New York Mets infielder Daniel Murphy was open to interacting with Billy Bean when the former MLB player came to Mets camp on Tuesday, but he said afterwards that he does not agree with the homosexual man’s “lifestyle.”
Bean, who played with three teams during his six-year career, publicly announced he was gay in 1999, four years after he was done playing ball. He spoke at the GM meetings in November, which gave Mets GM Sandy Alderson the idea to bring him in for a day to have Mets players see what it was like to have a gay player around.
NJ.com says Bean was welcomed by Mets players, including Michael Cuddyer, who spoke positively about having a gay player around. Murphy, who has played his entire career with the Mets — mostly as a second baseman — had some mixed views about Bean.
Murphy is a devout Christian who said he would accept Bean as a teammate. However, he seems conflicted about how to deal with homosexuality.
“I disagree with his lifestyle,” Murphy said via NJ.com. “I do disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual. That doesn’t mean I can’t still invest in him and get to know him. I don’t think the fact that someone is a homosexual should completely shut the door on investing in them in a relational aspect. Getting to know him. That, I would say, you can still accept them but I do disagree with the lifestyle, 100 percent.”
Many other devout Christians have expressed views against homosexuality when the subject has come up in sports. Torii Hunter was quoted as saying that having a gay teammate would be “difficult and uncomfortable.” He later backtracked.
Murphy tried to explain his conflicted views.
“Maybe, as a Christian, that we haven’t been as articulate enough in describing what our actual stance is on homosexuality,” he said. “We love the people. We disagree the lifestyle. That’s the way I would describe it for me. It’s the same way that there are aspects of my life that I’m trying to surrender to Christ in my own life. There’s a great deal of many things, like my pride. I just think that as a believer trying to articulate it in a way that says just because I disagree with the lifestyle doesn’t mean I’m just never going to speak to Billy Bean every time he walks through the door. That’s not love. That’s not love at all.”
Though calling homosexuality a lifestyle is an inaccurate way of describing one’s sexual orientation, at least Murphy is not shunning Bean/gay people and realizing that loving someone is more important. But he still has a way to go in terms of completely embracing gay people.
