The National Football League has entered a new era — one that will feature an openly gay athlete. Michael Sam, the reigning Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year from the University of Missouri, recently came out to the public as gay. What makes this announcement momentous is the expectation that he will be selected in the upcoming NFL draft, making him the first openly gay NFL player.
Sam’s announcement is groundbreaking. The last comparable obstacle that an athlete overcame was the professional baseball color barrier Jackie Robinson broke over 65 years ago. But it wasn’t just Robinson’s athletic prowess that led to his jersey being retired by every Major League Baseball team. Robinson entered professional baseball amid rampant racism and played a role in catalyzing the civil rights movement. Sam’s career will benefit from Robinson’s efforts, though he lives in a more progressive America. Most importantly, Sam won’t have to break this barrier alone.
One of the most shocking aspects of Sam’s announcement is not that there will be an openly gay football player but that some fans and players are naive enough to believe he’s the first. Five players, including David Kopay and Wade Davis, have come out after their careers were over. But statistics allude to the fact that many more gay athletes have played and currently are playing in the NFL. Different surveys suggest that between two and 10 percent of American males are gay. If there are approximately 1,700 athletes playing in the NFL, odds are that at least one or two players on each team are gay. These are players who might not be ready to come out or support Sam openly, but who will encourage Sam as he enters the league.
Athletes in the league are used to playing with teammates they might not like. In a locker room of 53 individuals, it’s not as if every player has to be best friends and hang out with each other on weekends. All an athlete has to do is be a professional, which includes going to work every day and just treating teammates with respect. At the end of the day, having teammates who are talented and will help the team win is more important to players than anything else off the field.
One doesn’t have to look any further than the Philadelphia Eagles’ locker room to see an example of players who might not have liked each other but were still able to work together. First, there was Michael Vick, who was accepted as a member of the team after serving a jail sentence for his role in a dogfighting operation. The same person who spent almost two years in jail eventually became the team’s starting quarterback. Last year, Riley Cooper used the “N-word” in a derogatory, violent context and was accepted back as part of a predominantly black team as he played the best year of his career. What these individuals did was clearly wrong, but it just goes to show that organizations and players are more concerned about the team winning than about who plays for the team.
Sam has already been accepted in a locker room. At Missouri, his teammates have said they knew Sam was gay even before he came out to his team last August, before the football season began. It’s pretty hard to find a way that having an openly gay player in the locker room harmed the team’s season. Missouri went on to win the Cotton Bowl and end the season ranked as the Associated Press’ fifth-best team. Even more of a sign of the support he received from his teammates is that this news never reached the media. In this day and age, the fact that not a single player in the program let the news slip shows the tremendous respect he received.
Just because Sam will not face the same level of hatred as Robinson does not mean that he will welcomed by the entire league with open arms. Chris Kluwe, the former Minnesota Vikings punter and LGBTQ activist, argues that homophobia was the reason he lost his job. Recently, through the Richie Incognito bullying scandal, it has become more apparent that the NFL still has a long road ahead toward becoming more accepting.
The real acceptance that will have to be earned is that of the fans. Even Michael Sam’s father, Michael Sam, Sr., made negative comments about his son playing football, so one has to expect some fans will do the same. He reportedly commented that he was an old-school “man-and-woman type of guy,” several news outlets reported. Sam Sr. argues that his comments were taken out of context, but the fact of the matter is that fans around the league will say similar things. The NFL can fine players as much as it wants if they make homophobic comments, but it can’t shield him from what fans will say.
There also is a huge risk to Sam’s career. It is not as if a superstar such as Tom Brady or Peyton Manning is coming out. Sam is an unestablished player whose talents may not translate to the NFL. Everything Sam does from now until the end of his career will be associated with a gay person’s ability to play football, and so for each missed tackle, some fan will attribute it to his sexual orientation.
But the benefit of Sam’s announcement far outweighs any negatives that may come — he redefines stereotypes Americans hold of gay males. Not many people expect a 6-foot-2 inch, 240-pound black man from the Deep South to be gay. Regardless of how well he plays, his bravery will serve as an example for not only current players but future generations as well. Kids will finally have a role model in America’s largest sport who will show them it is okay to be open and honest with oneself.
Recently, the Westboro Baptist Church went to Missouri to protest Sam. The protest was met by students standing together and blocking the church from entering the campus. The protest perfectly epitomizes what Sam is about to experience. He is going to face homophobia, but he will not be going at it alone. Come May, regardless of anyone’s opinion, Michael Sam will be on his way into the NFL.
Andrew Feldman ’15 does not consider sexual orientation when drafting players for his fantasy football team and can already be reached with suggestions for next year’s draft at andrew_feldman@brown.edu.
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