Is Troy Aikman gay?
It’s been one of OutSports’ most-asked questions about Aikman for years. The questions stem from Skip Bayless’ book, in which he speculated that Aikman might be gay.
In 2015, Sports Illustratedof Richard Deitch asked Aikman about the story that has followed him for more than 25 years..
Aikman went on the offensive.
“I’m upset about this because it was fabricated and nothing that was insinuated was accurate and he did this just for attention, as he always does,” Aikman said of his nemesis Bayless and the question.
“I’m more upset because I probably should have responded at the time. The advice to me was, ‘Hey, don’t say anything about it. It’s not worth it. It’s pointless. It’s stupid. It’ll just make people keep talking about his book.’ So I didn’t.
“But maybe I would have reacted differently and things would have been different. Maybe they wouldn’t have been different. But it’s ridiculous and, yes, it bothers me. If that’s the lifestyle people choose, then fine. It doesn’t affect me in any way. But it’s not my lifestyle.”
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“A lifestyle that people choose.”
This is the mantra that has been preached by many anti-gay people for generations: that we are all the same and that some people simply choose to have same-sex relationships.
But the flip side that they don’t consider is that it means other people – some of whom are gay – simply choose not to have same-sex relationships.
Aikman said that while other people “choose” to live that lifestyle, it’s not a “lifestyle” he chose for himself.
That “choice” was also played out in the TLC show “My Husband Isn’t Gay,” which aired in early 2015. The show featured four men who are attracted to other men, one of whom said that nine times out of 10, he is more attracted to men than women. However, all four men have dated women, and three of them are married. Whether you call this “gay” or “same-sex,” these men are gay and in relationships with straight people.
Aikman says it’s simply a lifestyle choice: what area to live in, what car to drive or where to go on vacation.
But Aikman said: He would choose to have Taylor Swift appear on Monday Night FootballApparently he’s a Swifty.
We don’t know who or what Aikman is attracted to, but we’ll just have to take him at his word when he says that the gender of who he dates is simply a choice: he’s made a conscious decision not to date men, and while he may want to, he’s chosen to date women instead.
If gay men simply “choose” to date men, then gay men like the TLC star and presumably Aikman also simply “choose” to date women.
Either way, I actually feel sorry for the guy – he either had to live with people’s assumptions that he was something he wasn’t, or he felt he had to bury his true self in order to become a big TV star.
Incidentally, while some may feel sorry for Aikman, he has also sparked speculation about Bayless’ sexual orientation, and he should remember this: what goes in one direction goes in another.
Is Troy Aikman gay? I don’t know. Nobody knows except Aikman himself. According to his own words, he may be gay. The fact that he chose to date and marry a woman means that it is simply his choice. We still don’t know what his true sexual orientation is.
Either way, he’ll likely still be on ESPN this season calling Monday Night Football games alongside Joe Buck.
An earlier version of this article originally appeared on Outsports in January 2015. It has since been updated.
Source: Outsports – www.outsports.com
