In early 1945, two years before baseball allowed Jackie Robinson to re-integrate its ranks after more than half a century, upwards of 50 black sailors, including two officers, joined the Sea Cloud crew. Skinner's leadership, buoyed by support from Naval command, created the U.S.'s first integrated service ship. It served without incident. Three years later, President Truman ordered segregation out of the military.
It took the military's backing and a president's signature on Wednesday to again show sports what is needed to erase another lingering prejudice -- this one against gay men, especially.
The bill President Obama autographed, which repealed Congress's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that banned gay people from serving this country openly, reminded that it isn't anecdotal heroism that is needed to change hearts and minds. It is leadership.
It will take more than the first brave gay pro athlete in a major sport in America, as many of us have often thought, to break what is now our last bastion of "don't ask, don't tell," which is the pro sports world. It will take, instead, an unequivocal pronouncement from league commissioners and union bosses that maintaining an inhospitable environment for gay players and personnel is unacceptable.
It will take Roger Goodell, David Stern, Bud Selig, Gary Bettman and Don Garber -- as well as new NCAA president Mark Emmert -- to echo the president, who on Wednesday said: "This is a very good day. This morning I'm proud to sign a law that will bring an end to 'don't ask, don't tell.' No longer will tens of thousands of Americans be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country that they love."
Likewise, those among us who work and sweat and sacrifice to become top-notch athletes shouldn't have to fear having to abandon that desire if someone finds out they aren't heterosexual. They shouldn't have to dash their dreams because a team or coach makes the experience intolerable.
There are some signs that our sports are becoming less tolerable of athletes or coaches who flaunt, or fake, masculinity by spitting gay slurs as if they were some popular song's well-known lyrics. Just last month, for example, Buffalo rookie running back C.J. Spiller apologized for using such a slur on his Twitter account while exchanging tweets with his former Clemson teammate now with the Eagles, defensive end Ricky Sapp. The offensive tweet was deleted.
Last year, the University of Hawaii reprimanded its football coach Greg McMackin and its women's basketball coach Jim Bolla for using derogatory language about gay men and lesbians. McMackin issued a public apology and Bolla was eventually fired for extenuating matters.
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