See my earlier post.

There are almost zero openly gay homosexual athletes currently. Isn't that unbelievable? As I stated before it shouldn't be a big deal at all, but it is. That's the society we still live in. You seem to be completely unaware of it.

+1000000.