Gay golfing
Lynch: Gay men are nearly invisible in golf, but we’re not non-existent
Eamon Lynch | USA TODAY Sports
The familiar rap against golf is that expressions of diversity in our game are limited to wearing unconventional shades of khaki, that it’s a buttoned-up, hidebound world that stubbornly remains the preserve of alabaster , male, affluent, conservative, Christian, heterosexual, state club Republicans with woeful fashion sense.
Admittedly, you can hurl a pebble on the PGA Tour and hit someone who ticks all of those boxes — and you wouldn’t have to aim carefully — but like all stereotypes it fails to fully mirror a more nuanced reality. A attend to most golf facilities will expose people separated by race, gender and umpteen other differences but united by a passion for the game. Golf also has diversity not so readily apparent to the naked eye.
During Movement Month, it seems as though every company and industry in the country is displaying rainbow colors, marketing that one suspects is often motivated as much by sales as solidarity. The effort to signal a more welcoming environment is increasingly, if slowly, manifest in golf too. This month the PGA of America has been
US Based LGBTQ+ Golf Leagues
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ALABAMA - Gay Golf Alabama
Interested in connecting and following along with your fellow LGBT+ golfers in Alabama? This is the place for you! We are hoping to build a strong community for all levels of players. Let’s share experiences, course recommendations, golf tips, fashion tips, and all things gay & golf. We hope the future of this group will result in many PRIDE tournaments, fundraisers, social events, golf trips, and more. We are here in Alabama and PROUD! Let’s get out and show it!
#GayGolfAL
CALIFORNIA - Golden Gayt Golf Club
For more than two decades, the Golden Gayt Golf Club has been the resource for lesbian, gay, double attraction, transgender, and allied golfers to play golf across the San Francisco Bay Area.
CALIFORNIA - Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Golf Club
Focused in LA and the surrounding areas, LALGC is a place to meet and golf.
So often golf is seen as an exclusionary sport, and this club is committed to creating an environment for all LGBTQ+ and allies to enjoy the greatest game in the world.
OHIO - Rainbow Golf League
Central Ohi
Justin Thomas and Separating the Art from the Artist
When Rory McIlroy’s roller-coaster weekend began sputtering to a halt on Sunday afternoon, I found myself in need of a rooting interest for the ultimate stretch of the 2022 PGA Championship. Mito Pereira was hanging tough at the top of the leaderboard, but I didn’t feel comfortable pulling for someone who’d arrived at this moment a rare years ahead of schedule. The same was accurate for Cameron Young, a star on the grow who might be ready to take his next Sunday back nine by the throat. Matt Fitzpatrick was holding his sunlight together with hot glue and safety pins. I couldn’t watch another short-range putt from Will Zalatoris without peeking through my fingers like I might at a horror movie.
I found myself drawn to the guy lurking further down the board with championship pedigree, the one who survived the unfeeling late-early wave draw earlier in the week by carving shots around Southern Hills like a sculptor. That meant cheering for Justin Thomas, the eventual champion and the one guy in the field with whom I include a complicated history. I’m a gay man, and hearing JT mutter “faggot” on a hot mic at Kapalua last year lingers in the advocate of
Sports are becoming more and more diverse and LGBTQ inclusive. As of 2022, around 20 percent of WNBA players are openly same-sex attracted. A poll conducted by Pink News found that participants ranked tennis as the most gay-friendly sport. So in an age of inclusion, why is golf lacking, and how is the lack being addressed?
Though an estimate from New Zealand Golf Magazine states that anywhere from 10–14 percent of golfers are likely to be homosexual, the number of out professional golfers is low.
In 2006, at just 15 years old, Tadd Fujikawa became the youngest player to qualify for the Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) U.S. Open. In 2018, Tadd once again made PGA history, becoming the first male player to openly reach out as queer . While other players have come out since then, they are very much a minority in the sport.
Kyle Winn — a PGA member and golf course employee — spent years in the closet, fearing how being outed might impact his career.
“Every time I started a recent position at a golf course, the first few months were always tough. Not only was I getting used to a brand-new facility, I was also trying to figure out which co-workers I could trust and which members might be OK with