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 Not sure where I stand on this. A lot of the gay blogosphere has been up in arms about the fact that Matthew Mitcham, an Australian diver who won a surprise gold medal at the Beijing games and the only openly gay male athlete in these Olympics, wasn't referred to as gay by NBC.
The commentators decidedly did not mention his sexual orientation, nor the historic nature of his winning a gold medal. The medal ceremony wasn't telecast, instead broadcast on NBC's Olympics web site. Mitchum's partner and mother, however, were in the stands—he even ran up into the stands to kiss him after his surprise win, which foiled an attempt by the Chinese team to sweep the diving golds.
AfterElton got a hold of an NBC rep, who said this:
“In virtually every case, we don’t discuss an athlete’s sexual orientation.”
Never mind that the frequent cutaways to spouses in the audience or sappy life-story interstitials we've all seen a million times basically always refer to an athlete's sexual orientation in the course of their discourse.
One could argue that Mitcham's sexual orientation is not the point; his diving is. However, if the broadcasters at NBC knew his partner was in the stands and purposely did not show his reaction like they do with so many other athletes, that's censorship and bias.
At the very least, a short acknowledgement of his status as the *only* openly gay male athlete in Beijing would have been welcomed. The fact that he won a gold medal makes the omission even more glaring.
Check out this LA Times piece for an example of a tasteful way NBC could have mentioned his sexuality in reference to the dramatic nature of this gold medal contest without that becoming the focus of coverage.
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written by Jim Privitor, Webmaster@jfpriventerprisesllc.com on August 27, 2008
My personal letter to Matthew Mitcham:
"Congratulations on your 2008 Olympic Gold Medal victory. You have proven yourself to be a great athlete and a true winner. Please accept my humble apology from one fellow ?out? athlete to another. I think it was such an injustice as well as a damn shame that NBC elected to not allow the coverage of your life?s journey or broadcast you victory celebration with your partner, which you so richly deserved and ultimately had earned. It was just plain rude and inexcusable. One can only regret that they chose to show so many other athletes? life stories, both US native and foreign, yet chose to be closed-minded when it came to yours. In my personal opinion, they were ?SO WRONG? in assuming viewers weren't ready to deal with a gay athlete?s personal life. Their lack of judgment could have been a major step in reducing homophobia in sports by showing acceptance and equality for our community. Not only did you out-perform the favored host country but you are an incredible athlete. I am ashamed to admit to be a supporter of NBC and can only hope that future Olympic coverage will be entertained by a more open-minded, compassionate network. I applaud you for your courage. You have my respect as a person and as a member of the gay community."
Yours truly,
Jim F Privitor, webmaster@jfpriventerprisesllc.com