NFL Draft prospect Michael Sam comes out as gay

Jones tweeted “omg” and when asked if it was in reference to Sam’s kiss, tweeted “horrible.” The Dolphins responded swiftly, fining Jones an undisclosed amount and suspending him from all team activities until he completes education training for his conduct.

Head coach Joe Philbin released the following statement, per the official team site:

Sam acknowledged the extra attention he’s gotten since coming out, but said he’s been trying to tune it out and focus on football.

When asked if he felt like a trailblazer, Sam says he just wants to be known as a football player, not a gay football player. He also said that no teams asked him about his sexual orientation and it’s been all football questions.

Michael Sam came out publicly as a gay man last week. The responses-- as well as the stories of the initial reaction at Missouri-- have been hearteningly supportive. But there will be obstacles, both from the old-school itchiness that still inhabits some of the NFL, and from plainly hateful people. The latter is the issue this weekend, as the unabashed hate-spewing misanthropes of the Westboro Baptist Church announced plans to demonstrate on the Missouri campus Saturday afternoon.

Mizzou students wouldn’t have it. Taking their cue from Texas A&M’s response to a similar encroachment by the WBC years back, students Alix Carruth and Kelaney Lakers organized a human wall to “Stand With Sam” and prevent the WBC from entering. It’s impressive:

Here are actual quotes from anonymous NFL executives to Sports Illustrated:

“I don’t think football is ready for [an openly gay player] just yet. In the coming decade or two, it’s going to be acceptable, but at this point in time it’s still a man’s-man game. To call somebody a [gay slur] is still so commonplace. It’d chemically imbalance an NFL locker room and meeting room.”“I just know with this going on this is going to drop him down. There’s no question about it. It’s human nature. Do you want to be the team to quote-unquote ‘break that barrier?’“Hm. Here is how the rest of the NFL world reacted on Twitter.