Gender Symbols by shutter stock, purchased by me
Now that the college basketball season is over, the WNBA
draft has finished, the NBA draft is drawing near, as is the end of the NBA
season, SportsWorld (@Professor Earl Smith) is exploding with discussions about
sexuality and homosexuality in particular.
Within days of being the first overall draft pick in the
WNBA, Baylor All-American Britney Griner came out publically confirming
long-held speculation that she is gay.
Within a few more weeks, Jason Collins revealed in Sports Illustrated through three words "I am Gay" thus becoming the
first openly gay active player in a
major men's sport.
The reaction to Collins was characterized as positive though
many questioned the authenticity of supportive chatter in TwitterLand from
current NBA stars like Kobe Bryant who was not so many years ago fined for
making homophobic remarks on the court.
Griner's revelation was described by the New York Times as less exciting than a
yawn; everyone has known for decades that there are lesbians in women's
basketball at the college level and in the WNBA.
Over the last few days, however, controversy has erupted around Griner who is now sharing her experience as a lesbian student-athlete at Baylor. Baylor's student handbook declares that "
Controversy is focused primarily on the fact that Griner
claims that Baylor head women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey knew Griner was gay
when she recruited her but that she strongly demanded that Griner and others
take what amounts to a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to melding their
personal lives with their commitments as Baylor student athletes.
In the blog-o-sphere folks are debating Baylor's right to
ban homosexuality among its students"or at least the outward expression of
homosexuality. However, in the
mainstream, there seems to be little discussion of the right of Baylor to deny
so many students their human rights.
First and foremost, to deny any human being their right to
their sexuality is simply unacceptable and should be illegal! I hope
one day that sexuality and gender identity, along with all other statuses, will
be protected by state and federal laws.
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