A reminder to the returning gladiators and aspiring gladiators of pro football as the NFL season grinds into gear during these hot summer months:You've already shared the locker room with men who have had sex with other men. This much is true. Whether you know about it or not, whether they tell you about it or not, whether or not you accept it, whether or not it's you personally, you have already stripped naked, stood naked, scratched naked and showered naked in front of men who have sex with men.
Unless one is completely delusional about the modern world in which we live, as evidenced by
all that modern man has witnessed through the media's eyes, every NFL player knows that any man on the street could be a man who has sex with men. That includes football players.Gay guys. Bi guys. Horny one-night guys. Doesn't matter. You've already survived being in the locker room with someone who has practiced homosexuality. You've already lined up on the line of scrimmage with a man who's in love with another man. You've already tackled or been tackled by a man who thinks of himself as gay. You've played football your entire adult life with men who have sex with men.
The idea of not being able to acknowledge or talk about this truth is wrong, counterproductive and speaks of archaic times when gays hid in the shadows of life and didn't dream of equality. Those days are long gone, as are the days of an athlete pretending not to care about his looks or hair care products.
You've already survived being around gays and made it to the 21st century. But if you can't lighten up and let homosexuals be themselves in pro sports, your offspring's offspring will see you as some sort of dinosaur relic from a time gone by. You want your subsequent seedlings laughing at the odd beliefs you and your kind once held?
Let men who have sex with men, for whatever reason, play football and be open about it. Isn't it about time?
- Randy Boyd is a five-time Lambda Literary Award Finalist and author of Walt Loves the Bearcat, the sports novel that dares to dream of the first out superstar athlete. Walt Loves the Bearcat was a 2006 Lambda Literary Award Finalist under the category Best Romance.
