Comments on: Is the NFL ready for a gay player?

By: CubPaws

CubPaws — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:24:29 +0000

The sport is MORE than ready for an out gay man. Yes, hatred and violence are very real and very tragic possibilities – but the first openly gay active NFL player will give 150% instead of 110%, just to overcome these – and he’ll kick some serious ass in the process.

Never underestimate a person who’s got something to prove.

By: Randy Boyd

Randy Boyd — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:20:54 +0000

Ready or not, it’s just a matter of time before every single pro sport has openly gay and bisexual men. It’s call the progression of humankind.

Ready or not, it’s just a matter of time before every state in the union legalizes same-sex marriage. It’s call the progression of humankind.

Here’s to that better day.

By: Dan Glenn

Dan Glenn — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:23:53 +0000

I think that the unarticulated fear with having a known gay man in the shower room is that the speaker will be emasculated by the preditory stare of the another man, much like the speakers stare upon a woman positions him as the preditor, so another man’s stare would impose upon him the castrated position of the female, the usual prey. Such a man is a masogynist and is unconfortable in situations that deviate from ‘traditional’ male and female rolls of aggression and submission.

By: Cyd Zeigler jr.

Cyd Zeigler jr. — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:47:20 +0000

I actually hate this question. Whether a sport is “ready” for change is completely irrelevant. Society is rarely “ready” for change, even when change is just. All that matters is whether one person is “ready” for that change and he alone will affect it. Roger Goodell and team owners and players are irrelevant: It’s all up to that one man.

By: RK

RK — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:20:37 +0000

It is strange in a era when we debate Gay rights and equality, including the right to marry, there is this debate about sports. It seems we are attempting to jump over the lake rather than swim across it. As we fight for our rights, there are still so many cliches and stereotypes that are inbedded in American society regarding Gay men. How can someone be so ignorant and such a fool as to say it is the same as “having a girl on the team?” The assumption of course is one which all Gay men are assumed to be effeminate, yet we know this is far from the case. It is time for closeted college and professional sports gay men to act like men and stop hiding in the closet. There should be no more patience for this type of accepted attitude on the behalf of the Gay community. Coming out after you retire is a cop out and a joke. As we battle for our rights, we are continuously demonized, effeminized, and dehumanized by that kind of attitude described above. The best way to gain our rights is to stop hiding in the closet, and lead by example. These players do a disservice to themselves basically acknowledging their shame in who they are in being Gay. They deprive other Gay men in high school, college athletics, and in general a role models and a sense of pride. Honestly, if you look at the mainstream media we are rarely potrayed honestly, yet alone actually shown to exist. It is time to stop making excuses for these scared little boys and tell them to act like real Gay men and come out! It is more important than their careers, it is a matter of their dignity. Plus, Neal Patrick Harris is doing quite well last time I checked.

How can we be battling for equality, when we are hiding in the closet shaking what straights will think? It is ironic and sad.

By: DJ

DJ — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:11:01 +0000

I think it would be best not to see Ken naked.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:07:01 +0000

I’m sure, years ago, when the NFL and other pro sports were integrated racially, the same argument applied. What about violence on the field against AfricanAmerican or Latino players?

And who is this Ken Hutcherson? Does anyone else think that he seems to have a very high opinion of his desirability or his sexual prowess that his naked body would drive gay men to sexually attack him in the shower? Or maybe, just maybe, his fear is that he is NOT sexually attractive to gay men and he would feel humiliated if a gay man in the shower with him would not be sexually attracted to him because everyone knows that every gay man will have sex with every straight man given the opportunity because we apparently have no taste and are dogs that will hump anything with testosterone. I don’t know, but I want to see naked pics of him and if I believe that I would feel the need to sexually attack him in the shower if I were in his presence, I will apologize.

By: DJ

DJ — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:24:19 +0000

I don’t know what’s more funny. The fact he’s a black man whose very own existence was disliked a little more than 40 years ago, or the fact he’s probably jacked off with a friend or two when he was younger.

What a fucking lunatic.

By: Kendall Granberry

Kendall Granberry — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:07:36 +0000

badlydrawnbear, that was probably the most poignant comment I’ve heard regarding the dangers out gay players would face in the NFL, were they to come out. As a gay community, we have to think on this and wonder if we are ready to allow our brothers to subject themselves to physical and verbal harm on the field, especially since that is the largest and most dangerous obstacle facing them. An openly gay player would unfortunately attract negative attention from opponents, and the end result would be a decline in team cohesiveness. This, I feel, is the only true argument against having out gays in the NFL. The sport is simply not ready.

By: badlydrawnbear

badlydrawnbear — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:08:23 +0000

The problem with “the shower” myth is that it ignores the very real threat of bodily harm a gay player would face on the field.

The idea that an openly gay player is going to make a move on a fellow teammate, or even try to catch an eyeful, in an NFL locker room full of players, coaches, trainers, reporters, etc while he knows everyone is looking for just that kind of behavior is kind of laughable.

However, as Esera Tuaolo had pointed out many times, the real threat is violence on the field from gay hating players.