LGBT News Tyler Seguin apologizes after ‘no homo’ tweet

He should know better.

 

in my experince in the world of gym culture, people who say 'no homo' tend to be trying to hide.

 

Its
The
Internet

 

His name is Tyler Sequin?

No comment.

 

People need to calm down, of course he didn't mean any harm. We freak out over the smallest stuff. #justmyopinion

 

Its easy to say that but he is a star player and it is homophobic language. He has a lot of young impressionable fans (not likely on twitter) but he is responsible for being a good role model.

That being said, he is only 21 and he is going to be visited by Patrick Burke of YCP. A little educational talk about why that language is inappropriate and everything will be fine.

 

Why did this make the news

 

Glad I'm not the only one who misread his name as this.

 

I see your point, it's all good

 

Still, I don't think many of us (and it doesn't really look like it) are all that offended by it. It's always a case of

Friend: No homo
Me: *shrug* Like I ever gave a shit?
Friend: Yeah, really lol

 

No need to freek ouy with stuff like that, in my opinion. Now people are afraid to be misjudged as an homofobic, and that is just not right ether...

 

Haha, now I look like an idiot. But at least I've got company!

---------- Post added 23rd Apr 2013 at 07:52 PM ----------

I'm glad others are bringing up the whole overreacting thing. On top of that, we know what's going to happen next.
He will go spend a day at some LGBT Learning Center and will post a picture saying "learning how to control my words and learning about some great people."

Look, it's important we work on discrimination and bad feelings towards our community, but so much just feels very forced and fake. Am I the only one who thinks that?

 

I think people are missing the point. The point isn't that someone read the tweet and ran to their room, slammed the door, and began to cry big crocodile tears. The point isn't even whether or not someone is offended.

There are a number of reasons to jump on Tyler for his tweet. The first reason, is that he's famous and by jumping on him it gives us the opportunity to raise awareness and get people to talk about our issues. This is one of the ways we change people's minds. It starts conversations with other people, who may be in a position to educate someone who is ignorant.

But less directly, it's about the underlying message of statements like 'that's so gay' or 'no homo'. Used in a proper context, it's when a straight person - almost always male - makes a complementary remark about another guy. However, instead of stopping there he tacks on, "no homo" - as if giving another guy a compliment somehow brings his sexuality into question.

The overall goal of the LGBT movement is to get people to understand and accept that being LGBT is normal. In fact, people shouldn't be ashamed to be considered gay, no more than someone should be ashamed to be considered straight.

So, the entire point of saying "no homo" is to say, "Hey, dude just so you know, I'm not gay or nothin'." As if being gay were a negative thing. As if someone should even care if other people thought their comment "made them seem gay" - because after all, in the world we'd like to create being gay isn't a negative thing at all.

So, by having Tyler apologize for his comments, we have hopefully accomplished the following. First, Tyler has hopefully taken the time to think about his comments, realized the error he has made, and has therefore made a truly heartfelt apology. Second, there is the hope that one of Tyler's fans - particularly one of his younger fans - might read about this and also question their use of "no homo" as well as taking a moment to think more deeply about their actions... and ideally, make a positive change as well.

If we're successful in either one of those things, then we've made some good progress. Not only have we hopefully moved a straight guy toward feeling more secure in his sexuality, and therefore more secure about the sexuality of other people - gay men in particular - but it may have a longer range effect as well. If straight people are more secure in their sexuality, and do not see being gay as a negative thing then if they start popping out little future gaybies they're hopefully going to grow up in a positive and supportive environment.

This in turn hopefully helps future generations of gays and lesbians grow up without a lot of the insecurities, fears, and social challenges that we experience today.

So, this isn't about being politically correct. This is about shifting social and cultural values.

 

THIS! :eusa_clap

 

Given the whole You Can Play initiative that is going on in professional hockey these days, he probably didn't make his bosses and the larger hockey organizational structure very happy with that little comment either.

Todd

 

Douche thing to say, but Seguin is really nice to look at.

 

"No homo" is just plain stupid, and in 100% of cases it is used by people of limited intellectual abilities. In that sense, it's not worth getting offended over sheer stupidity.

However the underlying message is offensive and damaging, especially for young people who follow these sports and idolize these athletes. After all, the last thing anyone in the world would ever want is to be thought of as gay- except for the fact that some people actually are gay, including some of the aforementioned kids who idolize these athletes.

(And sorry, but I don't think being 21 years old somehow excuses this guy for using silly homophobic phrases more befitting a 12-year-old on a playground. The 12-year-old maybe gets excused, but the 21-year-old? No)

Though let's be serious, homophobia is rampant in the world of sports. Sending this one guy to sensitivity training isn't going to solve that problem or change how athletes like this guy really feel about the homos.

 

When I look back at moments where I felt that way, I'm like "that should have been a sign to you that you were gay"

So maybe he'll look back and think the same. but then maybe not.