A player for the Super Bowl-bound San Francisco 49ers gave a controversial, anti-gay interview just days ahead of the NFL's championship game. Spea...

From Kenneth Faried's moving video in support of his lesbian mothers to reports of Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Webber and Kenny Smith mocking Charles Barkley's "effeminate" behavior, athletes have been the focus of a lot of talk centered on LGBT inclusion and homophobia lately.

I think it's the obligation of gay people to say that whether Manti's actions were the result of extreme sexual naiveté or an attempt to mask his lack of pro athlete hyper-heterosexual, these are patterns that are common in our community.

Lance Armstrong may have pulled a fast one (or seven) on us, and Manti Te'o may be the weirdest liar in the history of sports, but please don't fret: You can trust your sports heroes.

I don't know if Manti Te'o is gay. I won't even speculate or guess. But whether he is or is not, to me, isn't the question here at the moment as we await more answers from Te'o.

If the Notre Dame linebacker at the center of the "girlfriend hoax" story indeed constructed an elaborate cover story for his gay closet, as so many gay men do in worlds that demand they be heterosexual, the emotional jolt of humiliation and embarrassment at being exposed will be overwhelming.