Well, the day has finally come ... or nearly. Wednesday night's article from The Bleacher Report revealed that one of the last closet doors in professional sports was almost opened and then closed shut, rock solid. The NFL, which estimates to have hundreds of gay players, is not "ready" to have its Jason Collins, its Branch Rickey, its Jackie Robinson. Uhhh, excuse me? #rude.
Not ready? For what? For a human being, talented and capable, to be himself while being an NFL player. That's like telling Tom Brady, "hey don't tell us you have a child, and hey don't tell us you have a girlfriend, we aren't ready to hear that." Sounds ridiculous, absurd and discriminatory right? Well that is what NFL owners and league officials are basically insinuating as they aren't ready for the Collins-esk media attention for the first openly gay player in the NFL.
Hundreds?! That means nearly 10% or more of NFL players are gay. That means 200-300 players are in the closet, hiding and probably suffering incredible amounts due to a few people's uncomfort with gay players. Some estimates say that the NFL is two-three YEARS away from having its first openly gay athlete. HELLO?! Are we in medieval times? Even if the NFL wanted that to be the timeline, there is no way that bigots can halt progress and equality.
"I don't do the gay guys, man. I don't do that. Got no gay people on the team. They gotta get up outta here if they do," said 49ers defensive back Chris Culliver. Well a*%$^hole, how about you learn to speak English first before discriminating against other players. No wonder a gay players want to hide - if this is the attitude in team locker rooms, who would be brave enough to step up and say, "I'm gay."
We need to tell the NFL we are ready. Sports is ready and the world is ready for the league's first openly gay player. Enough is enough, the closet door needs to be bashed down once and for all. How much longer can we tolerate exclusion and hate? Human rights are not something we can stand to ignore.
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