KRT Wire | 12/15/2003 | Millen is cowering behind weak apology

KRT Wire | 12/15/2003 | Millen is cowering behind weak apology: "Posted on Mon, Dec. 15, 2003

Millen is cowering behind weak apology
By MICHAEL ROSENBERG
Detroit Free Press

`I apologize to anybody that I offended with that remark' - Lions president Matt Millen
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Matt Millen thinks what he said was bad, but not so bad that he should have to answer questions about it.
That's a shame. I have a few things I'd like to ask.
1. When you called Johnnie Morton a 'faggot,' were you implying that he is gay? In your mind, is that an insult?
2. How would you feel about an NFL executive who called a player, in anger, the n-word? Would that be an 'inappropriate' comment, or would it be worse? And if you think that's worse, why?
3. You also said that Morton said something 'inappropriate' when he told you to 'kiss my ass.' Is his comment the equivalent, in your mind, of what you said?
4. You are the president and chief executive officer of an organization with almost 200 employees. Supposing that at least one of them is gay, would you say that you have created a fair work environment?
There are more than 3,000 athletes in the four major North American pro leagues. In a given decade, more than 10,000 athletes compete in those leagues.
But in the history of American team sports, no active player has ever come out of the closet. The few who have come out at all waited until long after they retired.
And we wonder why.
It's not because none of these players is gay. It's because the ones who are gay are scared to admit it. It's because they know that professional sports create the most hostile work setting for homosexuals of any mainstream industry in the United States.
If you're a gay teenager in this country, you can aspire to be a firefig"