NBA backup center Jason Collins announced today in a Sports Illustrated story that he is gay. The thoughtful article written by Collins starts: “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.” In a sports world that has recently celebrated Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier in Major League Baseball, Jason Collins appears ready to challenge the stereotype of the homosexual in sports.
To the casual NBA fan, Collins is a no-name. Even to the biggest NBA fan, Collins’ playing career is little more than a footnote. He’s been included in trades involving Kevin Love, Richard Jefferson, Stromile Swift, OJ Mayo, Mike Miller, and Jordan Crawford, but has never been an All-Star himself. He lead the league in fouls committed once and has frequently filled his stat sheet with more fouls than points. He is a 7-footer, useful as a big man, but without another real skill.
Now, Collins will forever be the first openly gay athlete to participate in one of the big four sports in America.
Wherever Collins ends up next season, and I’m not sure he’ll end up anywhere given his limited on-court contributions this year and the offcourt circus that’s sure to follow him now, it will be interesting. I’m no NBA talent evaluator, but I’m not sure that Collins was going to have a job next season anyway. Now that he’s out as gay, will the gay community rally behind their big man and scream that he’s been blacklisted because of his sexuality? Will he be embraced by teammates? I’m really not sure, but I feel compelled to write on the issue.
I’ve said it before and I’m confident that I will say it again: My favorite part of the blog is that writing forces me to share and explain how I really feel about an issue. Whether that issue is as insignificant as when to hit an imaginary panic button, or as important as the subject I’m tackling now, the blog makes me define what I think. It’s more than a means to share my thoughts, it is in itself a way to refine them.
Which brings me (admittedly circuitously) to the issue: What it means to have a gay athlete on your team–to share a locker room with a person who conceivably could be attracted to you.
Taking advantage of Mark Zuckerburg’s little website–a platform I rarely use to propagate a political agenda or even to share anything that could be deemed semi-serious–I posted on my personal facebook. “I’m not the most liberal guy I know, and I’m not anywhere near the most vocal gay rights proponent, but this needed to happen.” And included a link to the SI article. A friend of mine (really a friend of mine’s dad, but at some point in growing up with each other those generational lines become blurred) challenged me to apply the situation to my life. I replied that if the individual were as mature and team-oriented as Jason Collins appears to be, then there would be no issue on my end. As much as I want to believe in that statement and my convictions, the truth is that I really don’t know.
The truth is that every individual is different. Every relationship is different.
I’m reminded of Lilly Jacobson. The 2008 Vassar College baseball team had an unusual player on the roster: her name was Lilly, and she was a girl. Some of the other contributors to this blog are infinitely more qualified to speak on the dynamics of her presence, but in speaking to them through the years, I’ve developed an appreciation for the maturity they showed in including her. She was at every practice and was 1-4 with a walk on the year. She belonged on the team. I’m hopeful that our editor, a guy who played with her, will be able to bring some personal perspective to this parallel.
I’m reminded of my best friend’s girlfriends, or of girls that I’m close friends with. The sexual tensions that are feared to pervade the locker room with a gay teammate are strikingly similar to this. With an appropriate amount of maturity and trust, best friend’s girlfriends are off-limits in a way that they become another one of the boys. Sure, one can admit that she looks good in a pair of yoga pants, but is it really that different than noticing a new bicep vein on a “bro” at the gym? I’m not so sure.
I’m reminded of “42”. There’s a scene in the movie where a white player begs Jackie Robinson to shower with the rest of the team. It’s a light hearted moment in the movie, but it underscores a more serious theme. The issue of showering with different teammates is not something exclusive to the gay athlete. You could even ask any middle schooler (straight or gay) about their comfort level with open showers after PE class.
I’m reminded of Brittany Griner. The young lady who dominated women’s college basketball for four years and was the number 1 pick in the WNBA draft. She came out last week and the sports world shrugged. The young lady who is second all-time in points scored in NCAA women’s college basketball came out as gay and nobody batted an eye.
We’ve long awaited the coming out of a male, active athlete, participating on a team sport. We wanted to know what would happen to the point that we kept asking other athletes for no real reason. Torii Hunter made headlines this spring when he said it would be “difficult and uncomfortable” to have an openly gay teammate. Similar statements have been made by players across many sports. LSU running back Alfred Blue had this to say: “So if you gay, we look at you as a sissy.”
We can now stop asking the what if question. And that’s enormously important. We’ve got our social experiment, our Christopher Columbus leading the way into a new world.
But what of the Jason Collins?
Will he be relegated to a separate locker room? What will happen to the homoeroticism that is so prevalent (a teammate this year seriously advocated for more ass-slaps as a vehicle to an improved win-loss record) on any sports team that I’ve played with? Are we seriously on the verge of segregating a locker room, officially or otherwise, in 2013?
Time will tell what will happen to Jason Collins and how that ripples throughout sports. Gallup polls of approximately 120,000 Americans surveyed show that about 3% of us are gay, but that the perceived percentage is something closer to 15%. Nobody knows the true percentage of gay athletes in professional sports, but now thanks to Collins the percentage is not zero.
Maybe Vassar’s ultra-liberal climate has changed me some. Maybe it’s my curiosity as to how it will all work out. Maybe it’s my belief that as a society we are accepting of individuals, if not their social groups as a whole. Maybe it’s even the question of how one of my teams would handle the situation. No matter what the cause, I cannot help but root for this Jason Collins experiment.
In closing (I feel compelled to write that as it forces me to conclude this article that could continue for another 1,000 words), congratulations seem in order. First, for Jason Collins on the courage and conviction necessary to take this leap at a time when future employment is not guaranteed. Second, for the gay community in accomplishing what seems like an inroad into one of the final, stalwart arenas of discrimination. Finally, for the gay athletes struggling with the same lost feeling that Collins describes in his article–they finally have a role model.
So what do I think about an openly gay athlete on my team? It would depend on the individual. If they were as nice, as team oriented and as professional as Jason Collins promises to be, things could certainly work out. (I’ve found that teammates will put up with indescribable mountains of shit if it helps the team.) Players don’t have to agree with each other, they don’t have to like each other, and they don’t have to see each other naked. They have to be able to work together and share a common goal. Collins wants to win. Whatever team he is on next year will undoubtedly share that goal. If it were my team and the guy could help us win, there’s only one opinion to hold.
I’m not the most vocal gay rights activist out there. I’m not even sure if I’m pro gay “marriage.” (I use quotes because my problem with gay marriage lies largely in the association between the word marriage and the Church). But the farce that there were no gays in professional sports needed to end. I’m happy it finally has.
-Sean Morash
Stat of the Day: I wrote 286 words after I wrote “in conclusion.”
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