I’m not going to try to format and edit this tonight. I’m a
blogger. Bloggers gotta blog.
Jason Collins came out this week, declaring he is both black
and gay. I already knew he was black, mostly because I spent years watching his
twin brother Jarron be not as good as I wished he would be playing for the Utah
Jazz. So figuring out the black part was easy for me, as it usually is easy to
tell when you see someone who chose to be black.
It’s not as easy to tell with someone who chose to be gay. I
mean, now that Jason Collins has been in enough men’s locker rooms to decide he is a gay man, will he start
running up and down the court with his palms out? Will he be sassy with snappy
one-liners in post-game interviews? Will he waive a huge Puerto Rican flag when
his team wins?
My guess is he probably won’t do those things, because he didn’t
decide to suddenly be gay. In fact, he probably never decided to be gay. You know how I know? Because I never decided to be straight. Sex with men never even
crossed my teenage mind as a potential option. To paraphrase a friend of mine, “If
you think being gay is a choice because at some point in life you had to make
that choice…you’re probably gay.” --JM
Someone I consider a great friend shared this image with me:
Now, this was not actually tweeted by Tim Tebow. It is a
phony Twitter account that has been picked up by the anti-gay movement as a way
to complain about the totally unfair way Christians are persecuted in this
country while “the gays” meanwhile, are throwing their gayness in our face
everywhere we look.
I have a problem with this tweet. Tim Tebow is about 3
billion times more famous than Jason Collins, and EVERYONE knows Tim Tebow is
super Christian. You know how we know? Because he puts his Christianity on
display every chance he gets. He puts bible verses on his eye patch. He quotes
the bible in press conference interviews. He gets endorsement gigs based on his
faith.
Most importantly, let’s not forget his public prayers. The
image of Tebow kneeling in prayer has become so common, “Tebowing’ became a thing.
There was once a guy who was almost as righteous as Tim Tebow.
One day, he was giving a talk to some of his followers while they sat on a
hillside. Speaking on the subject of prayer, he said:
“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for
they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into
thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy
door, pray to
thy Father which is in secret; and thy
Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee
openly.
It’s no Shakespeare,
but I think it’s pretty good stuff (just make sure that when you finish praying
in your closet, you don’t accidentally come out of the closet).
Anyway, the tweet above is probably true. If Jason Collins plans
to prance to center court before every game to make out with his boyfriend, and
thanks his gay friends every time he scores a basket, and tells the media that
being gay is what helped him win each game, yeah, we’re all going to get a
little fed up hearing about his being gay.
Secondly, Jason Collins IS a hero. Just like Jackie Robinson
was the first black man in baseball, Jason Collins is the first openly gay athlete
in a major sport. Hopefully, his actions will inspire other closeted athletes
to come out without fear of what it might do to their careers.
No, Collins is not the superstar Jackie Robinson was. No,
there is no rule prohibiting gays in major sports. But let’s face it; this is a
big story because of the step forward in society it could represent. It could
lead to more tolerant adults, and tolerant adults trickle down to tolerant
children.
My father taught me an important lesson growing up. My dad
and I share a passion for the music of Elton John. I knew growing up that Elton
John was gay. I didn’t really know what that meant, but I knew it didn’t matter.
As long as the stereo in my dad’s old Datsun pickup kept cranking out Tiny Dancer, Candle in the Wind, I Guess
That’s Why They Call it the Blues, Rocketman, Daniel, Levon, The One, Don’t Go
Breaking My Heart, and Pinball Wizard, we didn’t care about the gay thing.
And that’s how it’s got to be in sports. Sports can lead the
way. I have a dream that one day, my three children will be judged not for
their sexual orientation, but by the measure of their vertical leap. And on that day, we will all join hands and
sing together in that homosexual spiritual, “Someday we’ll find it, the Rainbow
Connection. The lovers, the dreamers, and me!”
