Not hiring Jason Collins shows real equality

Jason Collins made headlines and history earlier this year when he became the first openly gay professional male athlete in a team sport, but he may have been too late.

He wasn’t too late to bring awareness and acceptance of homosexuality to an area of popular culture long lacking in both.

He wasn’t too late to receive well-deserved praise from the likes of Kobe Bryant, NBA commissioner David Stern, and President Obama.

He wasn’t too late to make his decision a milestone in the history of both professional basketball — make that professional sports — and gay rights.

Jason Collins did not come out too late to accomplish any of these things.

But he may have come out too late to play.

“Opportunities like this don’t happen often, and the NBA — arguably the most progressive of the four major American team sports — is failing miserably,” wrote Jeff Pearlman in an Oct. 17 column on CNN.com, lamenting that Collins is still unsigned two weeks before the new basketball season begins.     

Incidentally, the reasons why Collins isn’t playing have nothing to do with his sexuality.
Collins is 34-years-old, nearing retirement age in a sport filled with young talent. His athletic ability is no longer at the level demanded of professional basketball players.

Pearlman acknowledges this, yet insists that Collins should be signed simply because he is openly gay.

This isn’t a valid reason.

I think Collins’s coming out was a milestone, too, but claiming that his sexuality alone entitles him to a position in the NBA is just wrong. It undermines everything Collins’ coming out was supposed to say about equality.  

Everyone who praised and accepted Collins was essentially saying, “I know you’re gay, but that’s not a problem for me. I’ll treat you with the same dignity and respect as I’d treat anyone else.”

Claiming Collins should play simply because he’s a gay figurehead has a different message: “I know you’re gay, so I’m going to treat you differently. You may not be physically qualified for the team, but I’ll hire you anyway because you’d be a good example of how progressive and tolerant we are.”

Call me naïve, but I think equality is more than hiring a token gay player as a glorified mascot.   

Of course, it would be different if it seemed that the NBA was refusing to sign an athlete simply because he was openly gay, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.  

Rather, it’s Collins’s lack of athletic potential that’s causing him to be passed over, just like all the other aging athletes who won’t be playing this year.
It’s time we stopped categorizing players as straight or gay and started considering them simply as athletes. If we’re going to judge players, we should base it on their skill.  

Players should be signed according to their ability on the court, regardless of their sexuality or, for that matter, off-the-court fame.  

That’s what equality is all about.

— kkusisto@indiana.edu