Gays in Sports

Does it really matter as long as the player is doing his job?

Why do want to compare a g a y player to Jackie Robinson?

Being g a y has nothing to do with athletic ability rr anything else for that matter.

i don't think that a superstar person who comes out as g a y should be compared to jackie robinson. the people in sports illustrated were and i didn't agree with them.

Why not ???

They are talking baseball talent and nothing else!!!

Actually, being black (or white) is incidental to athletic talent as well. So yes, they could be compared.

In a perfect world, orientation ain't nobody's business but your own. But as long as we still have harassment and discrimination.....

With the current atmosphere in the US, I don't think the public would respond well at all. And it would have to be a Can't-Do-Without Superstar, or the athlete would just get shuffled away. Lotta testosterone on those fields.

I think g a ys give sports a bad name and they would be ridiculed and chanted at at the ball park........as they should get treated that way......its wrong and there is no need for g.a.ys in baseball.........

12, that's exactly the attitude that would completely justify comparing a homosexual ballplayer to Jackie Robinson.

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and they would be ridiculed and chanted at at the ball park.......

12?? most everyone on the opposing team gets ridiculed & chanted, and in the NE they'll get popcorn, beer, and coke dumped on 'em then hit in the face just tracking down an OF hit

Since this subject has been opened for all to comment on, let's carry it a step further and ask the question if homosexuals feel that it should be OK/acceptable to be open with
their sexual preference and their presence on a team should not be affected in any way, then should there be seperate locker rooms and showers for them?

If so, why?

If not, why?

Separate but equal?

No, I'd like to think everyone on the team would be an adult and able to respect each other. Any discomfiture would be of the same variety as the white players' when they didn't like MLB being desegregated.

To answer the initial question, society would accept them now more than they used to. I personally do not find that lifestyle normal and would not be comfortable with a g ay teammate. I believe it is insulting to even compare this issue to the racism endured by Jackie Robinson.

There was a time in this country where the integration of the races was not considered "normal" either. TG, we've evolved beyond that prejudice.

About ten years ago, I was coaching an AAU team and the Home Blue (African American) approached me, initially asking me to leave the field. When I told him I was a coach, he was still apparently confused, but apologized and said he had never seen a (in his words) Lady Coach, and didn't know that "they allowed" it. And I said, laughing, "Well, there was a time you wouldn't have been allowed on the field either." He laughed as well. He understood.

Prejudice is prejudice. I don't believe one is more sacred or righteous than another, and I sure don't believe any is acceptable.

Well said, Faulkner.

But I expect the best attitudes from catchers -- that's my prejudice.

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I personally do not find that lifestyle normal and would not be comfortable with a g ay teammate. I believe it is insulting to even compare this issue to the racism endured by Jackie Robinson.

I am speechless.

An athlete should not be judged based upon his sexual orientation but instead his ability to play the game...Greg Louganis was one of the best divers this country has ever seen and is admitedly homosexual...did his sexual orientation impede his ability...no...so why should it become a factor in competing...what one does behind closed doors should be their own private business and not brought to the playing field