NFL teams are asking if prospective players are gay

The better question is who cares.

 

Several things could be happening here:

They wanna profit from diversity (moderately likely)
They are worried about possible homophobia conflicts (not likely)
They are homophobic (very likely)

 

Are they allowed to ask...?

 

No they aren't.

 

This title is quite misleading: all the article says is that one team, asked one guy whether he was straight or gay.

 

Regardless of they are allowed to ask the question, I bet that if any players are gay more than likely they would deny it.

 

Yes they are. There are no illegal questions in an interview. You can ask what ever you want. You just have to prove you aren't discriminating based on the answers of those questions. And even then, most states don't include sexual orientation in work discrimination laws. Even beyond that, it probably doesn't count as a job interview as the nfl doesn't hire the players, the teams do and the teams weren't conducting the interviews.

 

If I remember correctly, one team asked a player if his mother was a prostitute. Asking if he's gay is a bit minor compared to that one.

Lex

 

^ This. It's not a big deal or anything at all.

 

Yes, they are.
Wehn you fill out a job application, they ask for your gender (not that they put anything except male and female) and ethnicity. But it's okay because they only want to know because they want to "ensure a diverse workplace."
Personally, I find this to be bullshit.

Yeah. That was the general manager of the Miami Dolphins.
And I agree, that is far worse than asking if someone is gay.

Actually, it is a big deal to the NFL.
Officially, the league cannot discriminate.
However, the players can. The managers can outside of the office. And, worst of all, the players and the press can.
Last year, Brendon Ayanbadejo (linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens) openly showed his support for gay marriage and the press and fans had a massive shitfest about how he isn't a real man for believing in that stuff and that supporting marriage equality automatically made him gay.

So, yeah. It's a big deal.