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Gay in the NFL: Pioneer days await Michael Sam, and they won't be easy

Michael Sam of University of Missouri, a likely top draft pick, would be the first openly gay man to play in the NFL. He'd be joining a culture that is a 'last bastion of homophobia,' especially in the locker room, say sports ethicists.

Of all the major American sports, football might be the most difficult culture, perhaps, for an openly gay, high-profile professional athlete.

Not that any locker room, on any level, is an easy place for an openly gay man in sports. Still, the National Football League, the nation鈥檚 most popular sporting spectacle, has a long tradition of celebrating violent masculinity, becoming a league known for its smashing hits and hyper-machismo 鈥� as well as its wartime metaphors of trenches, bombs, and blitzes.

So when Michael Sam, the 260-pound consensus all-American defensive end from the University of Missouri, told the world on Sunday that he is an 鈥渙penly proud gay man,鈥� he not only sent a seismic-level shock wave through the NFL, he also brought attention once again to the league鈥檚 toughen-the-player-for-battle ethos, a subculture in which intimidation and humiliation 鈥� including the use of sexual and racial epithets 鈥� are parts of the physical and emotional gauntlet believed to prepare players for the league鈥檚 arduous athletic demands.

鈥淪ports, and particularly football, have been one of the last bastions of real acute homophobia, within the locker room, in particular,鈥� says Daniel Rosenberg, professor of sports ethics and sociology at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla. 鈥淎nd football is so emblematic of traditional masculine identity of power and aggression and strength, that I think they would鈥檝e been the last area, especially within the locker room, to fully accept it.鈥�

Sam鈥檚 announcement comes at a time when views on homosexuality and same-sex marriage have been undergoing seismic changes of their own. In the past decade, , including seven in 2013 alone. For the first time last year, , according to a Pew survey.

Even at this year鈥檚 Olympics, America鈥檚 evolving attitudes have contrasted with those in Russia, where its parliament voted 436-to-0 to forbid promoting homosexual 鈥減ropaganda.鈥� Many athletes have spoken out against gay stereotypes and bias in the host country, where more than聽 of its people say homosexuality is morally unacceptable.

Despite the profound shifts in American views, the issue remains a culture-war-level topic in many regions of the United States. Sam鈥檚 announcement that he is a proud gay man jolted, for instance, the 鈥淔riday Night Lights鈥� region of the country where open homosexuality and gay rights are not generally accepted.

The college football star, projected to be taken in the fourth or fifth round in May鈥檚 NFL Draft, was voted the co-defensive player of the year in the Southeastern Conference, the most dominant college football region in the country by far. Last year, the SEC sent a record 63 players to the NFL after the 2013 draft, more than double any other conference and the most since 1983, when the PAC-10 sent 55 players.

鈥淪o many people follow football in the South, and especially the SEC,鈥� continues Professor Rosenberg. 鈥淪o coming out of there, it鈥檒l be interesting to see ... the impact his coming out will have on that region.鈥�

Each of the SEC鈥檚 member schools, however, is from a 鈥渞ed鈥� state where there is a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage. Most were adopted in the past decade.

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e still, as a society, we鈥檙e growing from it,鈥� said Antonio Pierce, former all-Pro linebacker and team captain with the New York Giants, on ESPN on Monday. 鈥淪o just to sit there and say that the NFL right away is going to adapt and open arms, I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 the case, that鈥檚 not reality. Guys are scared to say the truth, because they don鈥檛 want the backlash.鈥�

Last fall, the public got an insider鈥檚 view of some brutal locker room rituals when Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jonathan Martin left the team after enduring a verbal assault from fellow lineman Richie Incognito, who used racial epithets and death threats to motivate, he said, the struggling Martin.

But even in the NFL, attitudes may be changing, and Sam鈥檚 announcement may signal that fast-moving cultural shifts are reverberating into gridiron culture, as well. 聽

鈥淥ne of the more compelling developments in terms of the issues around homophobia and the way in which LGBT athletes and employees are treated within sports settings, is how much of that change is being driven by the younger generation, who, in their world view, none of this makes any sense to them,鈥� says Ellen Staurowksy, professor of sports management at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Many scholars also note that, as a conduit for rapid social change, sports is often the most powerful means to accomplish widespread changes in people鈥檚 stereotypes about the unfamiliar other.

鈥淪port has always been a very, very good vehicle in civil rights cases to transform our ideologies, not only with blacks, but our ideology toward women as well,鈥� says Rosenberg.聽鈥淲omen like the Williams sisters [tennis's Venus and Serena] have really helped redefine traditional femininity to express a certain degree of strength and empowerment, too.聽

鈥淭he dilemma with the football-crazed or sports-crazed regions is, if there鈥檚 any latent discriminatory feeling, it鈥檚 counteracted by the competitive desire to have the best team,鈥� continues Rosenberg. 鈥淎nd it certainly trumped any racism over the time when it came to integrating with black football players, and I think the same could be said in this situation.鈥�

This in turn could put a lot of pressure on Sam to perform spectacularly, many observers say, as he will carry the weight of being the first openly gay male athlete in one of America鈥檚 most popular sports. If he鈥檚 successful, his sexuality will stop being a issue, just as race eventually did.
鈥淕uys are going to be a little wary at first,鈥� said Mr. Pierce. 鈥淏ut if you see, hey, OK, he鈥檚 studying, he鈥檚 asking questions, he鈥檚 doing the things like everybody else, he鈥檚 in the weight room with us, he鈥檚 working hard. Oh, and also he鈥檚 performing? There鈥檚 production there? OK, you start pushing things to the side.... Forget sexuality and race and all that."