Responding to critics who have accused the UFC of being an anti-gay organization, Dana White said on Thursday that if there were a gay fighter in the UFC he would prefer that he come forward and share that with everyone. The Culinary Union and other groups have sent letters to Fox and started petitions urging Fox to back out of their recently-signed agreement with the UFC. The union, along with another group that started a UFC website called “Unfit for Children,” are urging sponsors not to back the UFC. Those organizations believe White and the UFC have a “history of tolerating homophobic conduct,” which White insists is not the case.
“I’ll tell you right now, if there was a gay fighter in UFC, I wish he would come out,” White said. “I could care less if there’s a gay fighter in the UFC. There probably is and there’s probably more than one.”
Several instances led the organizations to believe the UFC supports anti-gay behavior. White had a rant years ago where he freely cussed out a writer. The UFC’s color commentator has called a female writer a cunt. You also had one of the organization’s fighters who said he did not want to face a gay man in the octagon. White tried to defend himself against the claims.
“If you guys look at all the stuff that I’ve said over the last 10 years — some of it stupid, some of it whatever — that’s the one that bothers me,” he explained. “That’s the only one that bothers me — the fact that these losers from the Culinary Union can go out and say that I’m a homophobe and things like that — because it’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
If White’s response to the union’s pressure is to say he would want a gay fighter to come out, then he’s missing the point. The point is that he and several other prominent members of the UFC have created an environment where certain people don’t feel welcome. That includes women and gays. Saying he would want a gay person to come out is nice, but he needs to show that the organization as a whole is not anti-gay and not misogynistic.
White proved that he still doesn’t understand the problem with stereotyping and how stereotypes can be offensive. When defending Minotauro Nogueira for saying he wouldn’t want to face a gay man, White ascribed Nogueira’s attitude to the macho Latino culture. Right, because White knows exactly how all Latinos feel. Someone needs to explain to him what stereotyping is and why it can be offensive because he clearly does not understand.
