It was brave of Collins to do this. He is a hero both in the sense of showing courage and strong character and in the sense that he now provides a role model to both the young gay athlete trying to fit into a sports culture that is still homophobic and cruel at many levels and to other professional athletes who want to come out of the closet.

I don’t believe this is an extraordinarily brave decision. A decade or two ago, it would have been. Now, it is a fairly safe choice to make. Nike has been openly seeking a gay athlete in a major sport, he’ll gain a great deal of fame, probably write a book, speaking engagements, etc. – a place in history for being the first.

As LZ Granderson has argued – it is work to come out, but it is also work to stay in the closet. Collins’ decision may be as pragmatic as anything else. The ‘easy’ path for Colllins was closed off a long time ago, but that wasn’t a heroic choice.

This was an inevitability. That doesn’t make Collins announcement irrelevant – he’s still the first within a small percentage of the population to do it – but it’s not as brave or heroic as many well-intentioned people want it to be. Collins deserves our respect and support and his name deserves to go in the book of famous firsts.

Important – yes. Heroic – no. Difficult – probably not, but you’d have to ask him. But you won’t have to because hundreds of reporters will.

Then I agree

As far as restricting access to guns themselves (to all Americans), listen, if bombs were something that you could purchase at your neighborhood Walmart, we’d be having a conversation about “bomb control.” But you can’t, so we’re not. Gun control is not about restricting anyone’s first amendment rights. It’s about protecting the constitution itself and the “unalienable rights” of the American way of life, namely “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Emphasis on LIFE.