Letters: Michael Sam puts the NFL on notice

Missouri senior defensive lineman Michael Sam is seen speaking to the media during an NCAA college football news conference in Irving, Texas. Sam says he is gay, and he could become the first openly homosexual player in the NFL.

Feb. 13, 2014 12 AM PT

Re “Michael Sam’s brave stand,” Editorial, Feb. 11

It seems most members of the millennial generation honestly don’t care whether their friends are gay or straight; I know my own kids don’t.

I hope that All-American defensive lineman Michael Sam’s courage is rewarded by other young NFL players saying “so what.” I also hope that, as when the military ended “don’t ask, don’t tell,” America looks back in a year and wonders what all the fuss was about.

The NFL’s acceptance of Sam would put another nail in the coffin of discrimination against LGBT Americans. And maybe Congress will notice and finally pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Joanne Zirretta

Aliso Viejo

In the media coverage after Sam’s coming out, many NFL insiders admitted that NFL locker rooms are places rampant with comments that would be negatively interpreted by outsiders. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that those comments are probably sexist, homophobic and racially insensitive.

Unbelievably, this behavior, as well as routine hazing, appears to be generally accepted by the NFL.

These same insiders will then tell you that the NFL is a business and everything associated with it must be treated as such. This being 2014, I don’t think many businesses condone such workplace behavior.

I am a retired law enforcement officer who spent decades in and around locker rooms for first responders. The paradigm in our profession shifted more than two decades ago with the adoption of zero-tolerance policies on this type of behavior.

The time has come for the NFL to recognize that this behavior is unacceptable in the workplace and to put a stop to it.

Richard Shaw

Santa Clarita

So Sam is gay and NFL insiders are in a tizzy, saying his presence in locker rooms might be a problem.

Jackie Robinson was black, and his presence in locker rooms was a problem, but baseball got over it. Robinson could play baseball, and Sam can play football — but where is the NFL owner with the guts of the Dodgers’ Branch Rickey?

Lynne Hiller

Beverly Hills

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