Elton.com's Joey Guerra expounds on barriers to the acceptance of gay athletes in an editorial entitled, 'Homophobia in Sports: Is the Media Part of the Problem?'

By and large, the media seems to agree that professional male sports is a long way from acceptance of homosexuality--but many writers are also taking players and coaches to task for it.

Guerra discusses recent articles from Bloomberg.com's Scott Soshnick, the Boston Herald's Mark Murphy, and the Washington Post's Sally Jenkins, closing with an argument posed by Yvette Christofilis, director of a White Plains gay and lesbian community center interviewed in the Journal News by Ian O'Connor.

It's not the fans the gay player is probably worried about. If it was just the fans, more men and women would be coming out. I think it's the locker room, the organizations, the leaderships and the advertisers. I think most fans would applaud it.

The change, Guerra contends, needs to come first from professional sports organizations holding fast to the 'Don't ask, don't tell' mantra. "The fans will follow suit".