http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olc5C4SXAYM
Brilliantly said and the more people that come around to this guy’s way of thinking, the better.
The name of Michael Sam has come to worldwide prominence in recent days after the highly-rated defensive end from Missouri revealed that he is gay ahead of the NFL draft in a few months’ time, when Sam is likely to be one of the top draft picks and subsequently will become the first openly gay player to play in the NFL.
Although it shouldn’t be a big deal, Sam’s revelation has attracted plenty of chat and column inches Stateside and, unfortunately, not all of the reaction has been positive, with some commentators suggesting that Sam’s sexual orientation will prove a problem in an environment as macho as an NFL locker room.
It’s a pity that the universal reaction hasn’t been more like the reaction of Dale Hansen, a presenter on Dallas-based ABC affiliate WFAA, who recently delivered an impassioned speech about Sam and how he should be welcomed into the NFL with open arms and regarded no differently than anyone else who plays the game.
We encourage you to watch the inspirational speech in full above, but Hansen stuck it to the doubters by pointing out a litany of high profile crimes committed by other athletes in the sport which pale in comparison to Sam’s supposed ‘crime’, loving another man.
He also made the point that it took the NFL, and other sports, time to accept the participation of black athletes and expressed his own personal view when saying: “I’m not always comfortable when a man tells me he is gay, I don’t understand his world, but I do understand that he is part of mine.”
A very refreshing and very inspirational delivery and the sooner this becomes the universal attitude towards Sam and other gay sportspeople who have come out and will come out in the future, the better.
