Gay in the NFL: Michael Sam comes out

When the NFL opens the 2014 season, “something will be different,” said Ben Jacobs in TheDailyBeast.com. “At least one player will be openly gay.” With the NFL draft approaching, University of Missouri defensive end Michael Sam publicly revealed this week that he’s gay, saying, “I just want to own my truth.” The SEC’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Sam came out to his teammates and coaches prior to the 2013 season, then led the Tigers to a 12–2 record and No. 5 national ranking. Sam’s historic announcement took real courage: In the hypermacho world of the NFL, no current player has ever come out, and if he’s drafted as expected, “he will become the first openly gay player in a major American team sport.”

Sam has a real fight ahead of him, said -Ta-Nehisi Coates in TheAtlantic.com. One unnamed NFL player personnel official said after Sam’s announcement that the league isn’t “ready” for an openly gay player, noting that gay slurs are commonplace in locker rooms, and that “it’s still a man’s-man game.” In other words, “faggots don’t play football.” Like the first black and women soldiers and black baseball players, Sam will be playing not just for himself, “but in some sense, for his people.” Predictably, some coaches and players have grumbled about showering in front of a gay player, said Frank Bruni in The New York Times.Straight dudes, relax: Chances are, a gay guy has already seen you naked in a locker room without you knowing it, and “he wasn’t beaming special gay--conversion gamma rays at you.”

It no longer matters whether the NFL is “ready” for a gay player, said Frida Ghitis in CNN.com. “The country is in the midst of a fundamental social shift,” with a majority of Americans now supporting equal rights for homosexuals and gay marriage. This acceptance has occurred with astonishing quickness, and was unthinkable 15 years ago. Sam will break down yet another wall of prejudice, as millions of fans see a hard-nosed, muscle-bound lineman who happens to be gay. On and off the field, Sam will be watched closely, said Juliet Macur in The New York Times, and “he will have to work harder to prove his worth.” But the reaction of the NFL, its players, and its fans will be judged, too. “It’s time to move forward.”

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