Jason Collins, Coming Out- Tyler Crellin

Society makes us scared, it makes us afraid to try new things, say something different, or be the person we want to be. The reason for this is because of the norms of our society, our society looks and judges things that are different from the norm. Jason Collins is the number 1 example of sub coming to the norms of society. He faced diversity all of his life, believing that he could not come out of shell because of what society might think of him. Things changed when the 2011 NBA player lock out happened. For the first time Jason did not have the distraction of basketball to provide shelter on his inner thoughts, and on who he wanted to be. It would be extremely difficult to dwell on your own thoughts for a long period of time, when trying to avoid it for so long. It was not soon after that Jason decided to come out and tell the world the person he really is. Someone had to be the poster boy for gays, and be the first one to come out. Before Jason, no male had openly come out in full media press conference and announce that he is gay. I think it is good for society, because there are a lot of people who are gay in our society today, and now they have a role model they can look at and say "hey, he came out, I shouldn't be afraid to too". I think what Jason did took a lot of courage and was not easy to do, but he will be remembered for what he did. To some, he will be looked upon as an outcast, to others he will be looked at as role model to the gay community.