Steelers quarterback Landry Jones talks about issue of gay players and his own religion

Steelers rookie quarterback Landry Jones is charged with the difficult task of backing up Ben Roethlisberger. That's a difficult position to hold with the Pittsburgh Steelers simply because Ben Roethlisberger does tend to find himself sidelined with injuries from time to time.

If there's anything that jumps out about Landry Jones, it's his personality. Anyone who's met him says the same thing. He has an outstanding outlook on life, and he's an open, friendly person to engage. He's also extremely devoted to his Christian faith, and in the coming years, that will become more and more important, especially should he become more than just another backup quarterback.

Cyd Zeigler of SBNation had a chance to talk to Jones about his faith and how that affects his views towards and about gay athletes. In recent years, the issue of gay athletes has made its way to the forefront of the sports world, and there have been inflammatory comments made by current athletes as well as remarks of acceptance. Landry Jones gave yet another perspective.

"Now, do I condone what they're doing? No, I don't think it's right," Jones told Zeigler. "But, am I going to go out there and not talk to them? Am I going to go out there and be hateful and mean to them? I think that's ignorant. I think we respect and love everybody. But, there's also a moral standard there for me, and I'm going to take a stand on that. I don't think it's right, but it's their life and I'm not going to go up because someone is gay and be mean or hateful and say terrible things to them. I'm going to treat them like a human being."

The fact of the matter is that one's views on homosexuality, and in turn gay athletes, are a personal matter of opinion. Some see no problem with homosexuality, some have a huge problem with it, and some people simply don't agree with it in the way that they don't agree with waking up early in the morning; it's not for them, but that doesn't mean anyone that wakes up very early in the morning is bad, it simply means they're their own person.

Landry Jones has developed his views on homosexuality based on his religious faith. There's nothing wrong with that. He doesn't agree with leading a homosexual lifestyle. That's okay too. The key point here is that he's also ready to treat those that don't hold such convictions as equal human beings. Acceptance doesn't necessarily mean unanimous agreement; there's nothing of that sort in this world. As the issue of gay athletes becomes more prevalent, battle lines may be drawn, and we'll need rational thinking people to help sort out the issue. Count Landry Jones as one such rational person.

About Shane Clemons

Shane Clemons came from humble beginnings creating his own Jaguars blog before moving on to SBNation as a featured writer for the Jaguars. He then moved to Bloguin where he briefly covered the AFC South before taking over Bloguin's Jaguars blog. Since the inception of This Given Sunday, Shane has served as an editor for the site, doing his best not to mess up a good thing.

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