The other story sitting just out of sight, is that there are already gay and bi players in the NFL. Could be one or it could be dozens, but they are there. What will they do because of Sam’s announcement as well as with the whatever the NFL puts forward like the about garbage regarding homophobia, locker rooms and chemical balance? Will they continue to live and play football in the closet and acquiesce to the homophobia? Time will tell.
I want to address first, the fallacy that Johnny Weir and Blake Skjellerup have any business thinking their idea means much just because they are Olympic athletes. If Blake would choose to remain in the closet out of financial considerations, why would he think that having one’s life placed in danger is not a reason to put a halt to the Olympics being held in Russia? They would do better to pressure the IOC to move the Games to a safer place.
Not only are players coming out, but teams, and the structure of professional sports is making progress at demonstrating a lack of tolerance for intolerance, like with this story. Sports won’t become fully safe for LGBT athletes anytime soon, but these are all steps forward.