How to talk to your kids about Michael Sam (video Sunday)

Gay athlete comes out: why it matters

In the Sports Illustrated article where NBA player Jason Collins comes out, there is this paragraph:

I feel blessed that I recognized my own attractions. Though I resisted my impulses through high school, I knew that when I was ready I had someone to turn to: my uncle Mark in New York. I knew we could talk without judgment, and we did last summer. Uncle Mark is gay. He and his partner have been in a stable relationship forever. For a confused young boy, I can think of no better role model of love and compassion.

There you go.  A stable, partnered relationship that patterns adulthood tells gay kids (and gay men)  that yes, they have a future.  That being gay isn't something that has to be hidden, or dirty, or anonymous, or promiscuous.  That's why our opponents are so against marriage equality.  It never has been about marriage--it's about their desire to make us ashamed of who we are, and making us hopeless. 

That's why it matters. The lies they are telling about gay people melt away when they are faced with Uncle Mark and his partner.

Game over: the NFL effect

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo is a supporter of marriage equality. Remarkably, an elected official, Maryland state delegate (and preacher) Emmett C. Burns Jr. wrote the owner of the Ravens a letter (PDF) demanding that Aynbadejo be silenced for daring to express an opinion to that effect. The NFL doesn't limit its employees' speech,  so nothing came of it.

Then, a colorful response to Delegate Burns came from punter Chris Kluwe of the MInnesota Vikings. Although ridden with profanity, it's quite funny and has created an internet storm of approval. Indeed, the only person coming out of this badly is the Delegate attempting to silence someone with whom he disagrees.

 Both Maryland and Minnesota have Prop-H8 style amendments on the ballot this election. I hope the players "coming out for equality" will have an effect in those states.

  Writes a columnist in the Sun-Times,

I don’t want to spend the whole column quoting Kluwe, but he asks Burns a question that should be put to all fearful haters who believe a few lines in their particular faith’s special book will excuse their loathsome bias forever: “Why do you hate freedom? Why do you hate the fact that other people want a chance to live their lives and be happy, even though they may believe in something different than you, or act different than you?” 

Now other NFL players are also speaking out. Which should remind the bigots-hiding-behind-Bibles that when you’ve lost pro athletes, you’ve lost. Freedom is a one-way street. Blacks don’t contemplate a return to slavery. Women don’t agonize whether getting the vote was a good or bad thing. Having fought their way out of the closet and tasted the joys of daily life, unafraid and unashamed, gay people are never going back. That’s just a fact. You can be among those who helped, or you can be a stumbling block, but the end result will be the same. Me, I went online and joined the Chris Kluwe Fan Club.