By @jasoncollins34 opening doors & doing it his way on his time he has helped shape a more accepting America. May many more follow #courage

Several commentators and fellow athletes have also applauded Collins following the milestone disclosure of his sexual preference calling him a “trailblazer” for players still cinched in the bolted locker rooms, although he’s not the only athlete in the major pro sport to do so. “I certainly appreciate it, as a gay person. Any time you can have someone this high-profile come out, it’s just so helpful, particularly to young people. We’ve reached a tipping point,” said Billie Jean King, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles.

As previously stated, Jason Collins isn’t the only openly gay athlete in the sports community, another male athlete who came out gay is the major-league baseball player Glenn Burke who was comfortably out to his teammates and friends in 1976—but back then, it was the press that wasn’t ready to welcome a gay male athlete in the field.

What does psychology suggest as to why it’s essentially difficult for a male athlete to lay bare his sexual predilection?

Since 1975, the American Psychological Association has called on psychologists to pioneer in removing the social stigma of mental illness that has long been associated with lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientations. The discipline of psychology is concerned with the welfare of people and groups and therefore with threats to that well-being. The prejudice and discrimination that people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual regularly experience have been shown to have negative adverse psychological effects. This information is designed to provide accurate information for those who want to better understand sexual orientation and the impact of prejudice and discrimination on those who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. [*]

In the present community, a person who is bigger, tougher, stronger, more courageous is conceived beforehand as someone who is able to perform better and is even someone that we should mimic and commend. While a few would decline the ideology that a homosexual possesses the aforementioned bodily attributes, they are fairly capable to be competitive individuals and incredibly stellar athletes. However, since we are in a puritan society in which Christians apologists and religious extremists are substantially scattered, this social norm seems to have drawn a negative diagram.

Homosexuality is universally defined as an enduring pattern of romantic and emotional attraction to same-sex, however, through time, discriminatory accounts against sexual orientations have interchangeably altered its definition and have broken the concept of the heterosexual–homosexual continuum due to historical claims which are somehow proven to have never existed. One strong assailant of homosexuality is the “bible” or what the devout Christians call “The Holy Bible”, although many have already been questioning its divinity.

Since time immemorial, the bible has been classified, in several denominations and forums, as a staunch “condemner” of homosexuality as based on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament book passages in Leviticus which has explicitly censured homosexual acts. Other bible critics maintain that the bible was not really referring to homosexuality but to “abusive sex”. In Religion Dispatches magazine, Candace Chellew-Hodge argues that the six or so verses that are often cited to condemn LGBT people are referring instead to “abusive sex”. She states that the Bible has no condemnation for “loving, committed, gay and lesbian relationships” and that Jesus was silent on the subject.

See what the extensive collection of Scripture has to say about same-sex union:

Leviticus 18:22 says, ”Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.”

It is, at least to me, transparent that bible is not euphemistically hinting about abusive sex as what Hodge’s hypothesis suggests otherwise since the bible, or the “good” book, is fraught with unsubtly blunt verses. (Refer to Ezekiel 23:20)

Leviticus 20:13
“If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.”

The succeeding verses can not be anymore absolute that your jesus is not really “silent” with respect to the subject.

So you see, even if a male athlete is encouraged to come out in the arena with a diametrical sexual preference, there are manifold literatures that are continuously being upheld by Christian fundamentalists and other limbs of the theocratic and puritanical society. Such factors can cause such a stressful issue toward a closet athlete. He desires to excel in sports and be lauded albeit his sexual orientation but because of innate fear to fly out, he often feels the need to lie. Most often than not, when a heterosexual member of a team discovered one of their team mates swings both ways, this causes a sense of perfidy. They actually feel “betrayed” by this new information. Again, we see evidence of the conditioning this society has placed upon us. The psychological effects of “living a lie” can be profound upon a person. He may look back on his life with regret and he may have a difficult time finding happiness.

Unless heterosexual couples start to surface and condemn homosexual union because it initially affects their marriage, then that’s the only time homosexuality can be considered sinful and socially unacceptable. But if you only base your arguments on a book that has long been debunked and disproven by Science, then there’s probably no seat for you to take.

By Aljohn de Leon

http://hotteapot.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/jason-collins-landmark-revelation-in-theological-arena/