Michael Sam talks about racism in the gay community
Former football player says black community has been accepting of his being gay
Photo by via ESPN
“People have told me I’m not gay enough, people have told me I’m not black enough. … You want to be accepted by other people but you don’t even accept someone just because of the color of their skin? I just don’t understand that at all.”
—Michael Sam, the first openly gay man to be drafted by the National Football League, in an interview with Attitude magazine, talking about some of the racism he’s experienced from fellow members of the gay community becasue of his race.
In contrast, Sam said that his experience among the black community as an openly gay man has been one of acceptance. “There are a lot of black, openly gay people. A lot of people have [gay] friends, cousins, brothers, sisters,” Sam said. “People tell me they have family members who are gay and it doesn’t freak them out and no black person ever freaked out at me, ‘Oh you’re gay.’ None.”
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