For many Americans, talking to kids about homosexuality is isn’t a conversation perhaps their parents had with them. It’s a subject that because of rapidly changing times, however, has become more and more mainstream.
Sports, in particular, has become a place where sexual diversity is becoming more and more commonplace, with gay pride theme nights in arenas and stadiums throughout the country.
But, “do we really need this,” asks Julaine Appling, President of Wisconsin Family Action. Her organization’s mission is to “strengthening, promoting, and preserving marriage, family, life, and religious freedom from a conservative viewpoint.”
Appling adds that the media has created a double standard, asking “why are we are trying to make heroes out of people who are simply saying ‘this is my sexual orientation, I want the whole world to know’ and yet, by the way, when people come out and say ‘I’m a Christian and I want the whole world to know,’ they get maligned.”
On Thursday, we told you the story of Cardinal Stritch volleyball player Felipe Oliveira, who used a class project to come out of the closet. You might think there isn’t any common ground between Felipe and Julaine Appling.
There actually is, but you have to look for it.
They would both like to see the day when stories of athletes coming out of the closet are no longer newsworthy.