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Emile Griffith finally admits that he is gay............he feels that he has been in jail most of his life because he could not be open about is sexuality........most of us assumed that he was gay, but he finally admits the truth for all to hear..........being a great fighter............how do you guys feel about his admission.???????.........
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is this news????
i mean the guy always kept in the closet but he never really denied it, but it was obvious
i heard a story how he got beat up after coming out of a gay barComment
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it goes all the way back to his 3rd fight with Benny Paret where Paret during the weight-in called Emile a ******t (in spanish, but Emile new what it meant).Comment
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He's admitted it a few times now (personally I don't care).
Here is the likely source:
http://www.boxing confidential.com/articles.php?id=4683
Emile Griffith Tumbles Out Of Closet (Again) But Was MIA In Gay Revolution!
Michael Marley
6/2/2008
“Hey, shortstop.”
That’s what one of the names Emile Griffith uses when he forgets your real name.
It’s no secret that the great fighter’s brain has been addled by all the punches he took during his glorious career.
I know Griffith very well and I really enjoyed being around him back when I was doing publicity for heavyweight champ James “Bonecrusher” Smith and he was the trainer. Griffith was then mentally alert and his happy-go-luck personality shone like a beacon of light every place he went.
I also knew, as did everyone else in boxing, that Griffith was and is ****sexual. Griffith was a regular in gay and transvestite bars in Manhattan. It was hardly a secret but boxing people kept it internal.
Behind his strong back, some made jokes at Griffith’s expense. I remember when idiot savant Don Elbaum half jokingly proposed taking some ordinary white heavyweight boxer (this was in the 1970s) and having the fighter pretend to be a gay person.
“I’ll give him a purple robe, we’ll say he lives in Greenwich Village and all that,” Elbaum said. “Can you imagine the tickets he’d sell with one faction being the gays and the other being the gay haters?”
To tell the truth, we didn’t use the term “gay” then. Boxing guys, including me, would refer to men who love men as “****” or “fairies” or “butt pirates.”
Enlightened we weren’t. Those were the least offensive names we used.
This was roughly around the time of the gay revolution, which had its Lexington/Concord battle in the Village. One hot summer night--June 28, 1969 to be exact--cops routed all the patrons at the Stonewall bar and, for a change, ****sexuals fought back. Thus was born a liberation movement which continues in 2008 with enlightened states Massachusetts and California permitting gay marriages.
So now a fellow named Rick Ross has a book out about Griffith. I have not read it but the selling point is obviously not that Griffith was a greater fighter than, let’s say, Sugar Ray Leonard (which he was) but that Griffith spent his boxing career in the closet.
So now, to make some desperately needed money, Emile comes tumbling out of the closet. He did it in Dan Klores’ documentary a couple of years ago.
It’s nothing new. It has zero to do with his esteemed Hall Of Fame boxing status.
If Griffith is now reporting for duty to fight for gay rights, he’s about 39 years too late.
Sorry, Champ. That fight, that battle, that war is over.
Gays and lesbians have, for the most part, become an integral part of American life.
****sexuals won their war. As far as your role in it, you can only be marked as MIA, missing in action.
Griffith is gay, so what? Benny “Kid” Paret slurred him, calling him a “maricon” before their fatal bout on March 24, 1962.
Hey, shortstop, nobody’s mad at you. It’s just the way it is.
When the shots were fired, you were stuck in that closet.
You had plenty of company.Comment
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Does it really matter? He was a great fighter, I see him all the time at the fights around N.Y.C. amateur's and pro.'s. A great guy, he's age and life is catching up to him but still... He's Emile ****in' Griffith. I do think it's kinda sad you would even post something like this. Just my opinion.Comment
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I've known for a while.
Don't you also find it funny that he was so angered about the "maricon" statement?
A straight man would have got wound up, then let it slide.
Anyone who takes it too personally is hiding something IMO.
Makes no difference to the fact that he was a great fighter, and takes nothing away from the fact that I heard he was actually a very nice guy if you were fortunate enough to meet him.
The whole gay thing is overplayed anyway, it makes absolutely no difference.Comment
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