The Gay Pass
I’m puzzled by the significance of this ‘story’. Considering all that’s going on in the world, it’s odd that anyone gives a hill of beans about whether prospective pro football players are in angst about coming out about their sexual orientation.
Pro football and pro hockey are arguably two of the most macho and physical sports in which athletes can participate. It’s not like basketball which is notionally a non contact sport, or baseball with the majority of the time spent standing around doing nothing. Or heaven forbid, golf in which people aren’t even allowed to breathe loudly while the players are addressing the ball. In football, the players participate in what has been characterized as a car crash on every play, with plenty of opportunity for serious bodily harm. How would being gay (or not) have any bearing on play?
I’m unconvinced that outing yourself as being gay has any relevance at all in the very competitive world of pro football. Is this issue more relevant here than in any other sport? Or for that matter, any other profession? How is it that the sporting world hums merrily along without people heroically jumping out of closets? Are we to believe that there are no gays in other sports? More likely, it’s because it’s just no one else’s business, no more relevant than if they preferred tea to coffee.
The stark reality is, this public outing of one’s sexual persuasion is no longer the brave thing it was a decade ago. Times have changed. The constant lobbying, pride parades and media tsk tsking has worked. Nowadays, to announce one’s gayness is less risky than to admit that you have gingivitis. Heck, now we assume everyone’s gay. The only reason to make any public proclamation is for publicity value if you’re in a high profile job. But the novelty of that has worn off too.
One of the basic demands of any identifiable group is that they be treated no differently than anyone else. The corollary of this should be that identity with a group should not confer any special treatment either. It can’t be a crutch or a free pass to the front of the line when other comparative aspects are lacking. Once we create affirmative action for all subsets of society, there’ll be no one to complain to. If you really want to be brave these days, try telling people that you like Trump. It may be that Sam is gay, but given all of the moaning, I think he’s more of a drama queen.