Jason Collins: My Thoughts

It may be finals season for the NBA but the one story that has captured the attention of not just NBA followers but just about anyone who reads the news in America, is the announcement from Washington Wizards center, Jason Collins that he is gay - the first active professional athlete in America to do so.

Yes worldwide, many athletes have come out of the closet, e.g. Martina Navratilova, Greg Louganis, Billie Jean King, Justin Fashanu (footballer), Steven Davies (England wicketkeeper) and Gareth Thomas (Welsh fullback), but in these highly conservative United States of America, the idea of coming out is still one that is very foreign and risk adverse to tremendous derision.

Justin Fashanu was a pioneer for his time - unfortunately he committed suicide, unable to cope with the pressure on him

While the likes of the Netherlands, Denmark, South Africa, Spain, New Zealand and France have embraced homosexualism and have taken the biggest steps to accept the gay crowd into the community, i.e. legalizing marriage between gay couples, anything related to homosexualism in the United States is still mocked once you're far away from the coastlines and Aspen.

Thus, Jason Collins' coming out of the closet is a huge moment for American sport as he is also the first athlete presently competing in one of America's big 4 professional sports leagues to announce that he is gay.

Some would say that Jason Collins is really just trying to squeeze out one last contract for himself, an average centre in this league. That is their opinion.

My opinion is that this is a huge issue to come out on something that really should be a non-issue. Let me explain.

Does it matter if someone is gay or not? It is their personal choice and we should respect their decision and way of living. Imagine people making fun of straight people just the same way the world seems to make fun of gay people now.

Yes, we all have different beliefs about homosexualism - and many people in the world believe in religions and faiths where homosexualism is wrong, i.e. Judaism, Islam and Christianity, three of the world's most followed religions. Yet, at least the Christian God does not want us to judge gay people for what they are - but to show love, respect and compassion for them. Note I've avoided using the world tolerance as that may suggest we agree with their way of living which most of us don't - but at least we still show the same love and compassion for them that Jesus showed towards us if we believed in his salvation. (Jews and Muslims, please comment what their God/Allah commanded them to behave/react in regards to gay people).

I dream of a world where discrimination between hetero and homosexual people is extinct and I think to start aiming towards that we must start considering it a non-issue and respond to people coming out of the closet with a nonchalant "Good on you" response and then move on. That in my opinion is an acknowledgement that people like them do exist in our society but can live like heterosexual people.

Therefore, it is a big issue when high profile athletes come out and announce that they are gay. This will encourage more people who have been hiding behind the closet to come out without the fear that they will be derided. So far, the response to Jason Collins' coming out has been positive and tremendous from his athletes and one hopes that this will encourage more and more people to come out to the point that it is a part of normal life.

We have all been blessed with free will by our Creator. While we may not agree with what everyone does and even abhor certain things but love and respect for one another will bury any animosity that we may have for people who are different from us.