I have always admired Will Hopoate, just as I have always respected the many Polynesian players who have put their footy careers to one side in order to undertake service as a Mormon missionary. That's genuine commitment to one's religion and beliefs.
But if religious beliefs are so important to our players - to the extent that they trump their professional and inter-personal obligations, and any form of compromise is therefore out of the question - then they should find other jobs. They are footy players, and footy players are required to wear jerseys. Those jerseys represent their clubs and, for better or worse, the club's sponsors. Sometimes they also represent charitable or social causes that the club, or the NRL as a whole, stands behind.
Up until this week, nobody ever thought that what was on a jersey represented the player wearing it as an individual. As I said, it represents the club. So no one ever thought, "Pointsbet! Josh Aloiai is an ambassador for Pointsbet! He fully endorses and approves of Pointsbet and all their activities!" If anyone thought anything about it at all, it would be something along the lines of, "Oh, Manly is sponsored by a betting agency". But throw a rainbow-coloured stripe on there, and suddenly the jersey becomes a symbol of individual freedom and expression to the point where we are supposed to be applauding players for their bravery in choosing not to wear it.
If you take religion out of it, take Polynesian culture out of it, take away all the words in all the opinion columns and all the forum posts here and elsewhere, it comes down to this: They don't want to wear the jersey because they don't believe that gay people should be included in rugby league or the wider community. No one is "brave" enough to say it out loud, but behind all the posturing ("God doesn't like gay people - and I'm just following the big guy's lead here"), that's the message: Gays are bad, and gays are not welcome. So if you're standing up for their right to express their opinions and beliefs, that's the opinion and/or belief they are expressing.
And yes, they have a right to express that belief and opinion. But don't dance around it, as if the right to express an opinion is the be-all and end-all of the discussion. Don't cloak it as a "religious belief" or a "cultural belief"; tell me exactly what that belief is and have the courage to stand by it. And accept the consequences that come with it.
The Australian community is of course made up of groups from many different backgrounds, with different cultural and religious backgrounds, but we also have a set of shared values and expectations. And while we all have the right to express our opinions and beliefs, that doesn't mean all of those beliefs and opinions are of equal weight, nor should they be. Some opinions and beliefs are just plain wrong. The Earth is not flat. The world is not run by a shadowy cabal of space aliens. The Parramatta Eels are not a good rugby league team. And gay people are not evil, or less worthy, or different to anybody else.
