All-American defensive lineman Michael Sam from the University of Missouri announced he was gay over the weekend. While celebrities have been “coming out” on a regular basis since Ellen DeGeneres announced she was gay on her talk show in 1997, Sam is making headlines since he could become the first openly gay NFL player to be drafted.
“I came to tell the world I’m an openly proud gay man,” he said in an interview with ESPN.
The announcement is no surprise to his Missouri Tigers teammates, who have known he was gay since August. Sam received no sort of repercussions for the announcement and many members of the team and media already knew.
“I looked in their eyes, and they just started shaking their heads — like, finally, he came out,” Sam told the New York Times.
“I understand how big this is,” Sam said in an interview with ESPN. “It’s a big deal. No one has done this before. And it’s kind of a nervous process, but I know what I want to be … I want to be a football player in the NFL.”
“We’re really happy for Michael that he’s made the decision to announce this, and we’re proud of him and how he represents Mizzou,” Gary Pinkel, coach of the Missouri Tigers, said in a statement on Sunday.
While players have come out after they retired, none have publicly admitted they were gay while playing in the NFL. If Sam is drafted, he will become the first openly gay NFL player.
How this will reflect in a NFL team’s locker room is uncertain. Last year San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver went on a tirade after former NFL offensive tackle Kwame Harris came out last year.
“I don’t do the gays, man,” Culliver said days before his team played in the Super Bowl. “I don’t do that. No, we don’t got no gay people on the team; they got to get up out of here if they do.”
Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe, who played in the league for eight seasons before being cut in 2013, believe he was dropped from the Minnesota Vikings due to his support for same-sex marriage. He claims a Vikings assistant coach used to yell gay slurs at him, which the team refutably denies.
If 6 foot 2 inch, 260 lbs Michael Sam plans to play in the NFL his transition might not be an easy one. His new team may not be as understanding as his former Missouri Tigers team was and he could be end up being ridiculed in a league full of machoism and testosterone.
Some supporters are already making the claim that his announcement is the first step toward him becoming a modern day-Jackie Robinson for gay rights, even though he’s yet to play a game in the NFL. Others are questioning the timing of the announcement and say he’s just using the media to help raise his profile heading into the draft. Prior to Sam coming out, he was projected to be picked midway through the draft.
Either way Michael Sam’s announcement will test the NFL’s tolerance to gay individuals who want to become a player in America’s largest sport, but whether the response will be positive or negative, only time will tell.
