|
══════════════════【立報】═══════════════════ |
| 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2006-07-28》 |
| 本期內容 | |
| ◎國際專題：為何要辦同志運動會？ | |
| ◎同志競技 主流媒體缺席 | |
| ◎吾思吾師 找回教師熱情與尊嚴徵文比賽 | |
| 國際專題：為何要辦同志運動會？ | |
| 策劃、編譯 ■唐澄暐、侯美如 | |
|
對上萬來到芝加哥的參加者來說，這不只是政治與體育，也是慶典。 根據《芝加哥論壇報》報導，第7屆同志運動會，運動迷們稱其為Gaymes，15日晚間在65國選手魚貫進入軍人球場後，正式開幕。隨著國旗飛揚和觀眾不停歡呼，選手幾乎擠滿了會場。接下來的一週，他們在30項運動中較勁，包括傳統的田徑、游泳以及比較少見的雙人同性花式滑冰和鄉村舞。 過去24年來，每到同志運動又要舉辦時，同樣的問題總會再次響起。為什麼同志們需要自己的奧運式競技會呢？ 「這是個來自異性戀社群的好問題。」同志運動會聯盟董事會的長期會員德瑞克‧萊克西表示。「但同志社群早已知道答案。」答案就是為了平等，在政治、社會和體育上的平等。 對9年職業生涯一直擁有雙重身份的職業美式足球員艾瑟拉‧拓羅來說，這個運動會是一個解藥。對男同志人權運動者瑞克‧賈西亞來說，這場運動會讓異性戀世界了解，男同志也可以打籃球，而不是只有「很娘」的品味或音樂。對珊卓拉‧俄奎雅加來說，運動會代表她可以不用擔心隊友的斜眼相待，而能在奪旗橄欖球比賽中全力以赴。 每4年舉辦一次的大會，讓頂尖運動員與初學者共同競爭金牌。但最重要的是，只要現身的人，就能得到一枚獎牌做為鼓勵。參予者和籌辦者都表示，同志運動會的價值不只是獲勝，也不只是和同志相處（5％的參賽者是異性戀）。這是一個在恐同現象減少但不消失的世界中，展現自我活力的活動。 「你活在哪個美國，這個運動會對你的意義就不同。」常在同志刊物發表文章的聖地牙哥記者雷克斯‧渥克納表示。「如果你活在一個不能在街上牽著伴侶的手，不能在機場吻別的世界，同志奧運真的會是一輩子值得珍藏的回憶。」 同志運動會是由前奧運選手Tom Waddell於1982年在舊金山開始的，他本人則於1987年因AIDS的併發症過世。在運動會中，人們討論他時始終帶著崇敬。 多數的觀察家同意，自從第一次競技會以來，能夠讓同志運動員自己創造公開競技空間的開放氣氛進步了許多，但還無法開放到讓運動會消失──也就是讓所有性別運動員都能同場競技的理想狀態。相反的，同志運動員的人數正急速增加。許多大城市都有同志運動聯盟，奧運式的競技活動也在世界各地如雨後春筍般蓬勃；如馬德里的太陽運動會，曼徹斯特的自尊運動會，以及本月底將在蒙特婁舉行的全新「出櫃運動會」。 參與者表示，同志奧運會的吸引力，就和猶太運動員的「世界馬加比運動會」一樣，就是認同感。 有些人認為，男同志由於在體育上受到的不友善比較多，可能比女同志更熱中運動會。「我們一直都是以T的模樣長大，體育一向是我們宣洩的途徑。」48歲的馬西亞‧希爾將參加壘球比賽。「但在很多時候，許多男同志成長中並沒能變成運動員，他們現在因為終於感覺到安全和快樂，才開始投入運動。」「我和4個因為討厭少棒聯盟，8歲之後就從未拾起球棒的男生一起練習。他們從不知道自己可以享受壘球。」 「異性戀的男生多常在運動場上對辣妹品頭論足呀？」同志運動會聯盟執行副主席Charlie Carson問道。「那那些想要對辣妹沒興趣，但想對帥哥品頭論足的人，別人會怎麼覺得？聽起來很好笑，但在運動更衣室裡，恐同依舊強烈存在。」的確，支持同志運動的人指出，職業運動員很少有人公開其同志身份。在網球好手那拉提洛娃和籃球選手Sheryl Swoopes之後，就沒了。男同志更少。 在拓羅於90年代的9年足球生涯中，他必須對他老公的事三緘其口，更不用提他們扶養一對雙胞胎的事情。38歲的他說，他從未告訴任何NFL的隊友、教練說他是同志。「每次出現同志的話題，我看見的都是仇恨和憤怒。」他說，「在足球活動中，罵人fag（污衊同性戀的粗話）是運動員最難聽的用詞。」身為美式足球球員，「這是我第一次有機會以男同志，以及同志運動員的身分進軍人球場。」開幕前他說，「這將會很棒。」 就算是那些反對在芝加哥舉辦運動會的人現在也支持這項活動。賈西亞也是美國伊利諾州平等會的政治部主任，原本他擔心該市的主辦人沒有足夠的時間來籌錢計畫比賽，現在也給予支持，「這樣可以澄清很多神話和刻板印象。」 賈西亞表示，年度的同志驕傲遊行確實能在電視上展現同志的自我，但也常給大眾奢華豔麗的形象，這種形象可能使同志離主流美國更為遙遠。相較而言，10個打籃球的男同志，看起來的形象就真的與一般人無異。「這可以讓你周圍的同志鄰居，看起來不會像一個只會做愛的人」，Garcia說：「你會忽然在你不覺得有同志的運動場合，發現許多同志。我因此對同志運動會給予最高的評價。」 爭議也隨著運動會到來，Crystal Lake的周邊爭執著要不要讓划船比賽在當地進行，因批評同性戀者的言語恣意而行，爭論演變成非理性的吵架。但同志運動會官方表示，當議題傳播擴散後，終究得到了更多的諒解，因此他們相信當競賽結束後，當地居民會想不起來當出到底為了什麼在吵。 「我以前就看過這情形了。」同志運動會委員會成員卡爾森表示。「多數的情況下，所有人會記得的是，運動會的經驗將證明其正面意義。最後結束時，當地的人們留下的感覺是，（讓同志在這邊辦這運動會）真的沒什麼大不了的。而對於那些參與的人來說，他們會永遠記得這一切。」 To the tens of thousands of participants and visi-tors to Chicago, it's more than just politics and athletics, it's a celebration With every stop the Gay Games have made across the globe for the last 24 years, a simple question has followed. Why do gay people need their own Olympic-style competi-tion? "It's a fair question from the straight community," said Derek Liecty, a longtime member of the Federa-tion of Gay Games board of directors. "But the gay and lesbian community already knows the answer." The answer, it turns out, is equal parts political, so-cial and, oh yes, athletic. For Esera Tuaolo, the Games are an antidote to the nine years he spent as a professional football player with a secret life. For gay-rights activist Rick Garcia, they are about letting the straight world know that gay people can indeed play basketball--or do any number of things that don't include the color pink or Cher's music. For Sandra Urquiaga, they mean she can play a competitive game of women's flag football without worrying about sideways glances from teammates while her partner cheers her on. The seventh Gay Games--affectionately known to fans as the Gaymes--officially began Saturday night when athletes from 65 countries including the United States streamed onto Soldier Field for opening ceremonies. With international flags flying and sus-tained cheers from the crowd, the mass of athletes filled up most of the field. Over the next week they will compete in 30 sports, including the typical (track, swimming) and the not so typical (same-sex pairs figure skating and country dancing). Held every four years, most recently in Sydney, the Games bring top athletes alongside novices to com-pete for gold, silver and bronze medals. But everyone gets a medal just for showing up, and that, advocates say, is the point. The heart of the Gay Games is not just winning or even being surrounded by gay people (5 percent of the competitors are straight), participants and orga-nizers say. It is self-empowerment in a world where homophobia has dropped precipitously but is far from gone. "What the Games mean depends on which Amer-ica you live in," said Rex Wockner, a San Diego-based journalist whose work appears in dozens of gay newspapers. "If you live in a place where you can't walk down the street holding hands or kiss your partner goodbye at the airport, a gay Olympics is really something to treasure and remem-ber for a lifetime." The Games were founded in San Francisco in 1982 by former Olympian Tom Waddell, who died in 1987 of AIDS-related complications. In Gay Games circles, he is discussed with reverence. Most observers agree that the conditions leading gay athletes to create a place where they could com-pete openly and without stereotyping have improved since the first competition--but not enough for the Games to disappear. Instead, the popularity of gay athletics is booming. Year-round gay sports leagues exist throughout Chicago and other major cities, while Olympic-style events are springing up around the world--the Sun Games in Madrid, the PrideGames in Manchester, England. Later this month, a new event called Out-Games will be staged in Montreal, where the Gay Games were to be held until a falling-out between local organizers and the Gay Games' governing body killed the deal. The attraction of a gay Olympic-style event, par-ticipants say, is no different than what inspired the World Maccabiah Games for Jewish athletes, the Special Olympics or the Senior Games--common-ality. Some say the payoff can be even greater for gay male athletes than for lesbians, who may be more likely to find acceptance when they participate in sports. "We were always the tomboys growing up and athletics was our outlet," said Marcia Hill, 48, of Al-bany Park, who will compete in the Gay Games soft-ball tournament. "A lot of times, gay men weren't athletic growing up, and they're just getting into it now because it's finally safe and fun for them. "I'm working with four guys who haven't picked up a bat since they were 8 years old because they hat-ed Little League. They didn't know they could enjoy playing softball." Participants acknowledge that sexuality doesn't mean much when swimming 100 meters or throwing a softball, but it can make a difference at other times. Take the on-field chatter, for example. "How often do heterosexual guys make comments about hot chicks on the playing field?" asked Charlie Carson, vice president of operations for the Federa-tion of Gay Games. "How does that make people feel who aren't interested in talking about hot chicks, but who want to talk about hot guys? It maybe sounds facetious, but it's amazing how much homophobia is still in the locker room." Indeed, advocates point to the relatively few num-bers of professional athletes who are openly gay. After tennis great Martina Navratilova and basketball player Sheryl Swoopes, the list gets short. It's also particularly light on men. During his nine-year football career in the 1990s, mostly with the Minnesota Vikings, Tuaolo said he had to keep quiet about the man he calls his husband, and with whom he is raising twins. Tuaolo, 38, said he never told anyone in the National Football League he was gay--no coaches, no teammates. "Every time the topic of homosexuality came up, I saw hate and rage," he said. "Calling someone a `fag' is the worst thing you can do in football." The irony of kicking off the Games in what is tra-ditionally a den of masculinity was not lost on the nearly 300-pound former defensive lineman, who was slated to sing the Gay Games anthem, "Take the Flame," at the opening ceremony. "It's the first opportunity I've had to march into Soldier Field as a gay man and as a gay athlete," he said last week. "It's going to be incredible." Even those who had opposed bringing the Games to Chicago in 2006 are lining up to support the event now. Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois, feared city organizers wouldn't have enough time to raise money and plan for the Games. Though still skeptical, Garcia said he wants the Games to succeed because "they dispel a lot of myths and stereotypes." Events such as the annual Pride Parade often come off in the media as flamboyant and extrava-gant--which they certainly are at times. But those images can push gays and lesbians further from main-stream America, Garcia said, while the sight of 10 gay men playing basketball looks perfectly normal. "It makes your neighbor look like something other than a walking sex machine," Garcia said. "Suddenly you are seeing gay people in sports you usually don't identify with gay folks. I have nothing but the highest regard for the Gay Games." Controversy often follows the Gay Games, but even that can end up working in their favor. As the suburb of Crystal Lake wrestled over whether to al-low the rowing competition to take place there, an emotional debate erupted in which critics of homo-sexuality spoke freely. But airing the issues ultimately tends to lead to greater tolerance, said Gay Games officials, who pre-dict that by the time the competition is over, many residents will wonder what all the fuss was about. "I've seen this all before," said Carson, of the Gay Games board. "For the most part, what people re-member is that the experience of the Games turns out positively. What they carry with them in the end is that this wasn't such a big deal. And to the people participating, they remember it forever." （http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/na-tionworld/chi-0607160319jul16,1,3948220.story?page=1&cset=true&ctrack=1&coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed） |
|
| （回目錄） | |
| 同志競技 主流媒體缺席 | |
|
提到近來的重大運動新聞，除了名氣響亮的世足賽，另外一條重量級新聞大概就屬上週的「同性戀運動會」（Gay Games）了。同性戀運動會已有28年歷史，今年是第７屆。主辦單位芝加哥由來自65個國家的1萬2千多位運動員妝點的熱鬧非凡，成千上萬的觀眾更在15日湧進軍人球場（Soldier Field），觀賞燦爛煙火下4百位舞者及5百人合唱團演出的開幕典禮；這場為期8天的運動大會在上週六（22日）歡騰閉幕。 理所當然的，這場大會馬上受到同性戀工作者的密切關注：出版商、電台及電視頻道爭相報導這場同性戀界的年度盛事；同樣，地主兩家大報《芝加哥太陽報》及《芝加哥論壇報》亦是極盡所能地報導這個大事件。然而，不同於世足賽能夠輕易奪下每家大報版面，同性戀運動會的新聞卻鮮為人知。 刊載新聞的報紙少得可憐：肯塔基州《信使日報》（Louisville Courier-Jour-nal）報導過40位肯塔基及150位印地安納運動員的新聞；喬治亞州《可倫巴稽核報》（Columbus Ledger-Enquirer）則是轉刊《芝加哥論壇》的長篇報導；德州《沃斯堡星電訊報》（Fort Worth Star-Tele-gram）則刊出正面的消息，引用美聯社記者文章，指出這場運動會「就像世界該有的樣子一樣，同性戀可以到處牽手而不需感到羞恥。」同篇報導並為其他6家媒體採用；而令人驚訝的是，連恐同的《華盛頓時報》（Washington Times）也對這場運動會作了5段的報導文章，裡頭甚至沒有一絲貶低負面情緒。 老牌的美聯社也在開幕當天中規中矩地刊登一篇介紹大會歷史及與會運動員的正統文章，其後並將新聞釋出，讓其他報社轉刊使用，然而點進Google news網頁，你會發現只有不到30家媒體揀選了該文章：只有MSNBC及《堪薩斯星報》等選擇跟進，《舊金山紀事報》（San Francisco Chronicle）並為因將舉辦同性戀及非同性戀兩場運動會而話題延燒的蒙特婁作補充報導。然而，美聯社關於影集《白宮風雲》導演阿倫‧索金（Aaron Sorkin）對古柯鹼開的一個小笑話這條文章，倒是有上百家電子媒體搶著刊登。 縱使有前面幾家報社的報導，同性戀運動會卻無法吸引其他主流媒體，翻閱紐約、西雅圖各大報章雜誌，關於這場運動會大部分媒體都著墨甚少，就連大會官方贊助《紐約時報》也沒生出半篇報導文章。甚至連部份右翼基督團體對大會的「關照」都多於其3百多家贊助商中的媒體，讓該會的正面報導勢單力薄。 而那些反同團體自然不會幫敵人說好話：《生活新聞網》（LifeSiteNews）對於運動會的主要描述，在於芝加哥樞機主教法蘭西斯‧喬治（Francis George）如何聲明，自己絕非如彩虹帶行動組織（Rain-bow Sash Movement）所言的全力支持2006年的同性戀運動會。《AgapePress》則指出，伊利諾家庭研究所（Illinois Family Institute）正在企畫推動一個「愛與真實攻勢」，向同性戀呼告上帝將會拯救他們；保守政治家亞倫‧基斯（Alan Keyes）也在自己網站RenewAmerica上嘲諷，乾脆哪天也辦個奸夫淫婦運動會還是戀童癖運動會好了；《世界網路日報》（World Net Daily）也刊載了類似的反同諷刺文章。 所幸仍有其他正面的報導：喬治亞的《梅肯電訊報》（Macon Telegraph）對於新奇的同性雙人花式溜冰有所著墨，肯塔基《萊辛頓領導前鋒報》（Lexington Her-ald-Leader）對外國運動員與會的感想有深度報導，而密蘇里《堪城星報》（Kansas City Star）則寫下奧運跳水金牌得主葛雷格‧魯甘尼斯(Greg Louganis)為參加運動會與愛滋奮戰的故事。 大會在里格利廣場（Wrigley Field）隆重落幕，芝加哥市長理查德‧戴利（Richard M. Daley）與知名歌手辛蒂‧露波（Cyndi Lauper）都前來助陣，整場閉幕會像個炫麗繽紛的彩虹國度；但如此公開場合盛大場面卻也乏人問津。除了地主芝加哥3家大報盡了慣例的報導義務，以及CNN體育新聞SI、英國BBC以及《衛報》對大會有正面評價，其他報紙裡實在很難找到相關消息。 《AfterElton》指出，當他們向各大媒體體育新聞部門編輯反應漏報情形時，多數媒體都選擇不作回應。《波士頓通訊報》（Boston Herald）的喬‧湯瑪士（Joe Thomas）甚至還把Gay Games搞混成Day Games，雖然事後他對錯誤感到由衷抱歉，但卻同時也表示，根本不知道有同性戀運動會這回事。看看各大媒體的報導狀況，顯然湯瑪士多數的同業也都不知情。《丹佛郵報》（Denver Post）資深編輯助理霍夫曼（P. Hoffman）透露：「我們每天都有太多當地、全國性的、或是國際新聞要報，可惜版面有限，我們多年來一直對無法報導『友好運動會』（Goodwill Games）等活動感到遺憾。」 第7屆同性戀運動會副主席凱文‧博耶（Kevin Boyer）則不認為主流媒體報導篇幅不足：「我們有440段電視剪輯，主要日報也多少都有某些程度的報導。」但他卻沒提及，那些電視畫面幾乎都只在芝加哥地區播放；另外，丹佛氣象頻道的確是有提及運動員們如何與酷熱奮戰，但卻把「同性戀運動會」報成「芝加哥運動會」，全國性電視網ABC、NBC、CBS也完全沒有相關報導。很難想像，這場堪稱同性戀世運會的唯一全國性報導，竟出現在熱浪侵襲全美的氣象報導中。 從現實看來，同性戀運動會的確不像奧運、美式足球、或是NBA決賽一樣受美國人矚目；但在翻轉一般對男同性戀運動員必定較柔弱的刻板印象，它仍具其重要性。而就在贊助商美國最大連鎖藥局華爾格林（Walgreens）、食品飲料大廠納貝斯克（Kraft）及世界最著名的證券零售商美林證券（Merrill Lynch）都肯定活動的意義、並願意投入時間及物資的同時，大多數的媒體卻連最基本的消息報導都做不到，無論這是源於人力資源不足，抑或擔憂讀者反應所下的決策，在上週多數主流媒體都錯失了一條值得報導的好新聞。 （資料來源：http://www.afterelton.com/print/2006/7/gaygames.html） |
|
| （回目錄） | |
| 吾思吾師 找回教師熱情與尊嚴徵文比賽 | |
送舊迎新囉！迎接新的一年，讓我們滿懷感恩的心，感謝過去教導我們、使我們智慧增長的師長，用一千字以內的短文與大家分享溫馨感人的真人實事。全教會贊助入選者稿酬每字2元，來稿請以電子檔寄young@lihpao.co-m﹐附真實姓名﹑身份字號﹑銀行帳號。本報有權刪修來稿﹐來稿者視為同意本報集結出書時﹐不另支稿酬。 |
|
| （回目錄） | |
|
參觀立報： |
http://www.lihpao.com |
|
寫信給小編e-mail： |
fiveguys@ms19.hinet.net |
|
立報地址： |
台北縣新店市光復路43號 |
| 欲詳完整內容請訂閱立報 電話：02-86676655 傳真：02-82191213 訂報：02-86676655轉214 地址：台北縣新店市復興路43號1樓 每週一至週六出報，每份10元 |