As Michael Sam prepared to be the first openly gay football to enter the draft and fight for a chance to earn a roster spot on one of the 32 NFL teams, ESPN.com gave a survey to 51 active NFL football players regarding having a gay teammate. There were four true/false questions: 1. A player’s sexual orientation matters to you. 2. I had teammates or coaches who used homophobic slurs last season. 3. I would shower around a gay teammate. 4. An openly gay player would be comfortable in an NFL locker room. ESPN’s article on the survey can be found here.
The results to the survey suggest that while most players (86%) do not claim that sexual orientation matters to them, there is a level of confusing when it comes to having a gay teammate in general. Players were somewhat less likely (76%) to shower with a gay teammate, and even less (54%) thought that a gay player would be comfortable in an NFL locker room. Perhaps the most worrying is that 62% of those surveyed said they had either a teammate or a coach who used gay slurs last season.
With these results, it seems like the overall feelings of a gay teammate are less resistant, and better characterized as unsure of the process and circumstances. While players themselves claim to not mind, they predict the hypothetical or potential gay teammate would be uncomfortable. CBS Sports has noted here how Ryan Clark portrayed this confusing. It is more of a concern about how players ought to act around a potentially gay teammate, and less of a concern about their actual sexuality.
Going forward, then, it may be helpful to ask questions to help understand how they should interact with a gay teammate, and what could be done to make the locker room a more comfortable and normal place for both gay athletes and everyone else.
- Is sexuality/sexual preference an ‘okay’ thing to joke about, just like the other teasing that goes on in locker rooms?
- What should be considered out of bounds for this type of joking around?
- How should a team address the issue of having a gay player on the team? Should there be explicit talk, guidelines, and conversation, or should the team simply leave it to the players to play out their interactions?
- What can be done to ease this unsure feeling on part of the NFL, organizations, or outside influences?
- How much of this unease is a result of ‘media hype’ or an overemphasis by the media to portray this as a big issue in sports?