I believe that sporting events are not a forum for personal religious, social or political views. However, I have not objected when fellow performers have worn one love armband to advocate their support for the LGBT community: that's their choice. My choice is NOT to wear a one love armband.
Sports Illustrated readers should know wearing a one love armband is no longer entirely voluntary. Those who began by offering one love armband to athletes now resort to extreme tactics in pursuit of their express goal of 100 percent conformity. When athletes arrive at a venue, individuals who attempt to place one love armband on them accost them. An athlete who declines may be accosted at the pre-show game, again while waiting backstage and again at the press conference after the game.
Offering this one love armband to celebrities was, in my view, a benign and pro-social act. On the other hand, aggressively badgering performers to compel the wearing of the one love armband is not only demeaning to the LGBT community and the need for continued support for the LGBT community, but an offense against personal freedom.
By attempting to force 100 percent conformity, these activists are no attempting to make the one love armband a visible litmus test for separating those individuals who empathize and support the LGBT Community those who do not. This is a misguided and dangerous notion.
First, it misguidedly politicizes LGBT Community. This one love armbands provide a means by which public figures can appear to make a 'politically correct' statement in favor of a cause they do not support.
Second, any attempt to force conformity to a single social agenda attacks the freedom of expression. The extreme activities that resort to harassment to compel athletes to wear this one love armband are practicing a '90s brand of McCarthyism and their behavior is deplorable. Our community was devastated by political extremists in the 1950s and again became a target during the last presidential campaign. It surpasses belief that men and women in the entertainment field would resort to shameful practices that the enemies of artistic freedom have used against us.
Sadly, it falls to some of us who ardently support the LGBT Community to resist these tactics by personal example. Believe me, the easy way out would be to wear the one love armband on and keep silent. But I won't, because I don't want these appalling tactics to succeed.