NFL Gay Player: League Vows to Protect Gay Members From Cyber Bullying

After the National Hockey League announced its partnership with pro-gay sports organization You Can Play to promote tolerance for openly gay athletes in professional sports, the National Football League is also coming out in support of gays in sports — according to Towleroad.  

"Our league and team security people would be ready to monitor any kind of public reaction that might not be appropriate, including scrubbing social media" for potential threats," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "We would assist the player in dealing with any adverse public reaction of any type, if there is any. Hopefully there wouldn't be and it would be a non-issue, which it should be," he added.

The inclusive measure follows a dramatic reversal in American public opinion regarding LGBT rights, just as the Supreme Court readies to rule on Proposition 8, a 2008 California ban on same sex marriage, and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman for all federal purposes such as taxation and survival benefits.

The move is also a good PR strategy for the NFL, which came under fire recently for asking prospective Colorado player Nick Kasa is he "liked girls." 

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