Actor Eric Stonestreet on Wednesday
said out professional athletes Michael Sam and Jason Collins are
having an impact on society.
Openly gay athletes will someday be
considered common, Stonestreet predicted.
“It's going to be considered common,”
he
told the AP. “It's not going to feel taboo, and people are not
going to feel they need to be closeted or keep their sexuality a
secret because of other people's opinions.”
Stonestreet, who plays a gay man
raising a daughter with his husband on ABC's Modern Family,
added: “Times are changing and Jason Collins, Michael Sam and those
guys who have come out are most definitely having an impact with
society.”
Sam is the NFL's first openly gay
player, while Collins is the NBA's first.
“We have gay athletes in professional
sports. There's no way around it. There's no doubt that that's
true, and anybody who doesn't think there's gay athletes in
professional sports doesn't understand basic sociology,”
Stonestreet added. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
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