Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The First Openly Gay Team Athlete Will Go Through Hell and Come Out a Hero

It's common knowledge that when Branch Rickey chose Jackie Robinson to be the first African American in Major League Baseball Rickey did not choose Robinson because Robinson was the best Negro Leagues player. Robinson wasn't, and Rickey knew it. What Robinson had was the strength of character to not fight back. That is, Rickey understood that the first African American in the Major League baseball would face horrible taunts, and that the worst thing he could do was fight back. Robinson was an extraordinary human being who faced the worst of humanity in an attempt to live his dream.
Thinking about Robinson and all he went through reminds me that the most important things that people do are not easy. In any path that life takes, there are going to be difficulties and it is just a matter of being willing to overcome them. Athletes face enormous troubles just to make it to the pinnacle of their sport, whatever it may be. At the very least they've dealt with many people telling them they can't do it. Which makes it so curious why people that have to be so mentally tough that there is such a fear of coming out as gay.
I started with Robinson because he knew that breaking into the Majors would not be easy, yet it seems like all the conversation about someone coming out as gay is centered on how difficult it would be. That is a very strange thought because if someone is waiting for the perfect time when he will be perfectly accepted, well, to be perfectly frank, that a'int going to happen. Someone is going to need to take it on himself and know that he's going to put up with taunts both within his team, and from other places. It's not going to be fun, but then again I doubt that Jackie Robinson had much fun his first year either. At the same time, whenever it happens this person will be a hero. It is not a word that I use lightly, but one that is apt here. In a time where we're becoming more accepting of homosexuality, athletics remain a bastion of homophobia. Whoever this is will be a role model who may well save someone's life. Surely someone finds this a worthy goal. For all the talk about athletes giving back to their community, this would be a chance to do some real good.
Some might say that the reason that Robinson put up with it was that it was the only way he could play, and that anyone who is gay does not have to put up with it because they can already play. That's valid, and it is certainly likely that he was more willing to put up with it because it was the only way that he'd play in the majors. At the same time, I think that is not fair to Robinson or the principal of the issue that what Robinson did was not easy. Someone can play sure, but he's not being true to himself while playing. There are other intricacies involved that we cannot appreciate, but they matter as much as putting up with the taunts is the only way that he could play.
In the end it will take a man who is stronger than even Jackie Robinson was to be the first male athlete to come out as gay. It will be difficult. For at least a season, probably more, it will be miserable. At the same time, once the person weathers the storm he will be a hero. He'll be remembered in the same breath as Jackie Robinson, and will represent a major cultural shift. He's someone we need, and I look forward to him.