NICOLE DEFILIPPIS
Special to The Leader
On May 6 2013, NBA free agent Jason Collins made history by being open with his sexuality and coming out as gay on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He was the first athlete to do this in any of the four major North American professional sports teams.
Just nine months later, another gay player decided to tell his story, too. A few months before the NFL draft in 2014, Michael Sam decided he wanted to come out to the media, since he had already come out to his college team. Both Collins and Sam received both positive and negative media attention for their actions.
“I’ve never sought the spotlight,” Collins said when came out in Sports Illustrated. “Though I’m coming out to the world, I intend to guard my privacy. I’m making this blanket statement in part to keep rumors and misunderstandings at bay.”
On the other hand, Sam acknowledged the significance of coming out as a gay athlete.
“I’m not naïve, I know this is a huge deal and I know how important this is,” Sam told The New York Times. “But my role, as of right now, is to train for the combine and play in the NFL.”
This didn’t stop members of the media asking hundreds of questions, or trying to delve into their personal lives. The media looked past their foremost roles as athletes and instead focused on their sexual orientation, despite orientation being only part of the athletes’ identity.
“I wish you guys would see me as Michael Sam the football player,” Sam said. “Not as Michael Sam the gay football player.”
Unfortunately, when Sam was finally drafted by the Rams, the world didn’t focus on the fact that Sam was now a part of the NFL. Instead, they decided to focus on the fact that he decided to publicly kiss his boyfriend due to his excitement for finally being drafted in the NFL. The backlash this received from the media was extraordinary. There is seemingly never an issue when a straight person gets drafted and he chooses to kiss his loved one, yet Sam wasn’t allowed this luxury.
Although Collins’ and Sam’s stories have similarities, they do have one major difference. Collins came out as a free agent after he had already played 12 seasons in the NBA. This means that he had already formed long lasting relationships with many players, coaches and with the association — people who knew him.
On the other hand, Sam came out as a recent college graduate right before the draft — which is arguably one of the most important moments in a young football player’s life. Since Sam wasn’t a part of the NFL yet, some could argue that he had a lot more to prove. Numerous sources and reporters said that his coming out would be very detrimental to his draft standing.
One major point that gets brought up in relation to gay athletes is the “shower situation” — the unrealistic idea that all gay men will check out their friends and teammates in the shower. Collins even felt the need to mention his showering etiquette in his Sports Illustrated article.
“Believe me, I’ve taken plenty of showers in 12 seasons. My behavior wasn’t an issue before, and it won’t be one now. My conduct won’t change,” Collins said in the article.
ESPN ran a complete article about Sam’s showering habits in August. It stated that the athlete was afraid to shower with his team mates and that he was giving his fellow Rams players some privacy.
ESPN apologized for running the article, saying “Clearly, yesterday we collectively failed to meet the standards we have set in reporting on LGBT-related topics in sports.”
Currently, Sam has been waived from the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, making him a free agent. Collins is on the Brooklyn Nets, the team that signed him nine months after his article ran in Sports Illustrated.