only the truly ignorant deal in such blatant absolutes.

its the typical "agree with me or your a poopoo head" mentality :88)

its as big a deal as one chooses to make it. IMHO, it was a slow news day perhaps.

I havnt any problem with the guy being homosexual... i was eating a cheeseburger in a local venue when this came on the tv... the place was packed and the general mood of the place seemed to be a collective "meh"

my concern about this guys sexual preference is at a zero :salute:

QED

Brace yourself, but your opinion on the matter means nothing. There's always going to be individual people for or against an idea. We care about individual instances more when they reinforce existing social problems because everything -- our thinking, our practice, our policy -- ultimately derives from our culture. One of the main methods to solve social problems is to change the culture by restricting and chipping away at the negative reinforcements.

This is something that confuses many people, who initially look at actions as discrete instances and not in a broader social context, or who don't hold that culture has a profound real-world effect.

The broader social institution holds that gay people are deviants, and not worthy of being able to marry or adopt kids, or any other number of actions that society doesn't blink an eye at when straight people are involved.

So to bring it home - why is it a newsworthy event when a pro sports athlete announced he's gay? Our culture has long decreed that straight men are macho hunter/gatherers and homosexuals are effeminate deviants who have no place in the "normal" world, much less the testosterone-driven sports world. For someone to come out and break that mold - the first person to do so - that's newsworthy.

Things that can seem like a "who cares" event when analysed in a vacuum can make perfect sense when you look closely at their context.

neither does yours

fact


of course there are some who think this... but i think the broader social institution doesnt hold that ideal. hell, all i have to do is look at all the equal signs on my facebook, many of them posted by baby boomer white christians i would never have guessed to be supportive of anything not printed in the bible... i dont care what the bleeding hearts have to say... every person out there isnt a foaming at the mouth gay hater.

its not

some of them are effeminate deviants :rotfl2:

does that make them sub human? no

i know a couple of them who could out-hunt most hunters i know in the freezing ass cold too

it is apparently a major event for you

its a minor event for me

im not going to bash the guy for being gay... its not a big deal. for the most part the response by the fans and other players has been "your gay?... ok well can you still sink it from the three point line?"

who cares...

in the world news this week lots of neat stuff happened... yet another gay celebrity type figure ranks pretty low on the list for me.

then again... this could have a lot more to do with the fact that im not even remotely a fan of basketball and thus wouldnt care to begin with. :up:

i guess the point im trying to make is that we as a society have to stop making this sort of thing a big deal. sure, there will always be gay haters... just like there will always be racists.

i'm just as quick to hold the door for a little old black woman as i am for a little old white woman etc etc

and i have been just as quick to yes ma'am a clear and obvious cross dresser

i have said it before and i will say it again, in my life i have rubbed elbows with a lot of different folks - perhaps thats why i feel the way i do about the subject

It doesn't matter because this isn't a question of legal equality, but of overall public opinion. It doesn't have to do with law but with opinion, so you're right.

I only address your comment about our Constitution not mentioning marriage. The Constitution doesn't mention a lot of things, and it's chief creator, James Madison, didn't want a Bill Of Rights at all, because he believed that all rights belong to the people and none to the government, and he was afraid that if he forgot to mention anything then somewhere down the road would say that they left one thing or the other out, so it's not covered. This has happened more than once when strict Constructionists argued that there is no Right to Privacy, because the Constitution doesn't mention it. Madison was aware of that possibility, so when he finally caved in to pressure and sponsored the Bill of Rights he added in the Ninth Amendment, which says

There is a strange self-deception in major American sports that only straight males are players when in all probability there have been many atheletes in various sports, both 'superstars' and journeymen who were/are gay or bi while playing on their teams. GLBTs are estimated to account for about 10% of the total U.S. population, so, logically, at one time or another, there have been gays in sport. My opinion is, if they can do the job, who cares what they do in their private life. And being gay or bi would just be their private life if some rather narrow minded people would have made an issue if it in the first place...

I seem to recall Mike Piazza, when he was with the Mets (baseball) called a news conference to deny he was gay. The press was puzzled because there really hadn't been any widely known claims he was gay. Very strange...

As far as Collins being the first to acknowledge his sexual preference as a major sports athelete, isn't there already a player, or players, in the NFL who is/are openly gay? I seem to recall one of the NFL quarterbacks quietly coming out a few years back...

People are people, some born one way and some born another. Gays are born the way they are (contrary to the screeching fundamenatalists) and they mainly try to live life as productive, contributing individuals. Leave them alone and let them live in peace like the rest of us...

<O>

Its true, the media should only report real news like how poofs cause hurricanes and terrorism.

Some great answers here IMHO and I've certainly learned a thing or two regarding the American society perspective.

My own opinion....so what, simply live and let live.

Most posts laid upon you, will result in such good natured eyes. :yeah: But, were I to conform to your inclinations, or consult your fancy instead of my own judgement, and who can be a judge of said matters but myself, I fear would subject myself to a bore probability of becoming content. :hmm2: Which on this subject I choose to decline.

What happens in private should remain in private.

The only thing I find wrong with the LGBT agenda is that the subject is constantly thrown in your face whether you want to hear about it or not.

I guess they just want to add sexual orientation to the equal rights creed. But, I think the moral majority may never accept it and will continue their holier than thou descrimination.
Give the media enough time and they'll hammer the square peg in the round hole.:hmmm:

Right. It doesn't. But I didn't make that statement to get into a "you too" back and forth, and I didn't make that statement to really attack your opinion personally. I was simply making the point that one individual's opinion is of little consequequence when taken in the context of society's as a whole.

I agree that a lot of progress has been made and gay people are becoming more and more accepted. But it's kind of a case where "this is a big news story until the day that it isn't." As long as there's still laws on the books that discriminate against gay folks, this is gonna be a news event.

The same can be said about a lot of events that are objectively newsworthy. I may not care much about, say, a story like this: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...-in-calif?lite

But you may care about it more as it involves private aviation. So that doesn't mean it's not newsworthy.

And that means we're making progress as a society as a whole. If only that were the case for more people. :up:

Do you know how much sports I watch? Zilch, zero, zip. Nada. I could care less about ANY pro sports players. It's just more celeb worship in my opinion. So the guy plays a ball game.... big deal. I have always found ball games, about as much fun as watching nascar, which in turn is about as exciting as watching grass grow.

In nascar, they go around in a circle, and around, and around and around and around, ad nausem. In ball games what do they do? From one end of the court to the other, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth ad nausuem. About the only sport's i found even remotely interesting is hockey. At least then a fight or something exciting can happen. If i was to watch hockey, thats all I wait for, because the rest is just back and forth, back and forth...

borrrrinnngg.....

So, combine my complete lack of interest in sports, with a complete lack of interest in what some dude I don't know, have never met, nor will ever see, want's to do in his bedroom, and but that on the front page. What reaction do you expect?

EDIT:
As i've said, I find the whole thing very petty and unimportant. The world is a crappy place. Always has been, always will be. There's always something to worry and concern ones self about - but some ball player coming out of the metaphorical closet isn't one of them. I don't concern myself with such petty things. Never have, never will. What i want to see on the front page is news that matters. Things that effect our jobs, government, economy, the nation at large, foreign policy, things of that nature. If ball player Z comes out and say's he likes gender X, is top news and very important to you, then you must have a very sheltered view of the world.

But you are aware that sports is a multi-trillion dollar business? And pro-athletes are held up to a godly celebrity status? And that there's never been an openly gay pro athlete in the "big four" sports in the US?

You can't see how it's maybe a little teeeeny bit newsworthy? :hmm2:

See edit to prior post. And again, I could give less then a crap about celeb's. So they can do something very well on TV, big deal. There is always someone who can do something you can't, and there's always something you can do that other's can't. We all put our pants on one leg at a time.

Yeah well what if you've got no legs?

:D:woot:

You're killing me smalls.

This.:D

I'll just put on me goggles and ride the heck outta here...
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...rs_dogs_01.jpg

Black eyed children rule!

I'm pretty sure it would be considered big news if an NBA team signed on an openly legless player.


This first player to come out is considered big news because there is a portion of the population that doesn't accept him. The second will be slightly less newsworthy. Eventually, it will get to the point where nobody cares about it again.

(But seriously? Top story? That is overdoing it a bit.)

Well it must be a big deal to some as we are already up to three pages.

QFT.In one way or another it is a big deal.

If a person being homosexual is not a big deal to one individual it is not really relevant.As a whole in human society homosexuality is a big deal and treated as a deviant act and there are many stereotypes as others have said.

Another thing to consider....if you do not like the news you are receiving change your source or better yet use multiple sources and digest the information received if it is important to you great.

I can not honestly think of very many things other than homosexuality/bisexuality that people are more than willing to distance themselves from being associated with in any way.Many people that feel such sexual desires themselves will try to hide it and even try a heterosexual life style that is how strong the sitgma is.