49ers would welcome gay player onto their team

[Storm Shadow]

http://www.mercurynews.com/49ers/ci_25163275/colin-kaepernick-says-49ers-would-welcome-gay-player

Colin Kaepernick says 49ers would welcome gay player onto their team

SANTA CLARA -- Colin Kaepernick says gay linebacker Michael Sam would be welcome in the 49ers locker room if the University of Missouri product is drafted by the club in May.
"When he steps into that locker room, everyone is going to know he's there to help us win games. That's why you're in the NFL: to help us win games," Kaepernick said Sunday on ESPN, in advance of co-hosting Cartoon Network's "Hall of Game Awards" Monday night.
"Nobody cares if you're black, white, straight, gay, Christian, Jewish, whatever it may be. When you step on that field, you're a member, in my case, the 49ers. That's your job, your occupation."
Sam, who revealed earlier this month that he is gay, will take part in the NFL's scouting combine that begins Saturday in Indianapolis.
For the second straight year, Kaepernick will be at Cartoon Network's viewer-oriented awards show in Los Angeles. Co-hosting with him for Monday night's show is Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, who Kaepernick and the 49ers eliminated in the NFC divisional playoffs last month 23-10.
Newton, also in the ESPN interview alongside Kaepernick, said the Panthers also would be happy to have Sam on their team.
Said Newton: "The main focus with football players is we're here in this organization for one reason and one reason only, and if you're helping us attain that winning success, your personal life is your personal life."
Jonathan Martin's bullying allegations against the Miami Dolphins didn't have a trickle-down effect with the 49ers last season, Kaepernick said.
"Nothing on our team changed," Kaepernick said. "We have a very tight knit group in our locker room. We joke around, we have a good time, we'll mess with each other here and there, but it's all in good fun.
"At the end of the day when we step on the field, they're on our side and they're helping us win games."

This is a mature and very classy statement from Colin Kaepernick ..

Let's evolve people and quit being so backwards thinking ...Let's go Michael Sam!

 

[PaullyHighBred]

So would a lot of other teams...

86 percent OK with gay teammate

If Missouri defensive end Michael Sam is drafted in May and becomes the NFL's first openly gay player, he'll walk into a league that seems to be moving closer to acceptance but is still dealing with growing pains as it does so.
Survey of NFL Players

ESPN.com's NFL Nation and ESPN The Magazine asked players, on the condition of anonymity, four true-false questions about their thoughts on having a gay teammate. Here are the results:
• A player's sexual orientation matters to you.
» True: 7
» False: 44

• I had teammates or coaches who used homophobic slurs last season.
» True: 32
» False: 19

• I would shower around a gay teammate.
» True: 39
» False: 12

• An openly gay player would be comfortable in an NFL locker room.
» True: 25
» False: 21
» No answer: 5



ESPN.com's NFL Nation and ESPN The Magazine combined on an anonymous survey last week off the news of Sam coming out as the first openly gay NFL prospect. Fifty-one players, almost an entire team roster, responded to four true-false questions. Although the survey showed that most players aren't concerned with another's sexual orientation, it also made clear the concerns that players would have with learning how to relate to an openly gay teammate.
Forty-four players said a teammate's sexual orientation didn't matter to them, and 39 said they would be comfortable showering around a gay teammate. But 32 players said they had teammates or coaches who used homophobic slurs last season, and when asked whether an openly gay player would be comfortable in a NFL locker room, just 25 players said yes; 21 said no, while five declined to answer.
One concern for players appeared to be learning how they could relate to a teammate they knew was gay and whether they would need to behave any differently around him.
According to one starting receiver, "Whoever takes [Sam in the draft] should have an open talk at the beginning of camp, where everybody can ask what he's comfortable with, what offends him, what boundaries there should be. When it comes to race, people already know the boundaries, to a certain extent. But I don't think football players are overly familiar with what can and can't be said around a gay person."
Sam, who announced he is gay in a Feb. 9 interview with ESPN's "Outside the Lines," said his Missouri teammates rallied around him last season after he revealed his sexual orientation to them.
"I'm telling you what: I wouldn't have the strength to do this today if I didn't know how much support they'd given me this past semester," he said in the interview.
But one NFL starting tight end, who believes Sam will encounter some difficulties in the league, said, "There is a little more of a family environment in college. It was more like having brothers. In the NFL, you have friends, but it's a more work-oriented environment. I hope guys can be professional and respect who he is and leave his personal life out of it."
Sam, who was co-SEC defensive player of the year last season, is expected to be drafted between the third and fifth rounds in May. He had 11.5 sacks and 19 tackles for loss in 2013, leading the SEC in both categories.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...veyed-say-teammates-sexual-orientation-matter