Campus Carrier Editorial Board
On Sunday, Michael Sam became NFL’s first openly homosexual player. This seems to be and is a major hurdle for human rights. There should be celebration in this, but there are headlines out there that read like, “Will the locker room accept Michael?” This shouldn’t be an issue. We should focus on the athletic aspects of Sam, the 2013 SEC Defensive Player of the Year. His sexuality doesn’t determine his performance, but his sexuality might just be the thing to provide a large fan base.
Sam’s problem will not be with players in the NFL or fans necessarily, but it will be with the NFL front offices. There are a lot of opinions going around with the same stance saying it would imbalance the NFL locker room and the meeting room, said an NFL player personal assistant. His sexuality doesn’t look like it’ll have an imbalance, especially since he came out to his University of Missouri teammates before his last college season. Missouri finished their season 12-2 and won the Cotton Bowl.
Even with this, there is a fear that the league still isn’t ready for something like this. They’re worried ticket sales will drop, advertisers won’t want to stay and that male viewers will be turned off. These people could be wrong. There’s a “Gay people don’t like sports” myth that people need to stop believing. Hundreds of LGBTQ sports leagues have came up across the United States and more than 10,000 athletes will participate in the 2014 Gay Games. Sam might be the player to unite not only gay sports fan, but also fans that like watching well-played defense in football.
Sam is the face of change in professional sports. His bravery to come out before being drafted gives encouragement to the rest of the LGBTQ society in sports. He will make a player feel like a player, regardless of their sexuality. Hopefully the 1,000th player to come out won’t have the fear of being drafted, but just the fear of playing a good game. That’s what sports are about, not about a person’s sexual preferences.