Author: Kim Oclon
LGBTQ+ Representation: Both point-of-view characters are gay
Content Warning: Homophobic bullying
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): David never thought his sexuality would get in the way of playing on the high school varsity baseball team and earning a college scholarship. But when his coach suspects David is gay and confronts him, and the team bully begins targeting David and his boyfriend, Tyler, and David's best friend reacts by becoming angry at David, David experiences homophobia in sports and school like he never has before. Will he be able to man up?
What I think (some spoilers ahead. Not everything spoilered, though): My jaw about hit the floor when, towards the very beginning of the story, David's coach brings him into the office, alone, and asks him if he's "a homosexual" and tells him parents have been calling who "don't want their play ball with a queer" (pg. 22).
WHAT??? There are so many things wrong with the coach's behavior I don't even know where to start. First of all, NONE of the coach's business. Secondly, he should NOT have told David what the parents had said!! Also--why would you ask a student that? A minor? Alone??? The coach even implies that if David IS gay that he shouldn't play because, you know, that would be a distraction.
David is not my child, he's not even real, but the Mama Bear in me wants to go burn down the school ANYWAY. (David's dad's reaction to finding out about the coach's "talk" is about how I'd react, honestly.)
I wish I could say that I think the coach's behavior is unrealistic, but I can't. I know that adults and coaches and teachers act this way. It makes me furious, in case I haven't made that clear enough.
For that matter, as I get older, I find out that more people have internalized homophobia than I had thought. The most common theme I am finding is that people are fine with LGBTQ+, post memes, and even advocate for the community--but if they find out someone they know, or one of their children or family members is LGBTQ+--well, suddenly it's not okay. Like the homophobic version of a white person saying, "There's nothing wrong with interracial marriages, but I wouldn't want MY daughter to marry a BLACK man."
Anyway, back to the book. I swear I am writing about Man Up.
The book is written from the duel points-of-view of David and Tyler, although David seems to have more chapters. I would have liked to read more from Tyler's viewpoint; he runs track and I think it would have been interesting to see how the track coach handles bullying, kind of the like the two coaches in Rainbow High.
After some misunderstandings with Tyler and some violence from the baseball team bully (who was awful and had an awful dad,) David gains the courage to come out to the team. I was still not impressed with the baseball coach at that point (he cares more about winning his baseball games than the emotional and physical health of his students, which is WRONG), but at least he does not placate the homophobic bully's dad by finding a reason to remove David. The very least he could do.
David goes through some hard times but has supportive parents and also finds sources of support at school. The high school in the book has a support group called SAFE (Suuport and Acceptance for Freedom of Expression), which is simliar to GSA (Gay-Straight or Gender-sexuality Alliance) in many schools; although I found G-SAFE organization which serves Wisconsin, I think the SAFE in the book is more like a GSA since it takes place in Illinois. So props to the teacher in the story for sponsoring SAFE, since the school clearly needed one.
The book's ending is okay, but I would have liked to read more.
Homophobia in Sports: I was a drama nerd in high school who never went to or participated in sporting events. We were the proud, artistic misfits of the school who secretly thought that the athletes, with their popularity and perfect hair (why did they always have perfect hair?), had no problems at all.
I didn't even know homophobia was so prevalent in sports until I reviewed Out of the Pocket a couple years ago.
To quote myself from back then about my relationships with the sports-balls:
Here are two cartoons that accurately describe my relationship with sports (with the exception of the local youth soccer my son plays).And also, some of the 2018 homophobia in sports articles I found during my research:
What the heck?? This is 2018, not 1958! With everything that has happened, society SHOULD be farther along. Why are stories like these still in the news?
It's getting better; there are supportive organizations now; people are trying. But in my ignorance of all things sports, I had no idea that homophobia was so still so rampant in professional sports.
I am now not quite so naive about homophobia in sports, but I was hoping to find articles from 2020 that shows sports people are not as homophobic anymore. I mean, we're in the middle of a worldwide pandemic--surely they've gotten over all that?
Well, this 2019 article from Outsports reports that not much has changed in the last couple of years.
The "trendy" homophobic thing seems to be trying to make trans atheles (mostly transwomen) can only play on sports teams as the gender they were assigned at birth.
The trans athlete fight is one I have to keep up with since I have a transgender son who is very athletic. He's played on community boys' soccer teams for years and would not be comfortable playing on a girls' team. Why would he? He's always been a boy to everyone. I'm glad there are soccer players like Henry Bethell in this article working to change the casual homophobia in soccer.
I just followed several accounts on Twitter to remind me to keep up with the sports stuff! I have a couple years before my kid enters middle school so I need to know what is happening legally.
My final takeaway (in 75 words or fewer): David grows and changes as a character throughout the book, and as a writing teacher, I appreciate that the story ends at a resolution of his character's "arc." However, I would really like to learn more about what happens to everyone. I want more! I would even read some baseball stuff that I don't understand.
Join me in convincing Oclon to write a companion book or short story from Tyler's POV. Prom, perhaps???
Memorable quotes/passages from the book:
- “'Why?' I asked, talking to Tyler in a way I never had before. 'Because we don’t hear about little f*****s getting beat up on their way home from school or walking in the hallway?' Tyler winced. 'Because everything is just f*****g perfect?'” (pg. 35, advanced reader copy).
- "Since I typically didn’t get such a high from a PE class victory, I had to assume that I was still flying from seventh period when I talked to Allie. It was like the secret was slowly eating at me but I didn’t even know it" (pg. 103).
- "Coming out was a never-ending process. Something you always had to do. I was out at my old school. And then I came to Lincoln, I had to do it all over again. When I went off to U of I in the fall, it would be the same thing. If it mattered so much, it would be nice if it was the norm when introducing yourself to also state your sexual orientation. Like telling someone where you were from" (pg. 157).
- "I wished I had time to plan for this. To prepare for it. But how? Like a speech for class and print out articles about the gay NFL player or about the major league players who said baseball was ready for an out and proud teammate? Maybe the major leagues were, but I wasn’t so sure about Lincoln High School" (pg. 173).
If you liked this book, you should read Openly Straight, Out of the Pocket, and Social Intercourse.
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