this time we were joined by my college roommate, jason collins. jason had recently become the first active male athletes to come out as gay in our major professional sports. he was credited with watching the pride parade the year before, and helping him find the courage to speak up. on that talk june day, an african american basketball player stood next to a retired, jewish congressmen, and a pasty white redhaired irish guy. and three of us marched through the streets of boston in a scene that our forefathers could never have imagined. that is why our laws matter. because we can't predict the brightness of our own future. because new frontiers creates challenges that demand a 238-year-old system to be tried. even if it takes decades and decades to make it happen. last year i had the honor of meeting a lawyer named mary. she was going before the massachusetts supreme court. it made massachusetts the very first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. it wasn't that fact that impressed me most, it was the fact that she had taken her fight t

this time we were joined by my college roommate, jason collins. become theecently first active male athletes to come out as gay in our major professional sports. he was credited with watching the pride parade the year before, and helping him find the courage to speak up. day, antalk june african american basketball player stood next to a retired, jewish congressmen, and a pasty white redhaired irish guy. and three of us marched through scenereets of boston in a that our forefathers could never have imagined. that is why our laws matter. theuse we can't predict brightness of our own future. because new frontiers creates challenges that demand a 238-year-old system to be tried. even if it takes decades and decades to make it happen. last year i had the honor of meeting a lawyer named mary. she was going before the massachusetts supreme court. it made massachusetts the very first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. it wasn't that fact that impressed me most, it was the fact that she had taken her fight to every state house in new engla

just kidding. >> jason collins, great to have you here. we'd love to have you back. >>> thank you. >> up next on rfd, the supreme court pulls the plug on aereo. you can still watch this show, streaming or no streaming. >>> breaking news with another decision on same-sex marriage that's going to impact two states. we've got it all after the break. are you ready grandma? just a second, sweetie. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. but we're not in the business of naming names. the volkswagen passat is heads weabove the competition,ore. the fact is, it comes standard with an engine that's been called the benchmark of its class. really, guys, i thought... it also has more rear legroom than other midsize sedans. and the volkswagen passat has a lower starting price than... much better. vo: hurry in and lease the 2014 passat s for $199 a month. visit vwdealer.com today. if yand y

jason collins, he's the first gay player -- openly gay player in the nba, michael sams coming into the nfl. what do you think about the environment and the way things have changed since you were playing? >> i truly don't think it matters to most players. when you're out there, you're not thinking about what this guy's sexual orientation is. are we getting this job done? can i trust you? those are the bottom line questions that you ask your teammates. and if those answers are yes, then, you know, it doesn't matter what their preference is. i think if your heart is right, you know, you handle things with the appropriate response. right now, we're just so sensitive to everything. i think politics has made us that way. you know, you can't even tell politics to go places now. we have trouble having intelligent discussions now because people, you know, get overly upset about different things. but if you disagree, it's find to disagree. just disagree and respect one another and move on. >> are you amazed at the state of politics right now? something you spend a lot of time thinking about? >>

jerry jerry jason collins and i think michael sam michael sam recently in football brave men for stepping out and that being a voice and standing for their own first standing for themselves and being role models for other gay men and women who who are in the workplace that want to be expressed so the acceptance now and the growth comes from their teammates and the rest of the league he says always been here you know gay players i didn't know gay players i just know as i have as i have evolved and as an actor and being around being around hollywood and working with gay men and women the understanding of of just the community itself gave me insight into how difficult it's been for gay and men and women to live and how covered they've lived for so many years and so i just i just i just look at and i think it has been asked of been gay men and women just haven't felt safe enough to express themselves in a more come open do you think it's going to be accepted readily and then be a locker rooms i think you have to demand it. i think you have to just demand equality in general you have to be a g

. >>> former warriors coach mark jackson responded to a report that before the openly gay jason collins signed with the nets, jackson said not in my locker room. he said today in a tweet that simply said lies. when asked about collins last night. he said as a christian man i have believes about what's right and what's wrong. but the ordained minister told dan patrick that his faith did not impact his views on gay players in basketball. >>> 49ers and colin kaepernick's agent will resume contract talks in a face-to-face meeting in the bay area this week according to the sacramento bee. they are entering a final year of a deal he received in 2011. he is reportedly looking for between $18 million to $20 million a season. >>> all right on special teams, the 49ers resigned blake costanzo. he played inside linebacker, giving the 49ers depth while bowman recovers from his torn acl. >> he played with us a few years ago. a great guy, a guy who comes to work every day, a great team player, a guy who can go out there on team day and even practicing give you everything he's got. we look forward to h

we have a situation now where we have active athletes coming out and saying that i'm gay, jason collins, qwame harris, used to be with the 49ers, most certainly mike sames, brittany granier, a young man that played an ncaa championship game today, the first active division 1 athlete to come out and say that i'm gay. how close are we to putting this madness behind us about evaluating people based upon these -- all of these secondary, inconsequential kinds of things as opposed to the content of their character and the caliber of their competence? how close are we to accepting that in the nfl, say, or in -- >> are you looking at me, william? >> huh? >> you want that one? [laughter]. >> well, what i'll say about it is when they -- the first athlete we heard about coming out as gay, asked me how would you feel about playing with a gay player? and i had one question. could he play? [laughter]. >> the caliber of his competence. >> right. that's all. >> i can't add to that. >> huh? >> i cannot add to that. [laughter] >> okay. well, good. >> so -- so jim, was a professional in the most macho of

jason collins, kobe bryant. that's great. >> it was just last year that robbie came out.hardest part. and it makes it easier for the next one. i love the feeling of love that is surrounding these players. >> it will continue all year long. you can join it by uploading the video to youtube. >> and i'm thinking of derek gordon, the young basketball player from umass who came out a few months ago. and it's exactly what you're saying. just by seeing others and wanting to show that example for all. >>> up now in "the heat index" one of the most e-mailed stories for "the new york times" overnight. how parent are handwriting skills to your child's education? there's new evidence suggesting that even as technology plays a bigger role, yes, in schools, the benefits of learning handwriting skills go beyond pencil and paper. this comes as most states have adopted standards that focus on learning handwriting in kindergarten and first grade. then shift to learning typing. we want to hear from you. what do you think matters more? good handwriting or good typing skills? tweet us at "gma

you've got jason collins who came out as the first homosexual gay nba player. jersey, number two highest selling rookie jersey in the nfl. we as a sports society, as a society in general, we love those positive brand connotations. i do believe that dan snyder is missing the boat here. if he was to change the name, kind of aim that moral compass in the right direction, maybe they would make more than $70 million, $80 million in merchandise. >> kevin, i tell you i grew up in virginia, i'm a long time, long-suffering, i should say, redskins fan. for me as a fan it's embarrassing. i don't want to tweet about the team, i don't want to use the name. i wish they would change it. i think more and more fans are feeling that way. native american activist suzanne harjo who has been pushing the using offensive native american imagery across the country had this to say. we've made tremendous progress. there are a little over 3,000 of these types of names in 1970, and now there are just a little over 900. we've eliminated over two-thirds of these racist stereotypes in americ