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This might be the most asinine sports headline you will see all year. Christianity is a bedrock of the sports world, having shaped the way we perceive athletes and masculinity for the last 100 years. Now, because some gay athletes are coming out, Christians are somehow being shoved into the closet? Insane…

Sports, military putting Christianity in the closet | The Newark Advocate | newarkadvocate.com
Sports and the military used to be America’s foremost bastions of physical toughness, traditional masculinity and outspoken faith.

For Transgender Fighter Fallon Fox, There Is Solace in the Cage – NYTimes.com
Fallon Fox is the first openly transgender athlete in mixed martial arts and the most prominent in a professional sport in decades.

Whitefish Bay student athletes join fight for gay rights | FOX6Now.com
WHITEFISH BAY (WITI) — The fight for gay rights isn’t just taking place in state legislatures. In its own way, it is being played out on athletic fields and inside locker rooms — and a powerful collection of athletes is making sure everyone plays by the rules.

Is it really no big deal that pro-athlete Jason Collins is openly gay? – Opinion – Al Jazeera English
Pundits who have made a career smearing the LGBT community suddenly find themselves in trouble, writes White.

RALEIGH: Canes say all athletes – gay or straight – on ‘one team’ | Carolina Hurricanes | NewsObserver.com
Carolina Hurricanes players Tuomo Ruutu, Kevin Westgarth, Tim Brent and Tim Gleason appear in a You Can Play Project video about gay athletes. “Any race, gay or straight, we are all one team,” Ruutu says.

OSU helps athletes clear hurdles of locker-room stigma – Toledo Blade
COLUMBUS — He was a rising football star in a Texas town where Friday nights were everything. Derrick Anderson had the instincts, the speed of a district champion hurdler, and as a cousin of Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley, the pedigree. As a sophomore starting safety at Class 5A Mansfield Timberview in Arlington, letters already were arriving from interested colleges, including Missouri and Texas A&M. “I knew my talent would get me there in football,” Anderson said. “I just didn’t know personally if I could do it.” Anderson planned to reveal in college what he had kept hidden from his classmates in high school. He was gay. Was big-time college football ready for a player to come out? Anderson decided no, and after tearing up his knee late in his sophomore season, he walked

Former Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo’s path to gay civil rights activist – NY Daily News
Gay civil rights activist and Super Bowl champion Brendon Ayanbadejo says a heterosexual couple — his Irish-American mother and Nigerian father — sparked his interest in marriage equality and LGBT issues. Ayanbadejo said that he might not have ever been born if his parents had met in the 1960s, before the U.S.

They’re Here, They’re Gay, So Let Them Play!
After Sports Illustrated published Jason Collins‘ gay proclamation, President Barack Obama called him, expressing gratitude and support. He also told Collins that he was impressed by his courage.

Being mistaken for Jason Collins creates odd scene at airport for twin brother Jarron Collins – Yahoo! Sports
From Yahoo! Sports: Jarron Collins took part in many media interviews during his 11-year NBA career and is an aspiring basketball television analyst. Despite his experience, things were overwhelming for him shortly after the big announcement.

Would NASCAR Accept an Openly Gay Driver? – Yahoo! Sports
From Yahoo! Sports: COMMENTARY | The question is pretty simple: If a NASCAR driver announced publicly that he was gay, would the NASCAR community accept that?

Stefanie Williams: The Proverbial Turf War Between Jason Collins and Tim Tebow
Stop with the whole, “Why is it OK to make fun of Tim Tebow for being a good Christian but we commend Jason Collins for being gay?” thing. When Tim Tebow can legally get fired in 29 states simply for being a Christian, then we’ll talk.

Why Minnesota’s Governor Shouldn’t Imply That Cutting A Pro-Gay NFL Player Was Shady | ThinkProgress
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton (D) implied on Thursday that outspoken LGBT ally and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe lost his job for reasons other than football or business decisions. But there’s substantial reason to doubt that’s what happened, and it’s not clear that such statements are helpful to making football a more inclusive space for LGBT players.

Roger Goodell: Gay NFL player ‘will be accepted’ – NFL.com
Roger Goodell has the utmost confidence in NFL players. That’s why the commissioner says there won’t be any problems if an NFL player comes out as homosexual.

What it was like to be a gay athlete in 1982
It was very different for Glenn Burke being a gay athlete in the Dodgers in 1982 than it is for NBA player Jason Collins. We really have gotten better .