In Kim Mulkey's Defense

I can't get that interview Brittany Griner did with ESPN The Magazine the other day out of my head.  Mainly, I think Kim Mulkey is getting a bum deal.  She's getting completely thrown under the bus for the whole situation, and it's not really fair.  In a lot of ways, Mulkey's hands were tied, so to lay 100 percent of the blame on her is completely ridiculous.

First, let's tell Griner's side of the story.  She claims that Mulkey told her to keep her sexuality a secret because it would hurt recruiting and make the program look bad.  Griner apparently told Mulkey she was gay while she was being recruitied and Mulkey didn't care, but once she got to Baylor, Mulkey told her to be quiet about it because she was concerned about the program's image.  It's Griner's contention that Mulkey thought parents wouldn't send their kids to Baylor if they knew there was a lesbian on the team.

Whether or not this was Mulkey's intent is, obviously, something the rest of us will never know.  And you know what?  It doesn't matter!  Griner's characertization of her former coach paints Mulkey in a very bad light, but I, for one, am going to give the coach the benefit of the doubt.  Especially since the situation's not as black-and-white as Griner would like it to be.

Baylor is the nation's preeminent Baptist university.  As such, they have a section in the student handbook entitled "Statement of Human Sexuality."  Part of that code of conduct reads: "Christian churches across the ages and around the world have affirmed purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical norm. Temptations to deviate from this norm include both heterosexual sex outside of marriage and homosexual behavior. It is thus expected that Baylor students will not participate in advocacy groups which promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching."  Loosely translated, both premarital sex and homosexuality are expressly forbidden at Baylor.

Kim Mulkey knows this.  So, even if Griner's sexuality was an open secret, it's not like Mulkey was able to go around advertising it.  Doing so would be contrary to the beliefs/policies of her employer.  Most employers, especially faith-based institutions, would consider an employee advocating something that's the complete opposite of church teachings grounds for dismissal.  I'm sure Baylor is no different.  And if that truly was the case, what other choice would Mulkey have?  Have a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy with Brittany Griner or risk potentially losing your job?  I don't think that's a very hard decision.

Who's to say whether Kim Mulkey condones or condemns Brittany Griner's lifestyle?  The fact of the matter is, wheteher or not she does is completely irrelevant.  All that really matters is that Baylor University condemns it.  Right or wrong, Mulkey was put in a position where she essentially had to tell Griner to keep her sexuality under wraps.  Griner also said that Mulkey's general approach was to basically leave the topic alone altogether.  That's because on the basketball court, it ultimately doesn't matter.  But did Griner ever think that Mulkey might've done that for her own good?  Once again, Baylor completely forbids it.  The fewer people who officially knew, the better.

Also, let's not forget this: Brittany Griner chose to attend Baylor.  She could've gone to any school in the country.  But she wanted to play for Baylor and Kim Mulkey.  Griner had to have been aware of these policies before enrolling, yet she went to Baylor anyway.  If Mulkey didn't bring it up while Griner was being recruited, that's one thing.  But she went to the school for four years.  You have to figure that Griner became aware of that code of conduct at some point, probably pretty early.  She knew the school's stance on lesbianism yet she never thought Mulkey's policy might've been for her own protection?  Especially with the amount of time Griner was going to spend in the public eye?

I don't know the truth here, and neither does anyone else.  Not even Brittany Griner.  But like we saw with Brandon Davies at BYU, even though they seem ridiculous, these codes of conduct exist on some college campuses.  Right or wrong, Baylor University feels a certain way about homosexuality.  In my opinion, Kim Mulkey's actions were reflecting university policy, nothing more.  So let's stop making her the bad guy.  Especially since Brittany Griner's side of the story is the only one we've heard.