Homophobia & Sport

From the article " Suffer in Silence" there were two different reports of athletes saying, " I would rather be a felon then be gay" and also " I would rather be black than gay". These are two different situations ; a felon would have been prisionized for example a murder, and once in society African Americans were severely oppressed by others. I think it is so sad that an athlete would feel so pressed to be homosexual to have to say either of these things. Having a sexual preference for one sex or the other is a personal situation and being an athlete with one or the other preference should not have such stigma attached with it. John Ammachi received so much hypocrisy from others about not coming out during season, however with other athletes making statements from above, why would a person feel comfortable expressing his/her sexual preference when such judgement is made.