NBA player Jason Collins became the first openly gay professional athlete of a major sport when he came out on the cover of last month’s Sports Illustrated. Despite the fact that most media coverage of Collins’ announcement has been overwhelmingly positive, ESPN commentator Chris Broussard personally condemned homosexuality in an on-air broadcast as “walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ.” In response to Broussard’s comments and a weak apology, the Religious Institute and Auburn Theological Seminary’s Groundswell network created an online petition to urge ESPN to be more responsible in how it portrays people of faith when it comes to social hot-button issues. Reverend John Vaughn, executive vice president of the Auburn Theological Seminary, will be on the show this week to discuss the petition and how he hopes sports media will handle stories like this in the future.
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