Atlanta Falcon Allegedly Gay According to MediaTakeout

Would a gay professional athlete from one of the three major professional sports in the United States be able to come out of the closet without ending the world as we know it?

MediaTakeOut.com this week ran a headline that read, "MTO Exclusive: An NFL player from the Atlanta Falcons is gay...and dating a tranney!" ('Tranney' seems to be a misspelling of the more commonly used term 'tranny', which is short for transsexual or transvestite).

The reality behind the headline was not quite the 'bombshell' that you might think. The article said that an unnamed player from the Atlanta Falcons is dating a person named Shemiyia, a bartender at a Louisville, Kentucky establishment. Shemiyia is said to be a 'tranny'. It is not clear in the article if that means Shemiyia is a transvestite (a man who dresses and acts like a woman) or a transsexual (a man who became a woman through a surgical procedure).

The article says that it is not known if the Atlanta Falcon in question even realizes that Shemiyia was born a man. In fact, it said that customers at the Lousiville bar that the Shemiyia tends generally think that Shemiyia was born a woman.

Of course, if the allegedly gay Atlanta Falcon is with this person on an intimate basis, he would know if Shemiyia's current state were male or female.

If the Atlanta Falcon is with Shemiyia on an intimate basis and Shemiyia is still a man who just dresses like a woman, then it would seem that yes, the Atlanta Falcon would be either gay or bisexual.

If, however, Shemiyia is now a woman and the Atlanta Falcon is with her on an intimate basis without knowing she was born a man, there is no reason to think he is gay.

If, however, Shemiyia is now a woman and the Atlanta Falcon knew that she used to be a man, well, that makes the Atlanta Falcon a lover of a tranny. Which probably doesn't really qualify as gay. Though I'm not sure it really qualifies as 'straight' either, truth be told. I don't know what it means. And really I don't care.

At some point, what does any of this matter?

The article on MediaTakeOut.com claims that an Atlanta Falcon is gay, based on the fact that he is allegedly in a relationship with a tranny. Or 'tranney', as the case may be. The article was published, presumably, because MediaTakeOut.com assumes people care about an athlete's sexual orientation. On some level, people probably do care, though far less than what might be generally assumed.

It seems to be only a matter of time before a professional athlete in the NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball comes out as a homosexual.

There are gay people in every walk of life, and most of them do not fit strictly into the narrow stereotype that is so often applied to their group. It would be incredibly naïve to believe that no professional athletes in these three leagues are gay.

I'd be shocked, in fact, if the percentage of gay athletes were significantly less than the 10% ratio that is commonly believed to be in the general population.

And so, what happens if and when a major athlete, whether it is this unnamed Atlanta Falcon or another, comes out as a homosexual? Will people stop tuning in in record numbers every Sunday to watch the NFL because it is known that one the players in one of the games has a sexual preference different than most of the general population? Will people turn away from Major League Baseball, still an immensely popular sport, because one of the 750 players in the league enjoys the company of men? Will people stop following the NBA because one of the players does things in her personal life with another consenting adult that most of us can't relate to?

The story of the allegedly gay Atlanta Falcon and the perhaps, maybe transvestite or transsexual merely serves to highlight how trivial the whole thing really is.

Some people have compared the eventual 'coming out' of a gay athlete to Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier in baseball. I say it will be far less than that story was.

And that is a credit to straight people everywhere.

Increasingly, nobody really cares what goes on behind closed doors between consenting adults. Just give us our sports.

Source:

Staff, "MTO EXCUSIVE: AN NFL PLAYER FROM THE ATLANTA FALCONS IS GAY . . . AND DATING A TRANNEY!!! (DETAILS AND PICS)", mediatakeout.com