« That guy is way too small to play NFL football ». This is how Wade Davis introduced himself to College Vanier’s students, as part of the school’s annual Social Science Festival. With the purpose of destroying and discouraging the myths and prejudices that adolescents hold toward each other, the activist revealed all.
« I was in high school when I thought for the first time that a guy was hot. I destroyed that thought right away. I am a football player, I can’t be attracted by other men. I have never seen a gay football player,neither a gay black man. I did everything I could to make the world believe that I was straight. I was trying to be the man that I thought everyone would respect. Because I couldn’t be myself, could I? »
Davis made his professional debut in 2001 with the NFL Europe team Berlin Thunder, where he won theWorld Bowl IX title. He retired in 2003 due to injury.
In 2012, he came out publicly about his homosexuality.Since then, Davis is executive director for the You Can Play Project, an advocacy organization working to eradicate homophobia in professional sports.
The speaker is familiar with homophobes and bullies, since he has been one himself. » There was only one guy named John Smith that was openly gay in my school. And I hated him. Because I was a popular athlete, all of my friends bullied him. The truth is, I wanted to be John Smith. He exhibited the kind of courage I only could dream of. Showing up everyday in college, in high school, in the world as your authentic self takes courage everyday. »
Courage. This is what the former athlete hopes he will inspire in kids that hear his speech. The courage to be themselves, the courage to stand up for what they believe, the courage to denounce rejection and bullying.
» Most of the time, we do not realize how we are hurting people. We use insulting words like faggot in our everyday language. Let me give you a secret: there are young people that kill each other every day because of the words we use casually. Some of you might just hear other people say it. But if you say nothing about it, you are participating. Silence is part of the problem. »
Despite being in the closet for all his NFL career, Wade Davis has no regrets. According to him, the long process to love himself has make him a better advocate for LGBTQ’s rights. He also thinks that the world is now ready to have those conversations, as people are getting more open and more curious.
Being gay at Vanier
Vanier College has a solid set of policies to defend gay rights and to prevent discrimination which is driven by zero tolerance philosophy. The highest level of administration can be involved in every complaint if necessary, and a student advocate works daily on campus to intervene in that sort of issue.
Tristan Masson is a women studies student and a AA baseball player at Vanier College. According to him, homophobic violence is not a big issue in the college sports team. But Davis’ speech awakened him on some aspects of homophobia. « Like Wade Davis said, we do reach the level of homophobia when we use a language that promotes it. It is not necessarily dedicated to one particular athlete, but we accept it as a culture. It must stop. »
The student also hopes that kids seated in the auditorium will be more curious about queer culture and try to get to know it before judging.