I bet a lot of us remember at least one moment in our lives when we feel like an outcast. Whether it was your friends or a group of your classmates, I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been there at some point. Tears were probably shed, and I guarantee there was a split second where you thought you were just different from the people around you. Process these past painful memories, and then think about how it would feel to have these thoughts everyday of your life. I’ll venture to say there isn’t anyone who would jump at the prospects of such a situation.
In the sports world, it’s borderline ridiculous how the public, as well as the national media, single out those men or women who are brave enough to come out as gay in today’s ultra-critical landscape. A small amount of coverage from the media or a few cynical judgments from fans is one thing, but the bulk of airtime that has focused on the possibility of there being a gay male in professional sports is beyond over-the-top. As mentioned earlier, nobody wants to be singled out for being the person who he or she truly is, and unfortunately it has gotten to the point where this happens. These athletes, just like their straight counterparts, have the same goals and aspirations, which are to help whatever team they are on to win games.
As people ponder the possible reasons why those who are gay in professional sports choose not to come out during their playing careers, but rather wait until they are retired, or even in some cases never do so publicly, I believe the answer is one word: comfort. Take for instance now-retired National Football League player Kwame Harris, who played six seasons in the NFL. When asked how it affected him to have to keep his sexuality a secret for his career, he responded by saying, “You want to escape the despair and turmoil and your mind goes to dark places.”
Why are players like Harris so afraid of opening up about their true selves that they would rather suffer for years? That would be because they are afraid of becoming a bigger story than the teams for which they play. This past summer Michael Sam found this out the hard way, as he was under constant surveillance wherever he went. Sam finished the 2013-14 college football season as the Co-Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC with Alabama’s CJ Mosley, and according to ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr., he was a projected 3rd or 4th round pick going into the draft. However, soon after Sam made his announcement to the world, the national media, particularly ESPN, pounced at the opportunity to belabor the point to the American public that Sam could make history.
Everyday it seemed as if there was another special on TV detailing what Sam’s addition to the NFL would mean for the league as a whole and how his teammates would respond to having him as a member of their team. Eventually, all of the attention Sam got might have been too much distraction for him, as he performed poorly at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, moving his draft stock down considerably. Eventually he wound up being picked in the 7th (and last) round of the draft by the St. Louis Rams, who would cut him just a couple of months later. Sam today resides on the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad and seeks to try and prove he can be more than a media disturbance for whatever team he joins. In just a little over half a year, Sam went from being on top of the SEC mountain to one step away from not having a job.
If you ran an NFL team, would you want to constantly deal with questions about the status of Sam every day going forward? What the media does to gay males and females is unfair and wrong. They jeopardize the status of these athletes’ careers by drawing too much attention to them, when in reality, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. When polled about what it would mean to them to have a homosexual teammate, the majority of NFL players commented it would be little to no complication at all. It seems the people who care the most about this, the media and the fans, are the ones who need to take a step back and really examine what their constant persistence does to some of their fellow human beings that just happen to be gay.
If you want to see a disturbing depiction of society, go to ESPN’s website and look up an article about any male or female gay athlete and then scroll down to the comments section. What you see there will let you know all you need about where we are in this country in terms of tolerance. Unfortunately, it is not a very favorable position. If things don’t change going forward, more and more individuals will have to feel like Harris did or be afraid to bear the scrutiny that Sam had to, and at the end of the day, that is just heartbreaking.
