The Intolerance of 'the Tolerant'

How did you respond to newly drafted St. Louis Rams player Michael Sam kissing his boyfriend on television?

Football is known as a rough and dangerous sport played best by men of grit and masculinity. On May 10, 2014, in the 7th round, the St. Louis Rams boldly drafted Michael Sam, who is openly gay, testing fan tolerance of the great American past time. Upon being drafted, Sam turned to his boyfriend and planted a kiss on his lips. If there was ever any doubt about his sexual preference or if you ever wondered how he looked in a homosexual lip lock, all doubt was removed and all visual curiosity fulfilled. For me it was uncomfortable.

Aside from how you felt, here are two controversial player reactions:

“I’m sorry but that Michael Sam is no bueno for doing that on national tv,” Derrick Ward the former Giants and Texans running back tweeted. “Man U got little kids lookin at the draft. I can’t believe ESPN even allowed that to happen,” he added.

Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones also expressed his disapproval, tweeting “horrible” and “OMG” after the kiss was aired.

In response to the comments, Ward received death threats against himself and his family and the Dolphins ordered Jones to pay an undisclosed fine and barred him from team activities until he finishes “training for his recent comments made on social media.”

I am not naïve to the fact that Sam is not the first gay football player. Here is the problem: the NFL through its owners, the St. Louis Rams and the Dolphins specifically, are silencing the expression of its players who have the right to react to the public display of homosexual behavior in sports. They are entitled to their reactions just as much as Sam was entitled to his behavior.

Just as the CEO of Mozilla, Brendan Eich, was forced to resign from his post by the “gay mafia” because he made a contribution to Proposition 8 in California in support of marriage between one man and one woman six years earlier, the demand for acceptance of the LGBT lifestyle has now permeated the sports world. Acceptance in this context is not just tolerance; rather, acceptance means agreement with the behavior. The proponents of the LGBT agenda leave no room for tolerance alone.

CNN columnist John D. Sutter said, “The vile reaction to the kiss shouldn’t be pushed aside and ignored. That people in 2014 think two men kissing is gross and inappropriate for children is telling.” Sutter is right; the vile reaction to the Sam kiss should not be ignored. Rather we must come to grips that we are witnessing an unashamed agenda without borders that does not care to even recognize the potential impact on the innocent (the children), only cares to normalize what is not widely practiced, and seeks to silence any and all voices that don’t agree. Since when can’t we disagree?

I will not be bullied by secularism or moral relativism. It is my right to have and express my opinion; no one has the right to be free from the offense my opinion may cause.

Marc Little is the author of The Prodigal Republican: Faith and Politics. His web site is The Prodigal Republican.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons