Michael Sam, Homophobia, and Collectivism

by Dr. Gerard Emershaw

The NFL’s St. Louis Rams have released rookie defensive end Michael Sam. Sam was a seventh round draft pick out of Missouri. A seventh round draft pick being released just prior to the end of the NFL preseason is not the sort of sports transaction that typically becomes front page news. However, Michael Sam is the first openly gay football player to be drafted by an NFL team. While Sam kissing his boyfriend on camera upon learning that he had been drafted grabbed all the headlines, the truth was that Sam faced an uphill battle to make the Rams roster regardless of his sexual orientation. Sam had a disappointing workout at the annual combine and was considered by many to be “too small for an NFL defensive lineman, too slow for a pro linebacker.”

All indications are that the Rams’ release of Sam was based fully upon his play on the field and not his sexual orientation or the broader sociopolitical ramifications. According to veteran St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher: “This was a football decision. Mike fit in very, very well. I was pulling for him and it didn’t work out. Mike’s got the ability to play someplace. It’s got to be the right place, it’s got to be a fit.” It is also a near certainty that Fisher’s initial decision to draft Sam was entirely a football decision. The Rams finished last season with a 7–9 record. Teams looking to improve from mediocrity to playoff contention simply cannot throw away seventh round draft picks. It is also unlikely that the Rams drafted Sam as any kind of PR stunt. NFL front offices and coaching staffs are hardly made up of socially crusading activists. The name of the game is to make money. The way that money is made is to win games. The way that games are won in the NFL is to assemble the most talented roster and ensure that the players remain healthy and play as a team.

Some will undoubtedly be critical of Fisher’s decision to release Sam and claim that it was due to homophobic pressures that had nothing to do with performance. Even former Indianapolis Colts coach and ESPN analyst Tony Dungy, who initially said that he would not have drafted Michael Sam because it would be a “distraction,” praised Sam’s performance in the preseason: “From what I've seen, he's played very well in the preseason, got after the quarterback and rushed the passer, and that's what they got him for. And it looks like he's doing his job really well.” These critics will also point out that Michael Sam had proven to be valuable from a marketing perspective. His jersey sales ranked sixth among NFL players.

However, any conspiracy theories concerning homophobia and the release of Michael Sam are unfounded. The Rams are well stocked at defensive end—among the deepest in the league at that position—and the 53 roster spots on an NFL team must be used efficiently. Given legitimate concerns about Sam’s lack of versatility and possible inability to hold up well over an increased workload, his not making the team is not a surprise. The popularity of Sam’s jersey is irrelevant if he is not a good fit for the roster. Jeff Fisher has led the Rams to two sub-.500 seasons in a row, and his future with the team is contingent upon producing more wins, not more jersey sales. This situation is no different than the Tebow situation. The devoutly Christian and immensely popular quarterback Tim Tebow was traded away by the Denver Broncos and later released by both the New York Jets and New England Patriots. Tebow’s pass completion rate of under 50% and his unwillingness to transition to a different position destroyed his viability as an NFL player, and as a result, no team has since signed him. Tebow is a fine person, but his skill set does not make a team more likely to win games. The bottom line is that it is talent rather than sexual orientation or religious creed that determines who makes a team roster. Michael Sam, in fact, has a far greater chance of eventually earning his way onto an NFL roster than Tebow does. Sam is now a free agent and may sign with any team. Even if he does not get signed by another franchise, there is a good chance that the Rams will be willing to sign him to their practice squad. With the injury attrition rates  caused by the long and violent season, there is a good chance that the Rams or some team will eventually become thin at defensive end and that Michael Sam will get an opportunity to play even if only in  reserve or special teams role.

Michael Sam has acted admirably. He earned a scholarship at Missouri and graduated against all odds. One of his brothers was killed while attempting to break into a residence, another brother disappeared, and two other brothers are in prison. Rather than become another cautionary tale, Michael Sam became a success story. Even if he never plays a regular season game for an NFL team, he is an admirable person. He has a natural right to love and to engage in sex with any consenting adult. Simply stated, his sexual orientation is irrelevant. The NFL and the St. Louis Rams have also acted admirably. Jeff Fisher took a chance by drafting a strong college athlete with a good moral character but perhaps only borderline talent in terms of the NFL. The Rams gave him an honest chance, and he did not make the team—becoming one of the final cuts of the preseason.

The only villains here are a group—hopefully simply an ugly minority—of homophobic football fans who gleefully took to the Internet to express their venomous hatred. While these anonymous homophobes have a natural right to free speech, I also have a natural right to free speech—which I shall use to call out these ignorant and unthinking collectivists. The remarks made in the comments section of this story published on the CBS St. Louis website speak for themselves. These anonymous comments are overwhelmingly angry, hateful, and cruel. Given that these comments are not backed up with logic and reason, none will be reproduced here.

Homophobia, like any form of bigotry, is a form of collectivism. No homophobe has a right to criticize any other collectivist. Hating a person because he or she is homosexual is just as stupid as hating another person because of his or her race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, etc. Homophobes are no more rational than communists, fascists, Nazis, or any other group of collectivists whose members are unable to think for themselves. Viewing oneself simply as a member of a group—i.e. heterosexuals—and viewing another human being simply as the member of another group—i.e. homosexuals—and hating that person because of it is a sign of primitive development and a lack of rationality. Human beings are individuals who should judge and be judged on the content of character rather than on contingent collective characteristics. Michael Sam should be judged as a person who worked hard and excelled at a difficult sport. He should be judged as a person who came from a troubled background yet earned a university degree. He should not be judged as nothing but a nameless, faceless, and insignificant token of a type. He should not be judged because he is sexually attracted to other men.

The Supreme Court held in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) that sexual conduct such as consensual homosexual sex is private behavior protected under substantive due process of the Fourteenth Amendment. A government which at any level can prohibit private and consensual behavior that takes place in the bedroom is a totalitarian government. Such a government is incompatible with the natural rights to life, liberty, and property. Such a government is incompatible with the right to free speech, the right to practice religion, or the right to bear arms.

A person has a natural right to loathe homosexuals. He or she has a natural right to freely express such bigoted beliefs. After all, any person has a natural right to be ignorant and to reveal this fact publicly. But, beyond stale and tiresome religious dogma, there is no plausible argument to establish the immorality of consensual homosexuality. Yet, the strange thing is that justifying homophobia by appealing to religious dogma is itself an affront to the deity that so many Americans claim to worship. For example, the Christian God provides two simple primary rules. The first rule is: “[L]ove the Lord thy God.” The second rule is: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” In what sense is hating another based on his or her sexual orientation an expression of love? In what sense is disobeying one of God’s two primary rules an expression of love toward this deity? The Christian God purportedly created humankind in His own image. Given that the Christian deity is considered an immaterial being without physical form that can be resembled, this clearly means that God created humankind as intelligent and autonomous beings. God gave human beings rationality with which to make decisions based upon logic rather than dogma. Not using this gift is an insult to the God that provided it.

Americans are losing their freedom more with each passing day. The Constitution is becoming a dead letter that the government routinely ignores. Natural rights are being viewed as quaint but outdated notions. Economic and social freedoms are eroding. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that Americans will ever unite to take their freedom back. This is because far too many Americans willingly collectivize themselves and others. Unless and until the majority of Americans view one another as individuals and respect the natural rights of all, freedom will continue to disappear. Americans are divided and now are too easily being conquered. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents pitted against one another. Blacks against whites against Hispanics against Asians, etc. Christians against Jews against Muslims against Hindus against Buddhists against atheists, etc. Heterosexuals against homosexuals against transsexuals against bisexuals, etc. Men against women. Generation against generation. If petty hatred is more important than freedom, then we are all lost. We will soon be spewing hatred while we wear coffles around our necks. Or worse yet, nooses. While we fight each other over petty individual differences, the tyrants wage war against us all. The two most recent administrations have proven that both mainstream political parties care only about power and not about the rights of American citizens. Is it really worth it to become distracted by hating others based upon characteristics having nothing to do with character? Is it worth enslaving oneself and one’s children in order to continue to feed this hatred?

Hopefully one day soon a major American professional sport will have its Jackie Robinson. It goes without saying that the integration of all major American sports has had a positive effect on race relations. Had the color barrier not been broken in baseball, football, basketball, hockey, etc., there is no telling how much worse things would be. Individual talents are the enemy of totalitarian collectivism. When Jackie Robinson was viewed as a great baseball talent and an admirable person who just happened to be a black man rather than as just a token of a racial type that happened to be a minority group in the United States, the nation took a giant leap forward. Hopefully one day soon it will take a similar leap forward concerning homosexuals.