Dale Hansen is a Dallas, TX weeknight sports anchor on WFAA-TV (Channel 8). He’s also a George Foster Peabody Award winner for Distinguished Journalism and was twice named Sportscaster of the Year by the Associated Press. Listen to what he has to say about Missouri’s All-American defensive end, the SEC’s defensive player of the year, Michael Sam publicly sharing that he’s gay.
I encourage you to contact Dan and compliment him on his accepting commentary. The NFL has many problems, but persecuting a gay man who is an unquestionably talented football player shouldn’t be one of them.
Michael Sam would be the first openly gay player in the NFL; says he knows there will be problems… and they’ve already started.
Several NFL officials are telling Sports Illustrated it will hurt him on draft day because a gay player wouldn’t be welcome in an NFL locker room. It would be uncomfortable, because that’s a man’s world.
You beat a woman and drag her down a flight of stairs, pulling her hair out by the roots? You’re the fourth guy taken in the NFL draft.
You kill people while driving drunk? That guy’s welcome.
Players caught in hotel rooms with illegal drugs and prostitutes? We knowthey’re welcome.
Players accused of rape and pay the woman to go away?
You lie to police trying to cover up a murder?
We’re comfortable with that.
You love another man? Well, now you’ve gone too far!
It wasn’t that long ago when we were being told that black players couldn’t play in “our” games because it would be “uncomfortable.” And even when they finally could, it took several more years before a black man played quarterback.
Because we weren’t “comfortable” with that, either.
So many of the same people who used to make that argument (and the many who still do) are the same people who say government should stay out of our lives.
But then want government in our bedrooms.
I’ve never understood how they feel “comfortable” laying claim to both sides of that argument.
The above quote is only a portion of what he said. You can read the full transcript at http://www.wfaa.com/sports/dale-hansen/Dale-Hansen-Unplugged–244822291.html