On Monday’s “Outside the Lines” on ESPN, NBA reporter Chris Broussard (pictured) questioned Jason Collins’s assessment that he is a Christian in addition to being the first openly male gay athlete in any of the major American sports. Openly gay correspondent LZ Granderson responded by making the case for gay marriage without addressing the question Broussard was answering. While the White House and former President Bill Clinton lauded Collins’s “courage” in making his announcement, it may have taken more courage to make Broussard’s comments.
On Monday, Collins announced he was gay and said he will march in the gay rights parade June 8 in Boston. However, Democratic leaders have made a point of saying that the overwhelming majority of Americans now support gay marriage, and Collins and gay marriage advocates are widely accepted. The courage may be required of those like Broussard who are willing to say they believe Christianity is a set of beliefs that precludes certain beliefs, including an openly homosexual lifestyle.
Broussard did not say Collins was going to hell, and did not say living an openly homosexual lifestyle was worse than other things identified in the Bible as sinful. He simply questioned if someone who did not wish to stop engaging in something that was viewed as wrong in the Bible was a Christian.
“Personally, I don’t believe you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle … if you are openly living that type of lifestyle, then the bible says… that’s a sin. If you are openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, adultry, fornication, premarital sex between heterosexuals … I believe that is walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ …. I would not categorize that person as a Christian because I don’t think the bible would categorize him as a Christian.”
In response, Granderson, the openly gay correspondent, responded in part by saying, “I would love not to have premarital sex, but in this country I am not allowed to get married,” either of which have been viewed as sins historically in Christianity.