COLUMN: What Michael Sam’s announcement means for young gay athletes

As I was scrolling through my Twitter timeline the night of Feb. 9, I saw a tweet from ESPN’s SportsCenter that read, “BREAKING: Missouri DE Michael Sam, SEC co-Defensive Player of the Year, says he is gay; could become first openly gay NFL player.”

After reading that tweet, the first thing that came to my mind was, “good for him.”My second thought was, “I wonder what Sam’s announcement will do for gay athletes, specifically high school athletes, who are afraid to come out to their teammates?”

In an interview with ESPN, Sam said he told his Missouri teammates in August that he is gay. To the surprise to some, his announcement was not a distraction for the team and he was not ridiculed publicly or shunned by teammates. One of the arguments about an athlete coming out is that it will be a distraction and could have an effect on how well they play together.

However, the Missouri Tigers football team finished the 2013 season with a 12-2 record and played in the SEC title game. With the success of Missouri’s season,it did not appear that Sam’s announcement was a distraction. If Sam’s sexuality was not a distraction to his college team then it should not–and I believe it will not–be a distraction to whichever NFL team drafts him in May.

It should not be a distraction because grown men,who claim that football is their job, should be mature enough to work together in a professional environment without worrying about who a person spends his time with outside the work place.

However, the same probably cannot be said for high school athletes. High school can be a rough place for students who are different from the majority, and those who are different from the crowd are usually subjects of bullying.

However, a person–including a high school athlete–should be able to live his life or love whom they want to without being ridiculed or ostracized. I know that there are religions that do not accept homosexuality and Americans have the right to their religious beliefs, according to the First Amendment.

However, the Declaration of Independence also gives Americans the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and if loving a person of the same sex makes you happy, then go for it. A person’s decision on whom to love or be in a relationship with should have no effect on someone else’s life anyway.

Let me be clear, I am not pressuring anyone to come out as gay if they are not ready to do so. However, if you are ready to take that step you should do so without fear of what people will think of you. If a high school athlete comes out to his or her teammates those teammates should not treat that person any differently than before.

One of the aspects of team sports is the brotherhood and sisterhood mentality among the athletes. That same brotherhood and sisterhood should not be affected by someone’s sexual orientation, religion or race.

Just like the Missouri locker room, it is going to take a strong locker room with strong leaderships to deal with such situations with maturity. I do not know when that will happen on the high school level, but I believe Michael Sam’s courage made it a little bit easier for at least one gay athlete (high school, college or professional) to consider being who they are out in the open.