The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) has called Chris Broussard courageous for speaking out against
Jason Collins.
After Collins, an NBA free agent, came
out gay on Monday, Broussard, a sports analyst who mainly covers the
NBA for ESPN, said Collins was living in “unrepentant sin.”
“Personally, I don’t believe that
you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an openly, like
premarital sex between heterosexuals,” Broussard said on ESPN's
Outside the Lines. “If you’re openly living that type of
lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits. It says
that, you know, that’s a sin. If you’re openly living in
unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, whatever
it may be, I believe that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to
Jesus Christ. So I would not characterize that person as a Christian
because I don’t think the Bible would characterize them as a
Christian.”
During an interview with Lutheran
Public Radio's Issues, Etc., Jennifer Morse, founder and
president of the Ruth Institute, a project of NOM, claimed Broussard
as a spokesperson.
“I think he required more courage
than the basketball player did,” Morse
said. “I mean, it requires no courage at all today to say 'I'm
gay.' It's my understanding [Collins] got a phone call from the
president congratulating him on his courage. Well how much courage
can it take if the president's going to pick up the phone and give
you a personal phone call, you know? But in the meantime, this
fellow who says, you know, 'I'm a Christian, and I believe that sex
belongs in marriage and it belongs in man-woman marriage,' to say
that, now that will bring the whole wrath of society down upon your
head. So that's the guy that really required the courage and I give
him a lot of credit for it.”
“I was actually quite touched by his
comments because – hate to say this because the gay lobby will
certainly pick up on this – but I want you to know I did not coach
this man at all whatsoever, but he sounds like a spokesman for the
Ruth Institute because he's there saying all of these sins are sexual
sins,” she added.
(Related: Pat
Robertson defends Chris Broussard; Says nothing “bigoted” about
attack on Jason Collins.)