While most of the country yawned at Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes‘ “homophobic” joke on Twitter two weeks ago, some in New England aren’t satisfied with the non-response from the team and no apology from Spikes.
MassEquality, one of the state's leading gay-rights groups, wants to see Spikes and he Patriots show they won't tolerate anti-gay bullying by creating an It Gets Better video (via Boston Spirit):
While most of the country yawned at Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes‘ “homophobic” joke on Twitter two weeks ago, some in New England aren’t satisfied with the non-response from the team and no apology from Spikes.
MassEquality, one of the state’s leading gay-rights groups, wants to see Spikes and he Patriots show they won’t tolerate anti-gay bullying by creating an It Gets Better video (via Boston Spirit):
Failing to take seriously offensive remarks by public figures is one of the reasons why we see statistics like those. If Brandon Spikes is serious about the fact that he was joking, then let him prove it by making an 'It Gets Better' video. In fact, we like to see the New England Patriots join the Boston Red Sox in making an 'It Gets Better' video. That would send a tremendous message to Pats fans everywhere that there is no place for bullying on the sports field or off.
Patriots executive Jessica Gelman is on the advisory board of the You Can Play project.
Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley, who is gay, didn't appreciate Spikes' joke one bit. After talking with a closeted athlete who was affected by Spikes' tweet, Buckley wrote a column titled: Spikes 'joke' not funny, Let's closet door on tired act.
Perhaps Brandon Spikes can have a chat with the Patriots fan who introduced himself to me during halftime of last week’s Pats-Broncos game at Gillette Stadium. During our talk, the man told me how proud he is of his 20-year-old son, who happens to be gay.
Yesterday, I got in touch with the guy and asked him how he reacted to Spikes’ tweet.
He said that while he wasn’t necessarily “offended” by the tweet, he agreed that “it was certainly insensitive. And it doesn’t help things.”
And then he told me that, yeah, things were tough there for a while when his son decided to come out — in high school.
So, yeah, Brandon, go ahead and talk to this guy. Tell him it was a joke.
Wow. Tough to argue that one.
PHOTO: Joe Nicholson-US PRESSWIRE
