There are a variety of people that think the National Football League should not allow same sex players. This is a controversial topic ever since Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to speak about it and to enter the NFL draft. All over the country especially people that work for CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and different regional news networks, have given their prospective on this topic as well as former and present NFL players. A couple of years ago, Jack Burkman, the CEO of Burkman LLC, and a Republican lobbyist, did an interview with the Huffington Post and said that he would ban same sex athletes from playing in the National Football League. The lobbyist is preparing a legislation that would ban gay players to play in the league because he thinks it is necessary to prevent American society from sliding into indecency. The legislation was put in place right after the college football star, Michael Sam announced he was gay back in early 2014. In that interview with the huffing post, he also said that we would push Republican lawmakers to support this measure and that five members of the House of Representatives and one senator were interested in co-sponsoring the bill. Later on he criticized the Commissioner of the National Football League, Roger Goodell, by saying "I felt like if the NFL doesn't have any morals, and people like Roger Goodell, who are just go-along-to-get-along guys, just want to appease advertisers, appease corporate America and all that stuff". The only explanation Burkman said that was clear to me, if though I disagree with him completely, is if openly gay players in the league used separate bathrooms from players that are straight. "This has nothing to do with race, skin color, or bigotry, Burkman said, it is about common decency and civility". Society is moving to a point where we are going to have unisex bathrooms and the next generation thinks that is alright. Before the 2014 NFL Draft, many media members asked current and former players about having a gay player on their team. A lot of players thought it would not matter as long as they could player but some players took issue with it. For example, back in 2013, the cornerback of the San Francisco 49ers, Chris Culliver took issue with a gay player when asked about it. When Artie Lange of Yahoo Sports brought up the subject, Culliver said "I don't do gay guys. I don't do that, we don't have any gay guys on our team, they gotta get up out of here if they do, can't be with that sweet stuff". Culliver thinks that if a player is gay, they should keep that to themselves instead of announcing and creating drama for the league. Instead, players do not keep it to themselves and do what ever they want. For example, in Michael Sam's situation, when he got drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round, with the 249th overall pick, Sam turned emotional and immediately kissed his boyfriend. The reason why it was a big deal is because the draft is for the NFL which is the most known sport in the country and also because the draft was on ESPN where people of all ages go to that channel to watch different sporting events. Different players around the league had a negative reaction about their kiss during the draft. A former player, Derrick Ward, said "I'm sorry but that Michael Sam" is no good for doing that on national television, man you got little kids looking at the draft. I can't believe ESPN even allowed that to happen". Right after those words came out of Ward's mouth, he received death threats against him and his children. Another player in the league sounded off against Michael Sam's kiss was Don Jones, the safety for the Miami Dolphins. Jones said that it was "horrible and oh my god" after the kiss was shown. He was later forced to pay a fine and barring him from team activities until he finishes training for his recent comments made on social media. A commentator that works for the network that aired the NFL Draft, Stephen A Smith, sounded off on Michael Sam's kiss and how players are being punished for their comments. Stephen A took issue with Don Jones being punished by advising "Sam and his boyfriend to get a room" and that we should not force everyone to celebrate Michael Sam's kiss. He said "it is a very dangerous thing when people see something and they have a problem with what they're seeing and they express themselves, and ultimately they're fined". He believes that we should respect everyone's opinion about gay marriage and how it is sad to see someone get punished for what they believe in and the best way to express your opinion on this topic without getting punished is to keep your mouth closed. In this day of age, players in professional and college sports are starting to speak out about who they are attracted to. Over the last year, players like Ryan Hollins, who plays in the National Basketball Association, spoke out about how he is gay as well as Derrick Gordon who use to play for University of Massachusetts. More players are starting to speak up more ever since Michael Sam admitted he was gay and those players that spoke up or hesitant to, should not be because liking a man or a woman should not change you as a person and a person has every right to be who they are.
NFL.com.
Gregg Rosenthal, 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
TPM.
Dylan Scott, 25 Feb. 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
CNN.
Dave Alsup, 13 May 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
www.huffingtonpost.com.
Sam Stein, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.
National Review Online.
Andrew Johnson, 12 May 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.
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