Heroic Perversity

If you’ve watched any news this week, you probably heard about the courage and heroism of NBA player, Jason Collins. In a recent SI article Collins made it publicly known that he would like to claim his perverse sexual desires as a central aspect of his identity. In other words, he announced he is gay.

In Collins’ interview with sports writer, Bill Simmons, Simmons commented that he suspected someone in the professional sports world would “come out” this year, but he wasn’t sure who, and that Collins was a great person to do so because he’s well spoken and has a reputation as a hard worker and a good team mate. He even said Collins is a “good guy for the locker room.” (I guess there’s no need to comment on the irony in that statement.)

So apparently Simmons’ point here can be paraphrased by saying it’s good when a responsible, hard-working, well-spoken person announces he’s gay. That way people learn that the way one chooses to handle his sexual desires has no moral significance, and that as long as he is a courteous, responsible citizen, how he chooses to respond to his sexual urges with other willing people is no indicator of his character. All those who have struggled with urges toward adultery, promiscuity, and incest will be relieved to hear this.

Collins even got a call from President Obama who applauded him for the courage he’d shown. I have a hard time seeing what part courage plays in a celebrity making an announcement that will make him an instant hero in the eyes of the major media outlets and the mainstream culture, but this is likely because I’m yet to reach that point of moral enlightenment which recognizes the great virtue in following through with one’s inner urges wherever they might lead.

But if Collins really is an example of heroism, I’ll bet it won’t be long before we see some superheroes coming out, next to whom he would look like Robin to Batman. Not long ago those on the vanguard of moral liberation were working tirelessly for the cause of justice, to set free those who had been ostracized and discriminated against simply for wanting to live out their unorthodox sexuality. Today their work has been done, and yesterday’s victims are today’s heroes.

But the project is not complete. There are some today who are demonized and criminalized simply for trying to live out their natural-born orientation. They are those of a “cross-generational orientation” (known in a more insensitive and less enlightened time as pedophiles). One day, perhaps in the near future, a hero will muster the courage to come out from the stagnant, stifling, closet of traditional morality and pedophiliac prejudice. Maybe Bill Simmons is hoping it will be a courteous and well-spoken athlete to break the stereotype. And maybe that hero will get a call from the President too.