“To be fired for my faith would be a greater honor than to be fired because we didn’t win enough games,” says Nebraska assistant football coach Ron Brown, who earlier this year testified against an Omaha anti-discrimination ordinance designed to protect gays and the transgendered. Brown denies that he’s bigoted against homosexuals, telling the AP, “”The scriptures teach that blacks were created by God, that women were created by God, but that homosexuals… that is not what God had in mind at all…”I have simply said that based on the Bible, homosexuality, the lifestyle of homosexuality, is a sin.”
Thus far, Brown’s Nebraska superiors — including A.D. Tom Osbourne and head coach Bo Pelini — stress Brown’s right to express his personal views, though there’s a tiny chance he’ll have a shot at the martyrdom he claims to be unafraid of. Can a state university get away with employing a coach who is going far out of his way to make the school less attractive to gay recruits? If Brown is dumb or delusional enough to believe the Cornhusker locker room is devoid of gay players, fine. He has every right to pretend such a thing is impossible. But an educator (ok, I’m using that term loosely) for a public institution cannot willfully contribute to an environment where Nebraska’s gay students are considered to be of lesser character than their straight classmates.