So if you had 2013 in the pool, you won,

[dsc]

but here it is, at long last, our first out gay male athlete in one of the big four sports. Specifically, Jason Collins is the one. I admit, before today, I hadn't a clue who he was. I don't watch the NBA, college basketball, or any basketball. But the fact is today, is a huge day for gay rights. Gays have made huge gains in many occupations. The CEO of Apple is openly gay. The director of the amazingly successful X men franchise is openly gay. We have openly gay teachers, lawyers, doctors, and who knows what else. An openly gay actor plays Spock in the Star Trek reboot. We have a lesbian US Senator. At long last we have an openly gay male athlete.

My dad, who died just last year, used to watch the Negro leagues as a kid. He was a teenager when Jackie Robinson joined the Major Leagues. In a few decades, parents will tell their kids what it was like watching pro sports without any openly gay athletes. The notion of Whites only baseball seemed to be from a distant planet when I was 13. May the notion of straight only athletics be viewed the same way in 2043. Jason Collins has earned his place in history today. Today there is a kid who is good at sports who knows if he can play, he can play, gay or not.

[Skittles]

1. it is indeed good, dsc

[DURHAM D]

2. Why he wears #98.

Collins' act wows victim's parents

He said he did so as a nod to the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ suicide prevention foundation founded in August 1998, and also in memory of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student who was killed in October 1998 in one of the most infamous antigay hate crimes in history.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/jason-collins-matthew-shepard-parents-touched-by-jason-collins-decision-to-wearnumber-98-042913?

[dsc]

4. very cool

[Cha]

9. Thank you for that poignant info, DURHAM

[Buzz Clik]

3. I had 1986.

[krispos42]

5. Is the right rendering their garments and getting the vapors?

Reaching for the fainting couch?

It wouldn't surprise me. More hyperventilating for drama's sake.

Where were the thousands of soldiers that were going to abruptly resign if DATA was repealed?

Nowhere.

The Boy Scouts just progressed in their treatment of gay scouts. Where's the fist of God?

Nowhere.

How about that soaring divorce rate?

[Jim Lane]

11. You got me curious so I looked in on the FReakshow.

I didn't wade through every post (five threads with a total of 376 replies, if I was manipulating the clunky Free Republic search function correctly). From the sample that I read before terminal repetition set in, three main themes emerged:

1) Why should I care about this?
2) He's a borderline player who's making this announcement now in the hope that it will help him get a contract with some team next year.
3) It's a sign of the moral ruin of America -- not so much that there's a gay player, but that he gets featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, praised from the White House, etc.

There were also a few scattered references to the cutting of a fine, upstanding Christian, Tim Tebow.

Expression of all of these points was, as you'd expect, heavily laced with expressions of bigotry.

[krispos42]

12. So we really need Tim Tebow to come out?

Well, I'll be off in the corner getting morally ruined. Thanks!

[Gemini Cat]

6. A great day in sports history. k&r

I bet your Dad saw some amazing players.

[alarimer]

7. Assuming he gets hired again by another team, this will be true.

He may not, for whatever reason.

But the news is not good for allies, either, because it looks to me like Christ Kluwe may be cut by Minnesota for his outspokenness (they spent a draft pick on a kicker, for some reason). One of the coaches has complained about his outspokenness as a "distraction."

But what really gets me are the comments in the ESPN article. Such hate and ignorance on parade there. So, I'm glad this guy did what he felt he had to do, but he is not a star player in the prime of his career. It may be a while before that happens.

[Cha]

8. Excellent point, dsc

Today there is a kid who is good at sports who knows if he can play, he can play, gay or not.

thank you!