Bleacher Bits: Gay athletes playing major sports

Yahoo! News reported that during a media interview on Wednesday, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver said he doesn't want gay players on his team.

I found it interesting that in the wake of Culliver's statement, ESPN.com began running an online poll asking, "When do you expect to see an openly gay athlete on a team in any one of the four major pro leagues: MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL?

It wasn't so much ESPN running the poll that I found interesting, but it was the results.

As of noon on Thursday, of 37,685 people who had responded, 35 percent said "within five years;" 31 percent said "very soon;" 22 percent said "not within 10 years;" and 12 percent said "within 10 years."

I guess the key term in the poll question is "openly" gay, because it's a safe bet to say gay athletes are already a part of all major sports, just as gay men and women are part of American society.

I get the part where gay athletes — especially males — would be hesitant to broadcast their sexual orientation in a culture that widely embraces the rough and tumble world of sports as being "manly," and considers homosexuality the antithesis.

I just don't get some of the reasoning.

Culliver was quoted by Yahoo! News as less-than-eloquently stating, "I don't do the gay guys, man. We don't got no gay people on the team; they gotta get up out of here if they do ... Can't be with that sweet stuff."

What makes him think that every gay male in the country would want to be with him?

I will not get into anyone's religious beliefs concerning homosexuality, but for a heterosexual male not to want gay teammates around simply for fear they might hit on him is ridiculous.

Does every heterosexual person automatically find every heterosexual person of the opposite sex appealing, and find it impossible not to hit on them regardless of their compatibility, desirability or marital status?

Of course not.

Gay people exist, and it's not like their sole purpose in life is to act in ways that make heterosexual people feel threatened of uncomfortable. It's unfortunate that in this day and age, heterosexual people can't treat gay people in the same manner.

CONTACT Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or cpurcell@tcnpress.com.