Tag: openly gay

Posted on

Former Dallas Cowboys’ Greg Ellis worries about Michael Sam patting NFL players’ butt

Former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Ellis (on top)

Former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Ellis spoke with ESPN radio on Tuesday and offered his opinions about recently out/SEC Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam joining the NFL.

Transcript of Ellis:

On what his team’s reaction would be to Michael Sam when he was playing:

“I think it would be totally different than what it is right now. I think those years made a lot of difference in the current day NFL. But still, a universal rule in my opinion is that it’s going to affect the football team. I don’t care how we look at this, it’s going to affect the football team. And one of the biggest reasons why it’s going to affect the football team, he’s not a proven player.

“Teams and guys have a lot of tendency to accept a lot of things if they feel like, ‘Nobody done like him, but nobody can do what he can do.’ If it’s your quarterback and he’s playing like Peyton Manning you’re going to have find a way to say, ‘We’re going to overlook that because we’re trying to win football games.’ But when you’re coming in as an unproven rookie, you won’t have that card to pull because you’re unproven. He has to be careful. He has to come in, close his mouth. It should’ve never came out. I know half the people will say, ‘Why not?’ Because it hurts his opportunity to be welcome into a football club.”

On what Sam first needs to do when he goes to a team:

“If he can make it through that first initial wave. If he can get out there — he doesn’t need to say anything. He needs go in there, close his mouth and play football to let the guys know that, ‘Hey if you guys give me a chance to welcome me into this fraternity of this football team, I can contribute and help us win football games.’ That’s going to be his best approach in my opinion.

“Because the little things you have to look at. If he pats somebody on the butt — I hope ESPN don’t get mad and never have me back — but if he pats somebody on the butt, how is that to be received? If he does that how is that to be received? If he said, ‘Come on baby’? I called guys baby all the time on the football field, but when you have taken a stand and went and go public and say that, ‘I am gay,’ how is that going to be received? I’ve seen guys, I had guys on the Dallas Cowboys football team — I won’t mention names — who did not want you to pat them on their butt. So God forbid if you pat one of those guys on the butt it’s going to be a major problem.”

On if he would’ve been uncomfortable with playing with a gay player:

“I would. I would. People who’ve never been in an NFL shower room, not just locker room, it’s a open room. We don’t have private curtains. It’s just an open-form shower, so everybody sees each in the nude.

“Well if you’re looking at men as if you’re looking at women or vice versa, how are those guys to receive that? I don’t know. I don’t know how they will receive that. But I do know it would be a situation where I would go to the coach and try to work something out to say, ‘Obviously this is going to be a problem. What can we do? The kid can help us play, can help us win football games. We need him on the team. But this situation right here, we need to do something.’ ”

Posted on

NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley speaks in support of gay athletes

In a satellite interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, the NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley spoke out in support of recently out football player Michael Sam and gay rights in general, saying:

“I think it’s an insult to gay people to think that they are going to be looking at their teammates in a sexual way. That’s an insult to all gay men. And we welcome them to the locker room, and I wish Mr. Sam the best.”

Barkley added that he thinks gays and lesbians deserve the same rights as all Americans.

Barkley has a history of speaking up for the LGBT community. In 2011, Barkley referenced Martin Luther King Jr. on the subject of gay discrimination, saying, “His daughter [Rev. Bernice King] said something that was very interesting. People try to make it about black and white. [But MLK] talked about equality for every man, every woman. We have a thing going on now, people discriminating against homosexuality in this country. I love the homosexuality people. God bless the gay people. They are great people.”

Posted on

ESPN survey: 86% of NFL players say sexual orientation doesn’t matter

ESPN surveys active NFL players about the prospect of having an openly gay player on their team

ESPN conducted an anonymous survey last week of 51 active NFL players asking four questions regarding the possibility of an openly gay player being drafted and playing in the league.

Fifty-one players, almost an entire team roster, responded to four true-false questions. Although the survey showed that most players aren’t concerned with another’s sexual orientation, it also made clear the concerns that players would have with learning how to relate to an openly gay teammate.

Forty-four players said a teammate’s sexual orientation didn’t matter to them, and 39 said they would be comfortable showering around a gay teammate. But 32 players said they had teammates or coaches who used homophobic slurs last season, and when asked whether an openly gay player would be comfortable in a NFL locker room, just 25 players said yes; 21 said no, while five declined to answer.

University of Missouri’s Michael Sam came out last week amid much fanfare as he’s expected to be drafted in the third to fifth rounds this coming May. He was SEC co-Defensive Player of the Year and led his conference in tackles and sacks.

Posted on

University of Missouri students give Michael Sam standing ovation

Photo via YouTube

Returning to his alma mater with his football team mates to accept the 2104 Cotton Bowl Trophy, newly out football player and SEC Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam received a standing ovation from the crowd at the Mizzou vs. Tennessee basketball game halftime.

Of course, Westboro Baptist Church felt the need to show up to protest Michael Sam’s return. But hundreds of students formed a “silent wall” to block Westboro as they publicly called Sam a “filthy pervert.”

Via Instagram

Via Michael Sam Twitter

Via YouTube

(via Buzzfeed)

Posted on

New York Giants Terrell Thomas: America is ready for gay player; NFL is not

In an interview with ESPN, New York Giants corner back Terrell Thomas said that he was “unsure” about the prospects of an openly gay player in the NFL:

“I think society is ready for it and America’s ready for it, but I don’t think the NFL is,” Thomas said. “As a player, all you want to know is if he can play. That’s on the field. But in the locker room, it’s different. There’s a lot of talk and joking around, and some guys walk around completely naked all the time, and they might not want to do that anymore. When you add that situation to the mix, I think it’s going to make some people uncomfortable.”

Thomas told ESPN that because of his “personal views as a Christian,” he was uncertain about how he felt on the issue personally.

When asked why an NFL locker room environment might find it difficult to cope with an openly gay player when the University of Missouri team accepted Michael Sam, Thomas said it was “different”:

“I just think it’s different when you put him in an NFL locker room with a bunch of grown men, the way we are around each other, and with people who don’t already know him.

“Their locker room accepted him, but at the same time, their locker room knew him before he came out. If he would have said it after his second year in the league, things might be different. But to come in as a rookie who nobody knows and have this be the big story, that could make it tough for some people to handle.

Posted on

Jonathan Vilma of the New Orleans Saints talks to Anderson 360 about coming out of college footbal star Michael Sam

Ok, I’ll give Jonathan Vilma this – he stepped up to this interview, answered the questions, and apologized for his inartful wording of a few weeks ago when he said he wouldn’t know what to do should he find himself showering with an openly gay player.

Last month, the New Orleans linebacker said of a hypothetical openly gay NFL player:

“I think he would not be accepted as much as we think he would be accepted. I don’t want people to just naturally assume, oh, we’re all homophobic. That’s really not the case. Imagine if he’s the guy next to me, and you know, I get dressed, naked, taking a shower, the whole nine, and it just so happens he looks at me, how am I supposed to respond?”

All this from the man who once tweeted: “Grown men should NOT have female tendencies. Period.”

Today, Vilma sees things in a different light.  Today Vilma says, “As long as he can play football, I’m A-OK with it,” he said “It doesn’t bother me at all.”

All that aside, perhaps tonight Vilma sees the writing on the wall.  Maybe he sees that Michael Sam, named Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC, voted “most valuable player” by his teammates, who helped lead his team to 12-2 and the Cotton Bowl title, can be a productive player in the NFL.

As the saying goes – “If you can play, you can play.”

As always, great to see NFL kicker Chris Kluwe add the voice of reason and reality to the discussion. He’s been there, he’s seen what happens in the locker room on this subject and he’s still “in it” as an ally for the LGBT community.

I’m hoping to see him back on the field next season doing what he does well in the NFL.

Posted on

Quote of the day: Frank Bruni on gays in the locker room

Frank Bruni, writing an op-ed for the New York Times today, calls out the truth about gays in the locker room:

A news flash for every straight man out there: You’ve been naked in front of a gay man.

In fact you’ve been naked, over the course of your life, in front of many gay men, at least if you have more than a few years on you. And here you are — uninjured, uncorrupted, intact. The earth still spins. The sun rises and sets.

Maybe it was in gym class, long ago. Maybe at the health club more recently. Or maybe when you played sports at the high school level, the college level, later on. Whether we gay guys are one in 10 or one in 25, it’s a matter of chance: At some point, one of us was within eyeshot when you stripped down.

And you know what? He probably wasn’t checking you out. He certainly wasn’t beaming special gay-conversion gamma rays at you. That’s why you weren’t aware of his presence and didn’t immediately go out and buy a more expensive moisturizer and a disc of Judy Garland’s greatest hits. His purpose mirrored yours. He was changing clothes and showering. It’s a locker room, for heaven’s sake. Not last call at the Rawhide.

Addressing the coming out of University of Missouri All-American football player Michael Sam, Bruni goes on to dissect possible anxiety over having the “distraction” of an openly gay player in the NFL.

Responding to one anonymous NFL assistant coach who claimed “There’s nothing more sensitive than the heartbeat of the locker room,” Bruni wonders aloud – “When did the locker room become such a delicate ecosystem? Is it inhabited by athletes or orchids?”

Go read the full essay by Bruni at NYTimes.com

Posted on

Billie Jean King will not be attending Sochi Olympics due to family health emergency

Billie Jean King, one of three openly gay athletes invited as the US delegation to the Sochi Olympics, will not be attending the Opening Ceremonies due to her mother’s health, the AP reports.

Said King in a statement: “It is important for me to be with my mother and my brother at this difficult time. I want to thank President Obama for including me in this historic mission and I look forward to supporting our athletes as they compete in Sochi.”

It’s unclear if King will be able to attend the Olympics at all.