Our generation has come of age in a time where personal privacy is a rarity. We are the first generation that has lived much of our lives online, and any of us would guess that—no matter what our privacy settings are—most of our Tweets and Facebook posts are readily available to anyone who is determined to see them.
Michael Sam is the kind of role model I wish I’d had growing up. The South Eastern Conference (SEC) defensive player of the year from the University of Missouri recently came out as gay ahead of the 2014 NFL draft, a bold move that will likely make him the first openly gay player in NFL history. While some have claimed it to be a publicity stunt, it’s important to remember that he did this in the face of considerable risk to his draft position, endorsement deals and relationships with future teammates, all because he didn’t want to spend his career hiding who he really was. The courage he demonstrated is admirable. Growing up as a gay guy, I quickly noticed the lack of masculine role models in the gay community. While I can’t say I have personally experienced much in the way of overt discrimination, I can say that certain activities by nature never seemed to be welcoming to people like me with sports being among them. The hyper-masculine environment was the opposite of what society told me gay men were supposed to be, and so as a kid I stuck with extracurricular activities that were more in line with my concept of a “gay lifestyle.” Of course, I now realize this is all nonsense, but it’s not hard to see how common these views have become in our society. One needs to look no further than a Sports Illustrated article that was published just last week.
Ever since news broke about “Bridgegate,” (a political payback scheme involving the closure of the George Washington Bridge by aides and appointees of New Jersey Gov.
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