Chicago Tribune sports writer Chris Hine came out publicly as a gay man in a column today about the Atlanta Falcon's NFL Combine questions about the sexual orientation of prospective draftees. How did he feel about the question, "Do you like men?"
As a 29-year-old gay man, I spent the better part of two decades agonizing over that question and finally, when I was 20, came to accept that the answer was "Yes." It took another two years before I could tell my family, another year after that before I mustered up the courage to tell my closest friends and, well, six years after that to finally write about it in the Chicago Tribune.
ESPN Radio’s Steve Mason also came out publicly as a result of the Falcon’s inappropriate NFL Combine questions.
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Beyond coming out, Hine took the opportunity to point out the deficiencies in the progress the NFL has made for gay players. The league still has no active player who's publicly out, and coaches and front-office executives still live in this fantasy world where the majority of players care if their teammates are gay.
Hine is a former intern at both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. He previously covered football and men's basketball at Illinois and Notre Dame was a student at the latter.
Congratulations, Chris! Trust me, life just keeps getting better once you're out to everyone.
