When Arnold van Opstal posted a rainbow-filtered photo on Instagram where a man was kissing him on the cheek, social media went into overdrive. The post garnered more than 11,000 likes and 700 comments, a far cry from the few thousand likes and dozens of comments he usually gets. People started wondering if van Opstal is gay, with one follower even asking him via the app’s Ask Me a Question feature.
Thankfully, the feedback on the post has mostly been positive. I kind of expected fans to be disappointed that he didn’t live up to the macho image basketball players upheld, but followers praised him for promoting love, equality, and acceptance.
But the thing is, van Opstal isn’t gay. The photo is of him with his brother Christoph, who is gay, and the post is a call for support for the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity or Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill, which asks to stop the discrimination of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community, as well as those who encompass the broad spectrum of identity and expression.
But even if van Opstal were gay and he did come out of the closet in that post, so what?
In the Philippines, we don’t have a lot of out athletes. I’m not really sure why but I think it’s because we see sports like basketball and football as a masculine activity, and some of us still equate being gay with being transgender. Just a quick lesson: being gay means being attracted to people of the same sex while being transgender means you feel that your personal identity and gender does not correspond with your birth sex. They’re not the same.
This is something that van Opstal acknowledges. In his response to the Ask Me a Question, he said, “I feel like athletes are not doing enough to address the homophobia that is very apparent in sports due to fear of judgment set by their peers and coaches.”
This point was proven to me just last week when my friend invited me to drink with some of her friends. There were a lot of guys there, many of whom studied in all-boys schools. I don’t remember how it happened but I ended up talking about basketball with one of them. He said that some of his buddies are not comfortable playing with gay guys because “baka daw hipuan sila.” (they might be touched inappropriately).
While I know that there are a lot of athletes out there who don’t feel this way, this is not the first time I’ve heard this. I’ve heard enough stories, and even experienced them, where gay men are made to feel unwelcome because the men are afraid that they will be “molested.”
That’s probably why we don’t have a lot (or any) out athletes locally. Apart from the outdated belief that gay men are weak and effeminate, they are also seen as thirsty vampires out for blood.
Before I could even put my drink down to explain why this kind of thinking is dangerous, the guy I met said that he reprimanded his friends, saying that it’s 2018 already and they’re not good-looking enough to be “molested.” While this was a funny quip, there are guys who feel like they are a gift to mankind and that gay men won’t be able to control themselves around them *eye roll*.
The thing is, athletic prowess is not tied to romantic prowess. What one does in bed, and with whom, has no bearing on how he (or she) will perform on the court. Just take a look at out athletes abroad who have excelled in their field: the swimmer Tom Daley, the wrestler Anthony Bowens, the snowboarder Cheryl Maas, the tennis player Billie Jean King, and the basketball player Jason Collins. The list goes on and on.
It would be nice to have such a prominent Filipino athlete come out of the closet, but van Opstal’s Instagram post is loud and clear: he is an ally. In his answer to the question asking him if he’s gay, he answered, “Preferences are preferences, love is love, and everyone deserves to be their own authentic selves without having to fear the judgment of others.”
So van Opstal didn’t come out of the closet. But I hope it will allow closeted athletes to come out and still be a respected and admired figure in sports. And maybe, when they do it via Instagram, it wouldn’t be that big a deal.
So what if an athlete is gay?
When Arnold van Opstal posted a rainbow-filtered photo on Instagram where a man was kissing him on the cheek, social media went into overdrive. The post garnered more than 11,000 likes and 700 comments, a far cry from the few thousand likes and dozens of comments he usually gets. People started wondering if van Opstal is gay, with one follower even asking him via the app’s Ask Me a Question feature.
Thankfully, the feedback on the post has mostly been positive. I kind of expected fans to be disappointed that he didn’t live up to the macho image basketball players upheld, but followers praised him for promoting love, equality, and acceptance.
But the thing is, van Opstal isn’t gay. The photo is of him with his brother Christoph, who is gay, and the post is a call for support for the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity or Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill, which asks to stop the discrimination of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community, as well as those who encompass the broad spectrum of identity and expression.
But even if van Opstal were gay and he did come out of the closet in that post, so what?
In the Philippines, we don’t have a lot of out athletes. I’m not really sure why but I think it’s because we see sports like basketball and football as a masculine activity, and some of us still equate being gay with being transgender. Just a quick lesson: being gay means being attracted to people of the same sex while being transgender means you feel that your personal identity and gender does not correspond with your birth sex. They’re not the same.
This is something that van Opstal acknowledges. In his response to the Ask Me a Question, he said, “I feel like athletes are not doing enough to address the homophobia that is very apparent in sports due to fear of judgment set by their peers and coaches.”
This point was proven to me just last week when my friend invited me to drink with some of her friends. There were a lot of guys there, many of whom studied in all-boys schools. I don’t remember how it happened but I ended up talking about basketball with one of them. He said that some of his buddies are not comfortable playing with gay guys because “baka daw hipuan sila.” (they might be touched inappropriately).
While I know that there are a lot of athletes out there who don’t feel this way, this is not the first time I’ve heard this. I’ve heard enough stories, and even experienced them, where gay men are made to feel unwelcome because the men are afraid that they will be “molested.”
That’s probably why we don’t have a lot (or any) out athletes locally. Apart from the outdated belief that gay men are weak and effeminate, they are also seen as thirsty vampires out for blood.
Before I could even put my drink down to explain why this kind of thinking is dangerous, the guy I met said that he reprimanded his friends, saying that it’s 2018 already and they’re not good-looking enough to be “molested.” While this was a funny quip, there are guys who feel like they are a gift to mankind and that gay men won’t be able to control themselves around them *eye roll*.
The thing is, athletic prowess is not tied to romantic prowess. What one does in bed, and with whom, has no bearing on how he (or she) will perform on the court. Just take a look at out athletes abroad who have excelled in their field: the swimmer Tom Daley, the wrestler Anthony Bowens, the snowboarder Cheryl Maas, the tennis player Billie Jean King, and the basketball player Jason Collins. The list goes on and on.
It would be nice to have such a prominent Filipino athlete come out of the closet, but van Opstal’s Instagram post is loud and clear: he is an ally. In his answer to the question asking him if he’s gay, he answered, “Preferences are preferences, love is love, and everyone deserves to be their own authentic selves without having to fear the judgment of others.”
So van Opstal didn’t come out of the closet. But I hope it will allow closeted athletes to come out and still be a respected and admired figure in sports. And maybe, when they do it via Instagram, it wouldn’t be that big a deal.
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About The Author
Koji Arsua likes to read. He makes book-related content on Instagram (@koji.reads) and TikTok (@koji.reads).