Gay Football

When I first started this little blog site I had no intention of focusing on the gay rights issues of today. I started this site to vent frustration that I have with the news of the day. Unfortunately, as I have done more and more research on things to write about, it seems that the gay subjects are the ones that bother me the most. I think it is because most all of them hit home for me. It is these stories that can have a profound impact on my world and even sometimes my daily life.

So once again, in doing research on a subject to write about I have come across a story involving gay subject matter that got me very hot under the collar. This particular story not only involves the subject of homosexuality, but one of my other favorite things, football. I know that some people out there maybe scratching their heads on this one, but yes, I am a huge football fan. I am the guy that every Sunday will put on a Seahawks Jersey over my Seahawks long sleeve shirt, put on my Seahawks beanie, and my Seahawks lanyard with my ticket from Mike Holmgren’s last home game. Then I will sit in front of my TV and scream, yell, dance, and curse at almost every play until the game is over. I am a guy that counts down the days until the season starts. I am a guy that tries to convince his husband that Seahawks ticket are not an extravagance, but very much a necessity. Needless to say I am huge fan, especially of the Seahawks.

This is very reason that the editorial below has me very upset. The editorial which is written by Rev. Kenneth Hutcherson, who is a former Cowboy and Charger, was posted by the WashingtonPost.com. In his editorial, as you will see, Mr. Hutcherson “tries” to explain why you cannot have an openly gay man play on an NFL team. Below his editorial you will find my thoughts on the subject.


Football is like the army -- it's a battle field. In war you have to trust the guy that's next to you. Now, if a teammate has different views about what they're attracted to in the showers it's going to affect the team. It'll destroy the oneness.

Men are going to be more comfortable with other heterosexuals. It's like having a woman on the team or having a woman in the shower. How can you keep your mind on the game when you're thinking about running back to the showers? It would have a tremendous effect. It would be safer for the team and the individual if they didn't come out.

When you have a team worth millions and millions of dollars anything that would mess with the oneness must be removed from the team. Homosexuality is a very divisive issue -- it would affect the camaraderie.

It's not a civil rights issue like with racism -- there's no comparison. That's not even apples and oranges, that's like comparing apples to Chevys. Has a homosexual ever been considered 3/5ths of a person? Has a homosexual ever had to sit at the back of the bus? Has a homosexual ever had to use a different bathroom? I can't change being black... but there are a lot of people, especially in our churches, that have changed being gay.

I do think some players will come out sooner or later and everyone is going to be surprised about what the results are going to be. I remember when I was with Dallas and this one girl tried out for the team. She wasn't treated very well, but if you want to come and play for the team you're going to be treated like one of the boys. She only made it one day.

NFL teams are more about winning than anyone wants to admit. I don't care how great the player is, if he's bringing attention to the team he'll be let go. It is the same as players going to a club and shooting it up. They create a distraction to the oneness.

What if a guy went out for the girl's volleyball team? It's just commonsense... but I don't know why they call it commonsense anymore because it's not very common.

I find this “editorial” not only ignorant, but borderline dangerous. I am sure there are people out there that not only believe that gay men should not be on the same team as heterosexual men, but that women should not be on the same team as men.

Well let me first address the issue of gay men on any professional team. I think it would be wonderful to have openly gay men in football. They would be great roles model for the gay youth of America. Despite what I am sure Mr. Hutcherson believes, there are plenty of gay men out there that play football and are quite good at it. We are not all a bunch of limp wristed wimps. We are firefighters (who I might add do shower together from time to time), policemen (who I will again add do occasionally shower together), to the gay rodeo (and you know they shower together), and the list goes on and on. If the teammates have a problem with it, I have this to say to them, get over yourselves. Most of the gay men in America want another gay man.

There is also the issue of, and I quote “Men are going to be more comfortable with other heterosexuals. It's like having a woman on the team or having a woman in the shower. How can you keep your mind on the game when you're thinking about running back to the showers? It would have a tremendous effect.” This comment I had to stop and read twice to insure that I had read it right. It is laughable, gay or straight, if you are employed to play football at that level you have worked very hard at it, and chances are you love the game. If anyone thinks that this would be a problem for gay men in football, then why the hell do all football teams have all female cheerleaders’? It seems to me that this should cause a huge distraction for the heterosexual team members, but somehow they seem to manage to make it through a game. The simple fact of the matter is at that level all those men want to do, gay or straight, is play football. It is what they have been dreaming of and worked so hard for, since they were kids.

Now, let’s try to honestly look at this from a business perspective, because in the end a team is a business. Football teams are constantly looking for new revenue stream to tap into, yet the gay community is very much over looked. Don’t think for one second that I am the only gay man in America watching football. I have a strong feeling that if you had an openly gay player on a professional team, your revenue would increase dramatically. Let face the fact that gays and especially gay couple have the largest disposable income in America, second only to teenagers. Let me tell you that we love going out and spending too. I have no idea why the NFL don’t want to be a part of that market. If I was advising for the NFL or any professional football team, I would turn around and say “Find a way to get into that market, it is a GOLDMINE”. This is why I find the comment about teams not wanting to draw attention to just one player, idiocy. This has been a constant marketing ploy from almost all teams of the NFL. There have always been one or two players that draw people to watch or go to the games. I mean sure we want to see the whole team win, but let’s face facts, we all have our favorites and that’s just the way it is.

I also wanted to address the issue that being gay in America is not like being black and that it is not a civil rights issue. I hate to be the barrier of bad news to Mr. Hutcherson, but the gay rights issues are a civil rights issues. I am thinking about buying this poor guy a dictionary, and telling him to set down the bible and give this a try. I think he would find that the gay rights issues are civil rights issues. I will agree that we have not been segregated from straight people and been asked to use separate bathrooms. Though it sounds like if it were up to him we would be. Lastly let me address the issue of women on sports teams.

I have a personal story to share on the issue of women in sports. When I was in junior high, I was on the wrestling team. We had a girl on our team, a let me tell you she was one of the best. That year we had only three people on our team that were undefeated and she was one of them. Let me address the line of thought that the boys were letting her win, NO ONE LET HER WHEN. In junior high wrestling there was only one thing worse than having to wrestle a girl, and that was losing to a girl. Every match was a fight, because no boy, in any school, wanted to be the guy that lost to a girl. Yet every match she came out with a victorious, and only twice was it a points win. No, most of the time those poor guys not only lost to a girl, but were pinned by a girl. Let me tell you after her second win, the whole team rallied around her. I think to a certain extent we all lost sight of the fact that she was a girl, and just saw her as a teammate.

This leads me to my final thoughts. I know that one of these day there is going to be gay men in football. Yes, when it first happens it will be big news, and there are going to be people that make a huge deal over it. In the end though, I think teams will come to recognize that their gay teammate is just that, a teammate. Once that gay teammate proves that he can help lead his team to victory, it will blow over. Today you don’t hear of a lot of people dying because they refuse to be saved by a gay firefighter or police officer. At the end of the day we just want to know that the job set forth is going to get done. I mean, are you really going to boycott your favorite team if they are undefeated, just because a gay player was a part of that team? I think most football fan wouldn’t are. Furthermore, I don’t think that football teams are going to refuse money from gay fans that want to come and see a gay football star, do you?