Somebody ban this guy, seems like a freak and a very weird dude...

That awkward moment where he has the power to ban me and I don't have the power to ban him...

Just kidding gobbo plz dnt ban me

To all those previously in the thread posting something to the effect of "Who cares about this, it's 2012" Out of the 2 major political parties in the United States, 1 has virtually every candidate against gay marriage and equal rights for people in the LGBT group. There's also the horrible treatment of LGBT people in many other countries around the world, so I would say there's reason for further examination of this subject matter.

Somehow I doubt the coming out of a Z-lister is going to have any impact on the fate of LGBT souls worldwide.

I also doubt that "further examination" is going to change the opinion of various Bible-thumpers and otherwise misguided conservatives.

Cliffs: Haters gonna hate.

Ban them both imo.

Congrats, Jason, well played.

Yea seriously. Pretty ignorant and uninformed for people to believe that coming out is simply just "not a big deal."

Exactly

As a gay male poker player, I have to say that this is a HUGE breath of fresh air. Good for you, Jason!

+1

He had another pretty big WSOP, he also has ft'd a WPT since this as well.

#TrueHero

Anyone can admit to being gay. When the first poker pro admits to being an active paedophile, I'll say he has cajones.

Actually, given how discredited the game currently is, finding an openly gay man who admits to being a poker player might be more to the point.

lol

I've been away for a while, glad to come back to some good news.

We need more people happily out so nobody feels the need to be closeted.

Good for you Jason

Thanks for bumping this thread, I would have never saw it otherwise. Great read.

Ditto - it's been a long time.

So, assuming you're straight, could you, if the price were right and guaranteed, choose to be sexually attracted to men (assuming you are male) and feel no attraction any longer towards females? I don't mean act the part, but genuinely feel sexual attraction to men and none towards women simply by choosing this? And why, considering all the societal pressure against such a choice, including beatings and death penalties in some parts of the world, would anyone actually choose this?

Rosa Parks wasn't even on the list....just saying

0% chance I go back a try to find the context of which you quoted me... Sorry .

And apparently you've never seen any politician ever. I mean hell Mitt Romney, who ran for US president just last November (no idea if you're in the US or not), at one point was pro choice and ran last Nov. as pro life.... I mean his current position means he used to think it was OK to kill people. Obv people can change their mind on big issues, and sometimes for money...

And the bolded is a really horribly phrased question imo. I get the jist of what you're asking, but effecting try to bait out a response by bringing up examples that are so absurdly extreme devalue the honest conversation on this issue. Did anyone see Jason Collins, the NBA player, come out recently? Yeah some people were dicks to the guy, but you're lying to yourself if you think it wasn't 90%+ positive feedback... I just don't think it's a big deal, gay guy is gay in 2013 isn't a news story imo.

And just going to ask you this, do you think one is more likely to be injured in a car crash or because of sexual choice.... Given we know it's car crash why do people even drive you know???? See how dumb that line of questioning is?

Probably because so many people who claim that it's not important, that it doesn't matter and that they don't care feel as though they've got to keep coming in and posting about how unimportant it is to them.

Fetuses are not people. Sorry if you think otherwise, but you're wrong.

Also a complete LOL at men telling women what they can or cannot do with their bodies.


Also, GGI, Jason Collins is at the end of his career, probably not playing another NBA game and was never a star in his career. If a person like Lebron James said that he was gay, it would be a huge news story.

Believe it or not, even in 2013, People are still getting killed for their sexuality. Just recently a gay man was killed in the east village (NYC) because he was gay. It is still a big deal.

Homophobia, like racism and sexism, will never go away.

I agree, it's really not that important.

I don't know, maybe I wasn't clear, but that example had more to do with people changing their minds on big life issues than abortion... sooo yeah.. sorry if I wasn't clear.



We just happen to disagree. I mean hell how many people in the east village died last week due to car wrecks? Prolly more than one. Not as if that devalues a baseless killing obv, but again it's way safer to come out as gay in 2013 than it is to drive and that was more my point.

Obv those things will never 100% go away unfortunately.

I don't really get it. Why does it matter if your gay at the poker table? Team sports i can sort of get you are in the locker room with the guy, you travel with the guy etc. But even then if everyone goes about their job the correct way what is the difference.

In summary, this guy is not a pioneer at anything.

This is a silly comparison. Politicians will of course reflect the views of their constituents or of the voters they covet. It doesn't necessarily imply a major personal conversion when he changes his policy preferences while pursuing a different electorate (Massachusetts general electorate vs. GOP primary voters). Taking a different position publicly does not mean altering, by choice, one's deeply held desires.

I think the whole choice discussion regarding sexuality is kinda weird anyway because it presumes we have a thorough understanding of free will and brain states and how these things interact with other factors. I'd like to know what an operational definition of 'choice' is in this context, by those who argue either side - and it ought to be one that allows for some form of empirical verification, otherwise the debate is sort of meaningless and open-ended. But I think the overwhelming evidence is that the nature of our sexual desires, while not totally immutable, are almost completely out of our control.



I think you're really missing the point of why being openly gay in America is difficult. I know others have brought up the possible violence, and that's a part of it, but it's really the mundane, softer forms of bigotry that make something like this courageous. In 2013 it's still a virtual guarantee that a gay person in the US will experience disparate treatment over their sexuality. A lot of it will be mild, and some of it may be unintentional, but it will occur. This stuff has psychic consequences, especially when a significant percent of the population is prejudiced against you and your legal rights are unprotected in many areas. But it's going to be especially true within institutions and communities that are dont have a history of welcoming openly gay members and where some homophobia is tacitly condoned. Knocking down the supposed straw man of rare violence against gays is like saying black Americans have no reason to fear racism since we don't have regular lynchings anymore in this country.

Guy were gonna have to agree to disagree, and like half of your arguments here are, imo, off base.

Well that's okay. I realize these disagreements are usually intractable. The feeling is mutual though, re: arguments being off-base.