Michael Sam Has Been drafted By The St. Louis Rams
When Michael Sam announced his sexuality, he became the first openly gay player of college-level football at a major university. He held several interviews in mid February and the prevailing question was why he would jeopardize a career in the NFL by announcing such a controversial and personal thing so close to the draft. Sam answered that he wanted to continue his life being honest about whom he was and he felt it was important to be drafted by a team that knew he was openly gay and that would be accepting of him. Sam recently discussed his feelings in an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America.
As the draft progressed, speculations were being tossed about whether or not a team would take on the divisive issue, or leave Sam standing on the sidelines watching. ?One of Sam’s supporters, Chris Kluwe, tweeted several times throughout the draft about the non-selection of Sam in the early rounds of the draft. The source of Cluwe’s puzzlement was that Sam was designated as the Defensive Player of the Year in one of the toughest, if not the toughest college divisions in the country, so why did teams wait until the final round of the draft to pick him up? Before the announcement of his sexuality in February, Sam was predicted to be drafted within the first or second round.
It took awhile, but Sam was finally selected late in the seventh round, becoming the first openly gay player in the NFL — as the 249th pick, exactly three months after making his announcement. He will attend training camp and most certainly prove that he deserves a place on the St. Louis Rams. Sam already has a large fan base in Missouri so this is a really good match for the Rams.
After a video showing Michael Sam kissing his boyfriend in celebration of his selection by the Rams, Chris Kluwe re-tweeted this:
This is not the first time that the Rams have been on the history-making train (although they were the LA Rams back then, having just moved to the west coast?from Cleveland). The Rams brought on the first black player in 1946, Kenny Washington, to break the long-standing color-barrier in the NFL.
Push-Back From The Religious Right
What about all the teams that bypassed selecting Sam? Did they succumb to the threats of right wing extremist groups? Since Sam’s announcement on February 10, Christian bigots have been out in full force declaring that if Sam were to be placed on an NFL team, that they would boycott that team and shut down their games to keep a gay man from defiling the game of football. The threats of boycott and retaliation were big news, even though the sentiments were only expressed by a small number of equally small-minded people and groups.
Jack Burkman of the Washington, D.C. lobbying firm J.M. Burkman & Assoc. went so far as to try and have legislation enacted to ban gay players from the NFL. This was, fortunately, met with push-back from folks with cooler and less bigoted heads. Some of the quotes from Burkman show an absolutely terrified little man, making huge threats that he could not possibly have expected to make good on.
“We shall exercise our First Amendment rights and shall not stop until the drafting NFL franchise cannot sell a single ticket, jersey or autographed football. In short, we shall be relentless.”
Burkman continued:
“The NFL, like most of the rest of American business, is about to learn that when you trample the Christian community and Christian values there will be a terrible financial price to pay,”
NFL Officials Voice Hesitation
There have been mixed reactions from NFL officials, most of those with negative reactions preferring to remain anonymous (again with the little men?). The debates rage on, but the initial reaction to Sam coming out as a gay player has led to a lot of positive responses. Individual players have tweeted and sent supportive comments and encouragement.
There is no room for bigotry in American sports. It takes courage to change the culture.
? Malcolm Smith (@MalcSmitty) February 10, 2014
As he embarks on this world-shattering journey, I personally will be wishing him only the best and will be cheering for the Rams whenever they play anyone except the Green Bay Packers (my favorite team) and the Detroit Lions (my hometown team that I feel compelled to cheer for regardless of their record).
http://youtu.be/RKwsqAERmic
Marty Townsend is an activist at heart. A lifelong writer, she concentrates her journalistic efforts on human interest, liberal politics, Michigan, educational and environmental issues. She is an active volunteer with the PTA, currently serving as Secretary of her local District PTA Council. She also stays busy volunteering as a youth softball coach for the summer league in her community and participates in Relay for Life. Marty frequently sports a near-shaved head?as a way to?support of all women experiencing hair loss for any reason. Find her on Twitter and Facebook.
Edited by D.H.
