AP

As the debate and discussion continue regarding whether the NFL is ready for an openly gay player, Patriots owner Robert Kraft say he’s been ready to employ one.

“We’re about winning, and [if] someone can come in here and help us win,” Kraft said this week, via NESN.com. “I don’t care what ethnic background, what racial background, what gender preference they have, if they can help us win and they’re about team then I’ll be happy to have them here .”

Kraft, who also congratulated NBA center Jason Collins for choosing to disclose his orientation, becomes one of the few owners to send a clear, unequivocal message of acceptance from the top of an NFL organization. If more persons in positions of power do the same, a gay player inevitably will feel comfortable with disclosing that fact.

That said, we don’t believe that a gay player should come out just because it appears that plenty of people in the media and a select group of straight players seem to be almost rooting for it. We believe people should just be who they are, being who you are possibly includes being gay but choosing not to share that characteristic publicly.