This is
a question posed by Ian Gordon and Matt Connolly for Mother
Jones. As everyone heard by now Missouri All-American defensive end
Michael Sam came out on Sunday as gay. Almost immediately after Sam came out
people started noting that some football teams might not want THE GAY on THE
TEAM, team cohesion and all that.
So what
do we know? Well, 27 of the 32 NFL teams are in jurisdictions that have some
kind of state or local laws prohibiting discrimination against gay employees.
We also know that in 2011, the league and the NFL Players Association added an
anti-discrimination policy in their collective bargaining agreement.
Additionally, the New York attorney general’s office reminded the NFL that
questions about intimate partner relationships constitute as discrimination
under state law (the NFL is based in Manhattan).
If a
player thought that a team was breaking the league’s policy (or state/local
laws), the union could file a grievance on behalf of the player. That could
lead to arbitration and some kind of penalty for individuals or teams involved.
Then if a player wanted he could pursue the case in the courts.
That
said, what about drafting? If not being drafted a form of discrimination? Like
any kind of job, skills and a variety of other things go into being picked or
not. However, if someone who is consistently qualified keeps getting passed because
of gender, sexuality, etc. then it is discrimination. But like every kind of
discrimination, that is hella hard to prove. As far as anonymous discriminatory
comments would have to be traced back to the source and could then be used to
prove a gay player wasn’t picked up.
Sam is
one of the best players around right now, and I can’t imagine some progressive
team wouldn’t pick him up. Anyway, in Cleveland beggars can’t be choosers.
