Will likely be the first openly gay player in the NFL. Kudos to the guy, takes some major balls to make it public, considering the idiot Incognitos of the league. I hate Mizzou, but props to that team as well - kept it under wraps all season apparently.
Thoughts? Is this as big a deal as everyone's making of it?
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From reading the articles he told the whole team before the season started, so you're right, kind of amazing that it took this long to come out (no pun intended?).
I hate to say it but he probably cost himself a lot of money (football wise, at least) by doing this. There is no doubt in my mind that certain teams have already taken them off their board completely, while others have dropped him down.
Anyways, good for him and Mizzou.
Dude gave up perhaps some money options (team selection) in the short term but gets a place in history....money can't buy that. With interviews and endorsements, he'll likely have more financial options than if he stayed in the closet. He'll also be happier, and hopefully serve as an inspiration to others that are still in the closet.
Just curious, why do people use the term "in the closet"? What does that even mean?
It first was originally just a phrase of "coming out" but rather "coming out into" the gay society. The inspiration for this came from the French Debutante where a young girl would make her debut presentation into society, which was supposed to indicate that she was ready for marriage. The "closet" part of the phrase was later added from the phrase "skeletons in the closet," with all of the denial and secrecy that were a part of homosexual life.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9butante http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_out#Sociolinguistic_origin
I think that the term is dying out, as there is less shame (or so it seems) in being gay.
I doubt this effects his draft status at all.
Agreed I don't think it'll hurt draft status that much. The good thing is, he had the guts to do something that will help guys 5-10 years, heck, even one year down the road.
It's the same as the military, the people who don't like it will have to get over it. Your team/platoon just wants to know that you can do your job.
My issue with this is by him coming out and Gossiptv (ESPN) covering it so much it makes "unnormal." Which the opposite of what gay people want. They want to be treated just like everyone, so news like this really shouldn't be that big of a deal. So I think the media needs to change the way they portray these type of things if they ever really want to help the gay community truly advance.
I feel the same way, and I'm guessing you are living in a fairly metropolitan area where being gay isn't headline news. Unfortunately, a lot of the United States (and the rest of the world) is still very hesitant to embrace equal treatment for gay people. In certain pockets of our culture (the NFL being a prime example), being openly gay is highly irregular and not wholly tolerated by the players and fans of the sport.
You would think so right? But the fact of the matter is, we still live in a heteronormative society. There are very few gay people out there (at least those who have come out, somewhere around 5% of the population I believe), so we are still miles away from the majority thinking that being gay is normal or that coming out is normal.
You say you think the media shouldn't cover these coming out stories so much, but think of the impact that each one of these stories has. Maybe having Michael come out inspires that high school basketball player to come out to his team so that he can get that burden off his chest, know that his team accepts him for who he is, and will base his worth on his skills on the court and not who he is attracted to.
The more professional athletes, artists, celebrities, military people, and famous people come out, the more normal people can be inspired to do the same.
And like hankyfootball said, there are still a huge amount of opposition and stigma against gay people, hence why there are still 33 states where gay marriage is illegal. And especially with a hypermasculine atmosphere like professional men's sports, coming out within that space is still a big deal.
I don't think it'll really impact his draft status much, if at all. If he had been a projected first/second rounder then I could see it having an effect, but since he's projected as a later round choice he's not exactly a high risk pick.
He's probably not going to have a hard time in the locker room either. Production and work ethic are much more important to these guys than anything else. No one is going to stop throwing around gay slurs in the locker room, but I doubt he really expects that from his teammates.
@bfin - long term, yes. In the short term, yeah there's going to be a media circus. The first transocean flight was a huge deal....now, later on, it's normal. Ten years from now, no one is going to care when a a football player comes out.
This guy is the first and hell yeah he's going to cash in on this
I'm betting against the Dolphins drafting him.
As a side note, in classical antiquity a differentiation was made between "masculinity" and "sexual preferance". The gods, champions, and heros doinked pretty much whoever they damn well pleased and no one batted an eye, and I'm pretty sure that the citizens of the era did so as well. Being 'masculine' was defined in terms of one's physical and mental prowess, their passion, and their power...and not much at all linked to one's preferance for bed mate. For sure, most people likely weren't gay, any more than they are now, but they just didn't see the two as related.
Even the Native Americans didn't really have a problem with it. They thought it a bit odd and maybe didn't really understand it, but there aren't many instances of a recorded taboo. Just throwing this into the mix, I spent a lot of time studying ancient cultures as a student.
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