Former NFL player criticised for saying ‘it is not realistic for every team to accept gay players’
A former NFL footballer and radio analyst has come under criticism for saying that he thought it was unfeasible for all teams to accept gay players in the locker room, because of religious opposition to homosexuality.
Jim Miller, a former NFL footballer, and current radio analyst for Michigan State University games said in a radio interview with WSCR-AM in Chicago, that he thought some sections of society would never accept gay football players.
He said: “There are some religions that are just not going to accept a gay individual in the locker room… So now, are you, as an organisation, going to bring that element into your locker room and think everything is going to be OK?”
Commenting on Mike Florio, a critic and writer behind profootballtalk.com, who questioned the issue of gay players being able to come out in a recent column.
Miller said: “Last time I checked, whether it’s Christianity or Muslims or other religions that are out there, they’re just not going to accept it. They’re just not. It’s just not realistic for Mike Florio or any progressive or liberal to think that everything is going to be OK in the locker room, and we should all just wise up and accept it.”
Mike Florio took umbrage at Miller’s stance on the matter, and responded in a column published on Wednesday evening.
He wrote: “For those who believe sexuality is a choice (I don’t), the concept of free will makes matters that occur behind closed doors the business only of the participants and their maker.”
“For those who believe that sexual orientation is no different than hair color or nose shape (I do), how would Jesus treat such people? Would He drive out with stones the perverse sexual demons that were hard-wired into their DNA? Or would He love them and accept them?
“But, hey, maybe I’m just taking specific Biblical passages out of context. I mean, maybe God wants us to reject His creatures for the way He created them.”
