Charles Barkley: In Sports, Ability to Play Should Outweigh Sexual Orientation

After reading this article about Charles Barkley and listening to Colin Cowherd from ESPN on the radio talk about gay athletes in sports, it has come to my attention that most professional athletes are OK with gay men on their teams and feel no threat from them. But if that’s the case, then why aren’t more gay athletes coming out? Fear? Anxiety? Distrust? Any of those make sense and are all part of the reasons why they haven’t come out of the closet, but in my opinion those are not the biggest reasons. Professional sports are big business now and players make a lot of money. General Managers and owners are responsible for the camaraderie on the team and must put the best cohesive unit on the playing field. If a professional athlete was to come out openly and say he was gay, it would put his job in jeopardy. General Managers would shy away from signing a gay player because they would be scared it would disrupt the chemistry on a team. If gay players do not want to impact the size of their wallets, then it is probably best to remain silent until society becomes more accepting. Justin Dawson KIN 577