UMass guard comes out

[Toga]

and I don't mean for the draft.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab...gay-male-d-i-basketball-player-145236332.html

 

[bnoro]

Can't wait until this is no longer news and I can stop pretending to care what an athlete does in his/her bedroom...

 

[CuseFanInFl]

Damn was hoping it was for the NBA and maybe ahead of Ennis to change his mind to come back to Syracuse

 

[Lawrinson14]

Can't wait until this is no longer news and I can stop pretending to care what an athlete does in his/her bedroom...

Seriously. This is not news.

 

[Eric15]

Seriously. This is not news.

First openly gay player in the history of college basketball? That's definitely news. It's not anything that will require around-the-clock coverage, but it's definitely a story.

 

[Briancuse]

I thought this was a draft post too, really don't care anymore about someones preference.

 

[OburgOrange]

Who really cares about this stuff ?

 

[Lawrinson14]

First openly gay player in the history of college basketball? That's definitely news. It's not anything that will require around-the-clock coverage, but it's definitely a story.

I completely disagree. It's simply a player's sexual orientation that will be contrived into a news story to appeal to bigots and the ignorant.

 

[Eric15]

Who really cares about this stuff ?

Other gay college basketball players who may be building up the courage to come out, and this gives them the confidence to.

 

[Cuseregular]

Can't wait until this is no longer news and I can stop pretending to care what an athlete does in his/her bedroom...

it's the (generalization alert) older generation of 55+ who mostly are the ones who seem to care about this stuff. Hopefully soon it does become a non issue.

 

[cuseguy]

it's the (generalization alert) older generation of 55+ who mostly are the ones who seem to care about this stuff. Hopefully soon it does become a non issue.

Generalization, yes!

 

[OburgOrange]

Other gay college basketball players who may be building up the courage to come out, and this gives them the confidence to.

I guess Cuseregular put in better words than I what I meant by my post. But I agree with you

 

[Eric15]

I respect all you guys who say that this isn't news, because I think you're doing it from a position of tolerance (i.e. who cares if you're gay, if you're a good person it doesn't make a difference).

And to that I say, that's great, but I don't think we're at the point yet where it isn't news. We're still a few years away. College basketball has been around for a century and there has been tens of thousands of players, and Derrick Gordon is the first.

If literally one closeted gay player (could be one of our own, it's a statistical certainty that closeted gay players have played for SU) comes out due to seeing Gordon come out, then this being a national story was a good thing.

 

[Pat Kelly]

If a player stated his opinion on marijuana use it would be a significant story, so why not this? It's a political issue that is polarizing for many across America, and if this can help another gay athlete, who was unsure about coming out, then this is good news. This is more than just sports, it's a socially significant issue. Just because it doesn't affect the box score doesn't mean it doesn't matter--it transcends sports.

 

[Waltdods]

I completely disagree. It's simply a player's s e x ual orientation that will be contrived into a news story to appeal to bigots and the ignorant.

I think you're seeing this from the perspective of someone who has come of age when homos.xuality has become so thoroughly mainstreamed that it's hard to see why this matters. But this is a really new thing. I'm only 32, which I at least think is still young. I and my friends grew up using "gay" and its less polite synonyms as an all-purpose swear word and insult (an insult that really hurt). There was an almost unbelievable amount of casual bigotry against homos.xuality, and often a great deal of non-casual bigotry. This is 15 years ago, not decades.

One publicly out gay basketball player may or may not be a big deal in of itself. But it's another small step in what has been a rapid and remarkable improvement in our culture. It deserves some celebration.

 

[jgeorge322]

i think this kid was featured in the st patricks hbo documentary. he played w kidd gilchrist. i remember watching his highlights and thinking he would be a really good player for western kentucky.

 

[Pat Kelly]

I completely disagree. It's simply a player's s e x ual orientation that will be contrived into a news story to appeal to bigots and the ignorant.

I don't know how you can think this isn't significant when literally no college basketball players have ever had the courage to become public about this before. Gay marriage is still widely frowned upon in much of the US, it's certainly another big step in the biggest social movement going on today.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Can't wait until this is no longer news and I can stop pretending to care what an athlete does in his/her bedroom...

This is exactly right. Someday, and I hope it is soon, this won't be an issue at all that the news media has to report on. I'm glad this young man had the courage to be the first, because that is going to be tough, but he definitely won't be the last. He has helped the process for all of us to move past this issue.

 

[Pat Kelly]

Saying you hope this becomes a non-issue and saying that this is a non-issue are two wildly different things. This is still an issue, but hopefully someday we reach the point where it is no longer an issue. We aren't there yet.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Anyone read this story in the Boston Globe yesterday? Being a gay man in big-time sports is a still a really big deal. Hopefully that continues to change thanks to brave young men like these two are/were.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=4901961

 

[Col. Bleep]

To some extent, the fact there's debate about the issue's relevance demonstrates the news value.
If it was irrelevant and unworthy of coverage, why is the player going public with an otherwise private matter?
(The question is rhetorical).

 

[RandygoCuse]

If a player stated his opinion on marijuana use it would be a significant story, so why not this? It's a political issue that is polarizing for many across America, and if this can help another gay athlete, who was unsure about coming out, then this is good news. This is more than just sports, it's a socially significant issue. Just because it doesn't affect the box score doesn't mean it doesn't matter--it transcends sports.

Is a player's stance on pot a big story?

 

[JohnCuse44]

Good for him.

 

[themole]

If athletes were coming out as gay when I was growing up in the 1980s/90s, it might not have taken me till I was in my 20s to accept that I myself was, and till I was nearly 30 to tell my family. So I am glad that, for now, this is news. And hope that in a few years it won't be.

 

[RandygoCuse]

The way I like to think of it is that it is big news but not a big deal - Big news because so few have done it and not a big deal because it really doesn't change who the person is. themole - good for you, I hope your family and friends have been supportive.