Yesterday, I received a text from a great friend of mine, who is heterosexual, asking me my view on the Jason Collins story (we talk sports all the time). I replied to him saying that I was more concerned with the backlash that Chris Broussard was receiving rather than the issue of Collins "coming out". We both agreed that we had no disagreement in his statement, and actually saw some relevance in it. Not saying we agreed with it wholeheartedly, but understanding that it was simply his opinion.
The past few days social media has been on a rant about the latest news of former NBA center, James Collins, "coming out" as an openly gay athlete. Although this may come off as news for some, it has escalated to excitement for many. As this should have come as no surprise to the LGBT community, I figured that once it was admittedly stated by an athlete that it would give the world a little time off of Keyshia Cole's back... yeah, we won't discuss that one. I thought that the jokes would carry on for a few hours at most and that the question at hand would be "who is 'coming out' next?", but instead we were hit with a curve ball.
Sports analyst and senior columnist for ESPN the Magazine, Chris Broussard, had a televised conversation about openly gay athletes in the sports arena. The columnist was interviewed on an episode of Outside the Lines [ESPN] on April 29th, and when asked how did he feel about Collins stating that he was a Christian in his Sports Illustrated article, and he responded as such:
"...Personally, I don't believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an openly premarital sex between heterosexuals, if you're openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits, it says that's a sin. If you're openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, adultery, fornication, premarital sex between heterosexuals, whatever it may be, I believe that's walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I do not think the Bible would characterize them as a Christian." [Yahoo! Sports]Note that the before he even uttered a word, he began his statement off with "personally", therefore leaving no margin for anyone to say that he was speaking for the masses. We all know that the Bible can be interpreted in various ways, and in different versions. Hell, it is all word of mouth. Certainly, my comprehension of the Word is going to be different from my neighbors. But with all that being said, I found nothing wrong with statement Broussard made in regards to homosexuality, nor did I find anything offensive about his take on what he felt God shunned upon.
Simply because of this... No MAN is going to determine my fate in where I will spend eternal life once I leave this earth. No MAN is going to tell me that my love for God is belittled because of my sexuality. And it is for those reasons alone that I have no problem with Broussard making the statement that he did. I know my relationship with God, and I have my own battle to fight. If I walked around looking for an apology from everyone who said something cold to me, I would be one miserable man.
After the blogs posted that neither ESPN nor Chris Broussard were made to give an apology for stating his opinion, a few people were taken by it; like the people at thinkprogress.org. In the end, I believe that if you felt some type of way about the way he answered a question that was asked to him, then you need to check your relationship with God. Chris Broussard is of man, he is not God, and I will not be moved.
Am I wrong for feeling the way that I do? Was he really wrong for stating his opinion?
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