When I read the CBS report back in March about how “a current gay NFL player is strongly considering coming out publicly within the next few months,” I predicted that gay professional athletes would indeed start making their homosexualality known to the masses in 2013, especially if the U.S. Supreme Court validates gay marriage at a federal level.
We’re still waiting on the High Court to rule on the same-sex marriage issue, but we didn’t have to wait long for gay sports stars to begin telling the world about their same-sex attractions.
About a month after the CBS report made national headlines, a gay NBA player fulfilled my second prediction: Whoever comes out first will be the poster child for the radical gay agenda’s campaign as they seek to make all things LGBT mainstream in a nation under God that’s divided on gay marriage.
When NBA veteran Jason Collins came out—his famous line in the Sports Illustrated article was, “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.”—gays around the world celebrated. Collins became a history-maker and, indeed, a poster child for gay activists.
Changing Sports Culture
President Obama called Collins to tell him, “We’ve got your back!” And first lady Michelle Obama soon started working with Collins to headline a fundraiser for the Democratic Party’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Leadership Council gala event. Of course, Oprah was among the first to give Collins celebratory airtime on her Next Chapter program.
Can you say poster child?
Meanwhile, sites like ThinkProgress are proudly proclaiming that Indiana Pacer’s center Roy Hibbert’s “No homo” Twitter comment—and the angry reaction it got from some fans—is proof that the gay agenda’s new poster child is already changing NBA culture. Travis Waldron writes, “Collins has put a face to the hurt, one that both represents other players who haven’t yet opened up and makes it evident that words like ‘no homo’ aren’t offensive to a distant, disconnected minority but to friends, teammates, bosses, fans, and colleagues who prove that being ‘homo’ isn’t a disqualifier for being a basketball player or anything else.”
Can you say poster child?
The flood of support for Collins has emboldened other gay sports players to come out. Jallen Messersmith, a basketball star at Benedictine College, just came out. He is believed to be the first openly gay active player in U.S. men’s college basketball. Just before him, WNBA player Brittney Griner told the world she’s a lesbian, and just before her, U.S. soccer player Robbie Rogers announced his return to Major League Soccer. But Collins still goes down in history as the first active openly gay professional athlete. Collins is still first.
Can you say poster child?
Why I’m Still Praying for Jason Collins
I am convinced that more gay sports stars will follow in Collins’ footsteps. When Fox News’ Alan Colmes interviewed me about why I am praying for Jason Collins, he asked me what was wrong with the Boston Celtics center coming out. I told him, essentially, that if it’s not supposed to matter if a sports star is gay, then why does it matter if the sports star is gay?
Of course, Colmes didn’t buy into my logic, and I understand that it matters to gay activists because they need a high-profile platform to boost their cause. Gay activists want to change the culture of our nation—and in fact are doing so.
As Dr. Michael Brown points out in his book A Queer Thing Happened to America, 40 years ago, most Americans said they didn’t know anyone who was gay or lesbian and claimed to know little or nothing about homosexuality. He writes, “Today, there’s hardly a sitcom without a prominent gay character, gay-themed movies have won Oscars, the media celebrates the marriages of same-sex celebrities, elementary school textbooks indoctrinate children with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender ideology, many churches and synagogues now ordain gay clergy—and one of our elected officials is a man with cleavage who often wears a dress and high heels to work.”
Brown doesn’t specifically mention sports in that list, but we can now safely add “professional athletes are parading their homosexuality” to the proof that gay activists have succeeded in changing the face of what was once Christian culture in America. Collins is the poster child du jour, but you can be sure there will be others.
If there’s any saving grace to active sports stars coming out as gay, it’s this: We can now actively pray them. Christian athletes in their sphere of influence can minister to them.
Think about it for a minute: If Jason Collins coming out as gay caused such media hype, how much more of a stir would it cause if he fully surrendered his heart to Jesus Christ, waged war on same-sex attraction and urged others to seek God? Amen.
Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can email Jennifer at [email protected] or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.
