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Patric Young: "I agree with Chris Broussard" in comments on Jason Collins

One of Florida's most prominent student-athletes commented on Chris Broussard's comments on the NBA's first openly gay active player on Monday night, then clarified that he agrees with Broussard on Tuesday.

By Andy Hutchins
USA TODAY Sports

Florida big man Patric Young has been back on Twitter after taking a hiatus leading up to the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Monday night, he used the service to send a few tweets about his feelings on Chris Broussard's comments on homosexuality on ESPN's Outside the Lines on Monday, in the wake of NBA player Jason Collins coming out as the first openly gay male player in a Big Four sport.

Young would clarify this tweet, which has a confusing triple negative, in the early morning hours on Tuesday, tweeting that he "agrees with Chris Broussard":

The rest of these tweets follow in chronological order.

Young also retweeted this tweet, about "loving the sinner but hating the sin."

Broussard has been criticized for his comments, which some have taken both as a condemnation of a class of people and a misuse of the platform granted to him by ESPN. (It's also nothing new from Broussard, who has staked out the same ground before.)

Young has taken essentially the same position, on a much smaller platform, without ESPN's backing. Florida's University Athletic Association has a UF/UAA Non-Discriminatory Policy (part of the UAA's Student-Athlete Handbook) that reads, in part:

The University is committed to nondiscrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations, and veteran status. This commitment applies in all areas to students, faculty, Administrative and Professional staff and Career Service personnel. The University realizes that it must continue to intensify its concern and devote itself to the elimination of conditions from which discrimination spring. In this respect the University accepts the responsibility for solving problems related to these matters. Accordingly, the University will continue to search for the most appropriate ways and means to provide an effective and enduring contribution to the improvement of these relationships.

It is the policy of the University that each employee and student be allowed to work and study in an environment free from any form of discrimination, including sexual harassment.

My reading of that passage makes me think that the UAA, if it wants to live up to its mission to "intensify its concern and devote itself to the elimination of conditions from which discrimination spring," should consider Young's comments carefully.