Week 12 - Gays in the NFL

Article 12

"Gay and lesbian couples want to marry for similar reasons as we all do: love and commitment.  It's time to allow them the opportunity to build a family though marriage. It's a matter of fairness." - Brendon Ayanbadejo

Just three short sentences have caused an uproar in millions of fans of the Baltimore Ravens and many others. Just one video caused social media platforms to erupt with speculation of the NFL linebackers sexuality.  While attitudes are changing, that change has not been felt in the locker room in American professional sports, including in the NFL. Fujita said that more NFL players might be as accepting as he and Ayanbadejo, but reporters who cover sports rarely venture beyond asking questions about the game.  It seems hard for me to believe that an openly gay NFL player would be accepted by teammates, even in the 21st century, but some people think it would be okay.  "It would be tough for a gay person just to feel comfortable in the locker room about coming out, because there are so many jokes," said Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson. "But maybe there will be one, one day, someone who's brave enough to do so. If someone could deal with that and say, 'You know I don't care, I'm here to play football, this is my own deal,' then more power to them."

In class we discussed things like the Queer Theory and the Queer of Color Theory, where people who are different than the social "norm" are considered to be deviant.  If there were people who were be openly gay in  pro sports, the idea that athletes are the most masculine men would be questioned and, in turn, athleticism would be questioned.  I hope that more people like Jet RB Tomlinson make it public how they feel and more players would be able to share with the world how they really feel.