NFL Players Union Endorses Gay Rights, Starts Selling LGBT Shirts
In the wake of several professional athletes coming out as homosexual in recent months, the NFL Players Association has decided to sell LGBT pride T-shirts on its website in honor of LGBT Pride Month, which takes palace this month.
The shirts feature a rainbow-colored NFLPA logo and a "#PRIDE" hashtag on the front. For the back, football fans can choose from the jersey numbers of several NFL players who all support LGBT rights.
Some of the players include free-agent linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin, former Broncos cornerback Domonique Foxworth and former Saints safety Steve Gleason.
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"It's pretty simple for me," Gleason said in an NFLPA statement. "I believe all people are created equal, regardless of their sexuality. To promote respect and acceptance is an important role for NFL players and the NFLPA."
The news comes shortly after Jason Collins, a 12- year National Basketball Association veteran, became the first active professional athlete in the United States to publicly say he is gay.
Collins, who is currently a free agent, said he was gay in an article written by himself and Franz Lidz that was published in the May 6 edition of Sports Illustrated.
After the announcement Chris Broussard, an ESPN analyst, made comments upholding Christian teachings and received a wave of criticism.
Broussard, who is also president of the K.I.N.G Movement ,which works to uplift men through biblical teachings, was asked for his view on Collins' claim on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" and declared they were not consistent with the teachings of the Bible.
"Personally, I don't believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an openly, like premarital sex between heterosexuals. If you are living that type of lifestyle, the Bible says you know them by their fruits, it says that's a sin," said Broussard on the show. "If you're openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, whatever it maybe, I believe that's walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ."
