Michael Sam

WARNING: This post may contain strong and/or unpopular opinions.

I wasn’t going to weigh in on this as I kinda already have elsewhere, but after listening to all the furor yesterday on sports radio, I just have to get this off my chest.

For those of you who don’t know, Michael Sam is an All-American football player at the University of Missouri. He is projected to go pretty high in the upcoming NFL draft.

Okay, so what’s the big deal?

The other day, Michael came out as gay. He will be the first openly acknowledged, gay professional football player. Always assuming of course, that he’s drafted and makes a roster, although I think that’s a pretty safe assumption.

Like I said, I’m not going to take issue with the notion so prevalent in the media that he is heroic in making his announcement. Been there, done that. What I feel I must take issue with, are the torrents of bile being spewed on those who take the opposite view.

There are many people who view homosexuality as wrong. Some are against it for religious reasons, some because of personal prejudices, and others out of sheer physical common sense. Whatever their reasons, are they not as entitled to their opinions?

A common refrain of the past few days has been, “If you aren’t accepting of someone else’s lifestyle, you are a close-minded bigot who has yet to evolve into a rational, modern human being.”

Really?

If you refuse to accept my lack of acceptance, no matter the reason(s), doesn’t that make you a close-minded, un-evovled, irrational bigot too? Q.E.D.

The world—American society in particular—so we’re told, is all about tolerance…just not of fundamental religious or moral beliefs.

For the record, I am against homosexuality. There it is. I believe that it is a fundamentally disordered tendency, just as I believe addiction, anger, lust, jealousy, greed, or any of your more popular sins, are disordered. We were not meant to engage in these things, because they violate our inherent dignity as human beings created by God and endowed with the spark of Divine life.

It is my unalterable belief that prohibitions against such behaviors are not because God hates us and wants us to suffer, quite the contrary. God prohibits these behaviors because when we engage in them 1) we hurt ourselves along with others, 2) alienate ourselves from Him because, 3) those actions subject us to shame and guilt which we carry on our shoulders until they eventually crush us.

God weeps at our pain, anguish, and guilt.

So if I think Michael Sam is wrong in his choice of lifestyle, and you think I’m a bigot for saying so, then welcome to the club! You’ll just have to get used to the idea.

In closing, let me be crystal clear: I do not hate Michael Sam or any other professing homosexual. I feel for them as fellow pilgrims who, for one reason or another, have this very difficult cross to carry. Heaven knows, I have my own heavy cross and it differs only in shape, not in size. While I may not struggle with same-sex attraction like Michael, I can, as they say, see it from here.

What I hate is the hypocrisy of those whose orthodoxy is conformable to the “World” when they deride those who choose to not be of the “World.”

As for Michael, and the millions like him, I wish him a safe journey and peace. However, I would like to remind him that there is no real heroism in laying down your cross and refusing to struggle against the particular sins that burden us.

The real hero, to me, is the person who acknowledges their sin, and gets up each time they fall only to rush back into the fight. Such a person, our Lord tells us, will win the crown of life.