My Ramblings on Jason Collins

A gay player came out today. Many comments I saw on this thing called the World Wide Web stated: What’s the big deal? He is just trying to draw attention to himself. He is a part time player who just wants his day in the sun. I am a heterosexual male with two kids, no one is doing a story about me!

My only reply to these individuals, and to the many other responses they garnered in defense of Jason Collins is, Haters Gonna Hate. How else to describe these comments about the first openly gay athlete in one of the four major sports in America. I will be happy when this is not a story, when high school athlete can be openly gay in a locker room and not have to face ridicule and mockery. That day is not today.

This story is a big deal. He is the first. The first is always important. Is this as big as a deal as Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier? No it is not, but it is still a big deal and one we have been moving towards for a long time. Jason Collins should be applauded and he will be my many. He will also have to deal with hate and bigotry. If he did not have to deal with this, then this truly would be a non-story.

There will always be individuals who do not see homosexuals the way I do. I have friends and relatives who are, and I love them. Others see their way of life as a sin, they can. It is there American right to have this view and to tell others about it. They do not have the right to tell these individuals whom they can marry or where they can work, or to make them feel uncomfortable in the workplace. They can think it is wrong, and they can say it is wrong, but to take any action on these beliefs is wrong.

I applaud Jason Collins. He is the first, but will not be the last. I can only hope that his brave example will cause a multitude of other men in the four major sports to come out and be who they are not only to their friends and families but to their teammates and the rest of the world as well. Hatters Gonna Hate, but Lovers will always Love, and will eventually win the day.

(That is at least what I keep telling myself to be able to sleep at night)