With a 20-season major league career, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has seen it all including gay teammates. Sportingnews.com reported Friday that Schilling admits that he has played alongside gay teammates and don’t understand why there would be a problem with gay players on the field on in the locker room. Schilling made a series of tweets defending gay athletes in reaction and in response to anti-gay remarks made by San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver who said he wouldn’t want gay players on his team. Culliver later apologized for his remarks.
There has yet to be an active player in major league baseball to come out as gay, but Schilling says he has had gay teammates and can’t see what the big deal is on the issues. In a series of Tweets, Schilling says:
“I’ve never understood this ‘issue’ with gay players? Who cares? I know I played with some, their sexual orientation never had much to…To do with how they hit with RISP, or pitched in late and close situations, why the hell would what they do in the bedroom ever matter?”
Schilling, who also pitched for Philadelphia, Arizona, Baltimore and Houston, believes a player should only be judged by how they perform on the field but their still lacks a comfort in professional sports for athletes who are gay to feel accepted.
Former Pittsbugh Pirates ower and CEO Kevin McClatchy came out as gay back in September of 2012 and said a reason he stayed silent about his sexuality because the atmosphere was not right and criticized the baseball industry for not providing an atmosphere where more players and executives can be open about their sexuality. In an interview McClatchy said:
“You’re not going to solve any problem until you start dialogue, and there’s no dialogue right now.”
Perhaps the dialogue is starting now.
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