So what if Jason Collins is gay?

By Kels Dayton
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Updated: May 1, 2013

So Jason Collins is gay.

So what?

Will this change anything?

Does it really matter?

The author couldn’t care less that Collins is gay.(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images).

I’m not saying this to diminish what Collins did by coming out on Monday. I think the courage that it took for him to stand up and make his announcement was commendable. I think it’s cool as hell that President Obama and the first lady came out to support him, and that a lot of young kids will now understand that it’s OK to be who they are and not try and change for somebody else.

What I’m saying is, I don’t care that Jason Collins is gay. Just like I don’t care that Jeremy Lin is Asian-American, that Charlie Villanueva has alopecia, or that Caron Butler came from a ridiculously tough background to make it in the league.

It doesn’t matter to me. It’s none of my damn business. I’m over it, just like the nation is over the inane stance that African-Americans can’t play in the major leagues, that women can’t have high-paying jobs, or that we don’t need background checks on people trying to purchase weapons of mass destruction. Oh, wait…

The fact that Jason Collins is gay shouldn’t have any impact on his ability to fit in on a team.

It is the height of stupidity to be concerned about things like whether or not a gay player could co-exist with teammates, shower alongside them or get dressed in the locker room. Like Charles Barkley said on TNT last night, “If you’re an NBA player and you don’t think you’ve played with a gay teammate, you’re just dumb.”

Athletes may not be the most articulate, intelligent group of people in the world, but they can’t get caught up in that nonsense, can they?

In this day and age, it’s time to let everyone be themselves. It’s time to put away stupid prejudices and venomous, manufactured talking points like the ones they use to push an agenda on Fox News. To say that the Bible bans gay people is insulting to anyone with half of a brain. In fact, it’s even insulting to people with quarter-brains.

Why? Because it makes no sense.

Being gay isn’t a choice. That’s a scientific fact, much in the way that being black isn’t a choice, or being short isn’t a choice, or being tall or a Chicago Cubs fan. You’re just born that way, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If being gay were a choice, do you think anyone in the world would actually choose it, knowing that they’re going to face discrimination and ridicule and half-baked passive-aggressive hate speech from religious nut jobs?

Of course not.

It’s time to stop caring so much whether or not someone is black or white, gay or straight, Christian or Muslim or atheist.

It’s time to stop spewing the twisted and ignorant viewpoints like the one Chris Broussard denigrated himself with on ESPN yesterday. Yeah, the Bible says “know them by their fruits,” but it also says that you can’t eat ham, speak in church (if you’re a woman), or get a rounded haircut.

Of course it’s okay to be gay.

Just like it’s okay to be Mexican, Asian, a diabetic, a Cubs fan, or Ron Artest.

That’s why Jason Collins’ announcement meant nothing to me the other day.

And that’s why I’m in the majority. There are enough things in this world to worry about without lowering yourself into a state of such insecurity that you can’t accept someone else’s differences. There’s enough sorrow and hatred in the world. It’s time to accept everybody.

Because in the end, it really doesn’t matter that Jason Collins is gay.

What matters is, he can be himself.