He Kissed a Boy and He Liked It

When you are trying to get a message out to the rest of the world you have to identify your target demographic and understand their impressions. It isn’t relevant if these impressions are wrong or should be something else; it’s a matter of designing a counter message that they will understand.

The early days of the gay rights movement in the 70s and 80s is a prime example. If the goal was to make Middle America understand the plight of homosexuals then better consideration should have been given to the images that Middle America understood at the time. Instead, the prayer before dinner and the take off your shoes before coming in the house crowd was inundated by some gay activists with over the top public displays such as two hairy men dressed in sadomasochistic attire while simulating anal sex being paraded down Main Street. If the intent was to show the average American that homosexuals were just like everybody else this in your face message did not connect.

However, over the past decade or two a softer and more effective storyline regarding the plight of homosexuals began to play out. The horrible stories of bullying, the family rejections, and the inability of same sex couples, many of whom have often been together longer than many heterosexual marriages, to make medical and other decisions for each other began to humanize the likeness of the average homosexual person. Now the bulb began to go off in the minds of Middle America. “Hey, they really are just like us.” 

Let’s consider the Michael Sam’s kiss. In case you’ve been living under a rock he kissed his boyfriend while celebrating being drafted into the NFL. Now, being that he is the first openly gay player to be drafted into the league, should this be the first image he tossed out to players and fans?

The culture of professional football is not exactly known for its outstanding sensitivity. In fact, over the past few years many of our heroes of the gridiron have paid to make their rape of women allegations go away, others have beat women or killed people while driving drunk, and still others have been caught doing various illegal activities with illegal substances in hotel rooms.

So, considering the ways of a significant part of the world of professional football players and those who worship them no matter what they do, what should Michael Sam have done right out of the gate instead of kissing his boyfriend to gain a wider acceptance into this subculture?

Well, maybe what Michael Sam should have done is slapped the hell out of his boyfriend until he learned how to listen. At that point I’m sure the bulb would have gone off for many players around the league that, “Hey, they really are just like us.”