A little less than a year ago, researchers announced a new technique that used DNA analysis to recreate the image of a person’s face. It was a stunning idea—but a new a New York Times report reveals that there’s more than one big problem with the scifi promise of DNA-based mugshots.
No. Or at least that is what the empirical evidence and research on this issue shows. But that doesn’t mean we should not have them. The fact is that the registries don’t really do anything to improve public safety. They just make people feel safer and in control; unfortunately this is a false sense of security.
Why Don’t Registries Reduce Recidivism?
There is no reason to believe that a registry is going to do anything to reduce re-offending because registries don’t address what drives someone to commit a sex crime. Put another way, sex offender registries probably don’t work because they miss the mark on what works and what does not. Registries don’t really address the behavior of sex offenders.
First of all, not all sex offenders are the same and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Sex offender is a category of criminal offending. It is not a homogenous group. Pediophiles are very different than someone guilty of a drunken rape, and both are very different than someone who is guilty of statutory rape. And then there are many more types of sex offenders. The way each type thinks is different. The likelihood of reoffending is different. The effectiveness and utility of treatment is very different for each. There is nothing to suggest that there is one solution to all these different problems.
Second, registries and community notification do not do anything to change the behavior of the sex offender. It is only useful in letting the public know who previously offended and where they live. With the exception of pedophiles and perhaps a serial rapist, past behavior does not really predict future behavior with most sex offenders, of which many are not pedophiles or serial rapists. Contrary to popular perceptions, considering that sex offender recidivism is very low, we would not expect that past behavior to predict future behavior.
Why Should We Keep Sex Offender Registries?
There is more to policy than just evidence-based practices. In politics and government administration, there is ever present concerns with effective policy and the optics of policy. Now, while I already discussed that registries are a false sense of security, that they take time away from what does work, and that there is no evidence that they reduce recidivism, there is reason to keep them. Parents and the public want to know who have committed sex offenses. And since all criminal records are public information, this information should not be suppressed. However, the public needs to start to understand that sex offender registries don’t keep people safe. And the public also needs to realize that not all sex offenders are pedophiles. Most are people who will never re-offend ever again. The statistics are very clear about this.
What Should Be Done to Keep People Safe?
If depends. Are we talking about children, women, vulnerable populations or someone else?
In addition to the person, the individual and the guardian being the first and best line of defense against sex offenders, we need to include who is a pedophile in our classification of the Sex Offender Level. In some states, pedophilia as a DSM diagnosis, is not included as a variable when determining who is a level 1, 2 or 3 sex offender. We need to make sure that we empirically evaluate the effectiveness of correctional treatment programs aimed at reducing sex offending. There is a lot that can and should be done. The point of this article is not to get into all of that; that point of this article is to highlight that sex offender registries don’t reduce sex offender recidivism.
Politicians and community leaders need to educate their constituents about what works and what doesn’t. Unfortunately, in my experience as a politician, and even before I entered politics when I was working in corrections, I have observed that too many people use what I call “numbers on a page” — shoddy statistics with little to no real methodology. Or they make an appeal to emotion or an appeal to logic and what sounds to make sense (albeit logic and sound bites that are devoid of any substantive evidence). Only after that display of leadership can we expect a shift in our thinking about what we can and should be doing to keep people safe from sex crimes.
In Conclusion
Sex offender registries don’t reduce recidivism. The research is very clear on this. We are never going to be able to eliminate sexual abuse and criminal offending. But we can and should take effective steps to reduce the crimes from happening. I am not pro-sex offender; that is not my position and not what I think. My concern is that we need to move away from all feel good measures that offer nothing more than a false sense of security, and take time and energy away from offering the public proven evidence-based interventions.
Paul Heroux is a state representative from Massachusetts. Paul has a bachelor’s in psychology and neuroscience from USC, a master’s in criminology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s in public administration from Harvard. Paul worked in jail and prison before becoming a State Rep. Paul can be reached at paulheroux.mpa@gmail.com or 508-639-9511.
While some may consider the constant snowfall lately to be a source of frustration, skiers and snowboarders have been smiling from ear-to-ear over the fresh pow, especially after a slow start to the season.
Colorado too has been getting some love from Mother Nature lately, making it a great time to hit the slopes. Even those of us who don’t find the sport of sliding off hilltops something to be desired, are finding lots of reasons to head for the hills. The key to making everyone happy is in finding a mountain that can cater to all.
Two great and very different destinations to consider are Copper Mountain and Steamboat Ski Resort, especially if traveling with kids in tow.
The Copper Mountain experience
Located 75 miles from Denver, the village and trails of the Copper Mountain resort cover about 2,465 acres and is an official U.S. Ski team training venue. The base elevation is 9,712 feet, so make sure to give yourself a day to acclimate before taking on the slopes.
Image courtesy of Girl Gone Travel
Although there are plenty of out-of-towners who frequent this area, Copper is a local’s mountain. Talk to almost any Colorado native and they will tell you stories about learning to ski here and spending a good portion of their childhood here. The affection so many have for Copper is contagious.
A lot of it has to do with accessibility and the down-to-earth vibe. Ski lift prices aren’t astronomical and skiers love the diversity of the 126 runs and the overall size of this more intimate mountain.
With over three villages to cover, there is a lot to do, so much so that a non-skier will find many ways to spend their time, whether at the spa, tubing, ziplining, snowshoeing, or improving on your aerial freestyle moves at Woodward Copper.
Everybody jump! (Image courtesy of Girl Gone Travel)
The Steamboat Ski Resort experience
People will say that those who visit Steamboat really, really want to be there because of the time it takes to get there. As far as ski resorts go, Steamboat is off the beaten path, but as flights into Hayden Airport are added regularly, more people are finding it easier to plan their trips there.
This larger-scale ski resort area, with 165 runs and covering over 2,900 acres, makes for great fun-filled vacations. People in the surrounding farm area call it the city and it offers as much as any great city would.
The outdoor activities seem endless, though non-skiers will delight in the shopping, restaurants, gondola rides (especially at night) and the jaw-dropping views while snowshoeing.
Families will enjoy the ski school, the tubing, the family-friendly events, and spacious lodging options, while couples will enjoy the luxury dining options, romantic sleigh rides, and scenic helicopter tours.
There’s no shame in riding the gondola just for the thrill of it. (Image courtesy of Girl Gone Travel)
There are great places to discover off-resort as well. Try horseback riding through the beautiful trails in the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness with my guide Ray, the owner of Del’s Triangle 3 Ranch, a true-to-the-bone cowboy and wonderful storyteller.
Image courtesy of Girl Gone Travel
Dinner at Laundry is an experience worth sharing, with tapas-style dishes and creative drink creations that make a perfect ending to a fun mountain day. I recommend you pair their Fiery Margarita with the Chicken and Dumplings dish. It’s like a warm hug from the culinary gods.
Discover more great travel destinations. Follow Girl Gone Travel on Findery.
Why are photographs of people so important to us? As a social experiment, I put a call out on my Facebook page asking people to send me their favorite photo of their parents. It could be from any occasion, any time period, and in any format. I just wanted their favorite. Why did I ask for photos of parents instead of say, their child or their spouse? I wanted there to be no thought on how “cute” or “pretty” or “handsome” the person was. I figured that most people don’t look at their parents and think about their physical appearance, they instead focus on the relationship and their memories. By doing this, I hoped to start a dialog on the importance of photographs.
As the photos and stories came pouring in, I noticed a clear trend. The photos that were submitted told a story – a story of love, personality, of a memory, and even loss.
Take photos of the people that you love. Allow yourself to be photographed with your spouse, your children, your siblings, your grandchildren, your friends, and even alone. Photographs matter because people matter, relationships matter, and memories matter.
“I love that photo because it shows the pure genuineness of true love with no worries in the world. My Dad was a very reserved man and this was one of those smiles that he’d get when he was genuinely so incredibly happy.” – Genesa B.
“The picture is special to me as my mother unexpectedly passed in October of 2005 and we had very few family photos.” – Nathan C.
“My mom looks happier than I’ve ever seen her.” – Kristen L.
“Here is a picture of my hippie mom, Carla. She is the one on the right. I love it because she looks so carefree and happy!” – Christina B.
“I love the way my Mother is looking at my Father. This is a look we, their children, see in every moment we are surrounded by them. They have showed each of us that marriage is hard work, it isn’t easy, and at times you will be faced with challenges that are unexplainable.” – Lora C.
“It captures my parents as independent adults right on the cusp of taking up the identity of being (my) parents.” – Shannon B.
“My dad is my hero and I don’t have a lot of photos of him and I when I was small!” – Jessica L.
“It is an image that illustrates the true happiness and beauty they once shared together.” – Tamsun P.
“My parent’s marriage has survived through all these years and it’s such a wonderful thing to see and be inspired by! If they can do it, so can my husband and I!” – Adrienne L.
“This photo marks an important moment in the story of my mother and father; the birth of their first child.” – Amanda J.
“I love to see them happy.” – Jen M.
“They look so happy. My mom kept this photo in her wallet until the day she died at 87, a widow for 33 years.” – Karen T.
“Because in this picture, it’s as if they are the only two people in the world at that moment in time. True Love!” – Christine L.
“Our boys are miracles and our family waited a long time to meet them, this was the day they were born.” – Kaleigh J.
“To be holding hands after 6 kids (blended family) and 24 years of marriage says a lot.” – Shawna S.
“The look of pure love and adoration for my mom on my dads face here was the starting point of our family that was to come.” – Joanna G.
“This picture means a ton to me because it is the only picture of my parents and me. There are no other pictures of me with my parents.” – Brandi B.
“I love this photo because they look so happy and in love! My mom passed away from breast cancer many years ago. I miss her.” – Doug H.
“It means a lot because of how happy and natural they are.” – Vienna C.
“I love this photo because the huge smiles on their faces show just how wonderful, loving, and caring people they were.” – John T.
“My parents both lived in Ohio in different towns but met when on a summer vacation in Daytona Beach, Florida. I feel like fate truly put them both at this place at the same time so they’d meet and that’s why I love this photo.” – Allison L.
“My wonderful parents, smiling, after they cried happy tears for me on my wedding day.” – Michelle H.
“They look happy and young and playful and in love and exactly how I see them as people/my parents” – Koriann R.
“My parents have been married for 45 years and they are such an inspiration to me. They have successfully raised four children, and now to see the love they have for their grandchildren is equally magical.” – Lauryn C.
“Anytime they are by each others side they light up with love and respect, it’s what bonds our whole family!” – Crystal A.
“Unconditional, natural, pure love.” – Airen F.
“Really, it’s the only one I have of them, and us as a family. They were divorced when I was four.” – Justin P.
“I grew up looking at this thinking she was the most beautiful person in the world.” – Andrea M.
Life and death are unmanageable. We can’t change it, but we can accept it. Breathe. So sayeth the Dharma talks and the Whole Foods tote bags.
I was thinking about this when I read about Demario Bailey, a fifteen-year-old Chicago teen who was shot in the chest while trying to keep his twin brother from being robbed of his coat in December.
Actually I was thinking about his mother. It’s not Demario that I have trouble envisioning. I can, for some reason, easily imagine his last moments. The terror, heat, pain, sound of cars and screams fading as melting snow drips from the rusted joints of the aqueduct above your head. Maybe it’s because I’ve also looked down the barrel of a few guns and imagined my own death.
But his mother. I can’t imagine how she finds acceptance. How she breathes.
Acceptance is graceful and romantic when what you are accepting is failure to find a parking spot near a yoga class or, failure to get accepted into a PhD program.
But when what you are accepting is that your child, whom you have loved, and raised, and supported, and cooked for, and disciplined and yelled at, who is good, and responsible, and lazy, and loving, and goofy, and funny, and annoying, and incorrigible, can have his life-the life you gave him — taken, just 15 years into it, by a group of strangers, other peoples’ sons, in broad daylight, for no real reason, then acceptance is neither a noble, nor zen, nor peaceful proposition.
It is the death of the spirit.
They say it was over a jacket.
But they lie. No one shoots anyone in the heart over a jacket.
Gunshots in the heart are over power. They are over fear. They are over despair. They are over hatred for oneself and one’s place in the world. They are over an inability to connect to what is left of your humanity because that human, that child, that heart that beats within you, has no safe place in your reality. That’s what you shoot someone in the heart over. An inability to be human. Not a jacket.
When I told a friend I was writing to honor the life and death of Demario Bailey, she said. “Was he shot by police?”
“No. An attempted robbery”
“Oh. So it was just a regular…”
And here she trailed off. We both sat and thought about what that means. A regular shooting of a black teen. Not a political one. A regular one. No hashtag. No protest. Just a run of the mill…
What separates the death of a teen at the hands of another teen from the death of a teen at the hands of police? Do we view them differently? Should we?
All I know is that when a 15 year old is murdered and we think of it as a regular anything, then we are in an awful awful place.
I began my research for this article by looking at images of Demario. It was about a page into results before I began to see the low-key racist stuff. (“I bet they won’t be protesting this”) One page later I got to a site called something like Chimpland which handled Demario’s death exactly how you might imagine it. Here was a site devoted entirely to venting racist stuff about black people. It wasn’t even hateful. It was more than hateful. It was loving. Like you have to love black people, in some way, to spend so much time and energy hating them.
I read it for 20 minutes.
Everyone who knows me knows I always read the racist stuff. Sure, it makes my stomach hurt, and disrupts my sleep. But I do it because it helps me understand. At the root of racism, I believe, is the seed for all of our destruction and suffering. I want to, maybe need to, understand it.
And it helps. Because this is what I realized this time:
There is a very simple and obvious connection between liberal MLK-quoting whites, power hungry trigger-and-baton happy police, flag-waving Klansmen, and black teens who shoot each other in the heart under South Side aqueducts on mild winter days.
None of these people will accept black people as angry, or smart, or flawed, or vulnerable.
None of these people will accept black people has human.
In thinking about Demario Bailey’s life, all I can think of is how grossly ill-equipped we are as a society to allow black people to live, to flourish. To be.
So what CAN we do to honor the life of Demario Bailey?
Let a black person be human. No matter what race you are, let a black person be human. Let a black person be honest, let a black person be flawed. Let a black person be angry. Let a black person be complex. Let a black person be loved. Let a black person be safe. Let a black person be alive.
Let a black person be human.
For anything less there can be no acceptance.
This post is part of the “28 Black Lives That Matter” series produced by The Huffington Post for Black History Month. Each day in February, this series will shine a spotlight on one African-American individual who made headlines in 2014 — mostly in circumstances we all wished had not taken place. This series will pay tribute to these individuals and address the underlying circumstances that led to their unfortunate outcomes. To follow the conversation on Twitter, view #28BlackLives — and to see all the posts as part of our Black History Month coverage, read here.
At a recent party, I found myself in a casual conversation with an acquaintance I’ll just call “Jenna.”
After a few minutes of catching up, Jenna commented, “I’m SO impressed with your business! You’ve done some amazing things — especially with such little experience.”
I was floored.
She kept talking but I didn’t hear a word she said, because those stinging words — “such little experience” — were still ringing in my ears. My ego scrambled to show her how wrong she was: 75 percent of my clients get job offers within six weeks of working with me, I ran a program for the Pentagon at age 23, I speak three languages…
And then I stopped, collected myself, and replied with a smile: “Thanks so much… it is SO rewarding!”
I walked away with my head held high, but my ego was still ablaze.
As much as her remark stung, I was more frustrated with myself for letting her make me feel so small. I like to think I know my own worth, and I believe happiness is an inside job. And yet here I was, fighting back against my own army of self-doubt demons simply because someone I hardly knew served me a backhanded compliment.
There are four important realizations I took away from this conversation, both about the ego and the concept of experience.
1. Job hunters often place too much stock in the idea of “experience.”
This is something I hear all the time in my practice coaching empowered, capable and hard-working Millennials. Even the most enlightened and self-assured client will crumble as they look at a job opening and sense they don’t have “enough” experience. In addition to questioning whether they have enough experience or the proper experience, they also tend to beat themselves up for allowing their confidence to be rattled by good old Uncle Bob’s bourbon-fueled jabs at the Sunday dinner table.
Sidenote: Your Baby Boomer relatives and colleagues remember a workforce that emphasized experience and hierarchy, but today’s workforce increasingly values a democracy of ideas.
2. How others see you has nothing to do with who you are.
You are so much bigger than how people see you. Their perceptions are based on their own realities and experiences, not yours. Perhaps Jenna was really surprised that my clients are willing to hire a career coach who didn’t spend eight years making copies and brewing coffee; maybe she just made a thoughtless remark. Regardless of what fueled her comment, her perception had nothing to do with me, and my reaction had nothing to do with her.
If someone says something that triggers an intense reaction within you — something that truly disturbs your peace — think: Where does this come from within me? Why did that trigger such a deep response? Turning it into a moment of self-inquiry allows you to grow as a person.
3. Experience is relative.
A whopping 91 percent of Millennials plan to stay in a job for less than three years, which means they will hold between 15 and 20 jobs in a lifetime. To them, experience means trying new things and sharpening varying skills, be it in new roles, new industries, or new work environments. As a result of this workforce trend, employers are tapping into job-hoppers’ underlying soft skills and attributes — ambition, motivation, personality and communication, among others — in order to attract and retain great employees.
4. Focusing too much on “experience” may keep you needlessly stuck on the wrong track.
Years ago, I took a management job in the Pentagon, thinking it was what I really wanted, only to realize a short time later that it wasn’t a great fit. Despite that realization, I wasn’t ready to walk away from everything I’d already invested: I’d learned two foreign languages, completed a Master’s degree in London, and moved to the east coast without knowing anyone. So, to “make it count,” I did the very thing I now would advise strongly against — I stuck with the job and worked my butt off for a promotion.
After a few months of this, I realized that exerting so much effort for a promotion that meant nothing to me was pointless, and I left. I beat myself up for “wasting” all those months, and I told myself that the experience didn’t “count” for anything because it hadn’t led to a clear result.
This tends to be a common predicament among my clients, whose default position is to just keep doing more of the same. Sometimes you have to walk away from an experience before you can understand how and why it served you. You also need to be open to the possibility that the meaning might not represent itself on your resume: Perhaps the career that made you miserable led you to meet the love of your life.
Don’t squander any more of your precious time. Starting over can be hard, but the world beyond your cubicle walls is full of possibility that will never be realized if you continue to parlay your experience into more of the same, just for the sake of “making it count.”
I see so many clients who keep themselves in a holding pattern in their careers — circling the same ground over and over — just because they’ve bought into the misunderstanding that experience is everything.
Longevity might suggest reliability and dedication, but it doesn’t necessarily suggest real “experience.”
Consider the following anecdote: a lady saw Picasso doodling on a paper napkin in a restaurant and asked if she could buy it from him. “Sure,” he said, “It’s yours for $100,000.” The woman stared at him in shock, “but it only took you five minutes to draw it!”
Picasso shook his head and said: “You’re wrong. It didn’t take me five minutes; it took me my whole life.”
Never apologize for switching career paths, learning new skills, and seeking exciting opportunities… The best employers understand that all of your life experiences, however incongruent, have shaped who you are and what you bring to your career and the workforce at large.
Ashley Stahl is a career coach to millennial job hunters in 19 countries and counting… Sign up for her free career success kit at www.ashleystahl.com
Amelia Boynton Robinson was nearly beaten to death in 1965 during the first march in Selma, Alabama, led by Martin Luther King Jr. She was 53 years old at the time. A graphic photo of Boynton Robinson, severely beaten and collapsed, spread around the world and became an iconic image of the civil rights era.
Boynton Robinson survived the brutality and chaos of the time and is alive today to talk about it, at 103 years old. One of the nation’s oldest civil rights activists, she remains an essential figure of the movement. She was one of the first people to urge King to travel to Selma in the first place, and was also the first woman and first African-American to ever run for Congress in Alabama.
“Thank god I learned that color makes no difference,” Boynton Robinson said Friday at a private luncheon at the Soho House in West Hollywood, California. “My parents [were] an example for what they wanted their children to be.”
The civil rights activist, dressed in pale yellow and sparking jewels, was honored at the luncheon with Cinema for Peace’s Nelson Mandela award. The award was presented by Kweku Mandela, a grandson of Nelson Mandela.
Boynton Robinson traveled with friends and family to Los Angeles just in time for Sunday’s Academy Awards, where “Selma” was nominated for Best Original Song and Best Picture (Common and John Legend took home the former award for their song “Glory”). Boynton Robinson is portrayed in the movie, which she calls “fantastic,” by actress Lorraine Toussaint.
Though she sat in her wheelchair with a heavy coat around her shoulders, Boynton Robinson enthusiastically shared her thoughts into a microphone in a steady and clear voice, and even sang a few lines of a song she and fellow marchers sang in jail together all those years ago.
“I look back at the time that we fought and when those heads were beaten,” she said. “I look at what God brought to us. Dr. King cracked the door open. People rose up and felt that they were just as good as everybody else.”
Amelia Boynton Robinson in Los Angeles on Feb. 20, 2015.
In January, Boynton Robinson traveled to Washington, D.C., for President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, attending as the special guest of Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.). “I will forever remember this day,” she said at the time.
Boynton Robinson wishes that after everything she fought for, the state of race relations under the nation’s first black president were more positive. “I look at our president and see hate coming out of the minds of so many people because of his color,” she said.
Boynton Robinson in New York in 2011.
“People have hate within their souls and that’s what we have to get rid of,” she continued. “I think so often of what my mother said when people felt they couldn’t get rid of the evilness and hate [in the world]. She used to say, ‘You are not evil. You’re not mean. You’re not hateful. Lift up your heads — you are descendants of Him.’”
But Boynton Robinson is neither bitter nor disappointed. As she looks back on everything she has seen and experienced, her perspective is positive. “It makes me realize that this is where I belong,” she said.
“This is where God sees me — at this age, at 103 years old — in order that I might be able to reach out and pull [people] up.”
If a church can have a prayer station inside city hall, then an atheist can have a reason station there, too.
That’s what a federal judge concluded today in ordering the city of Warren to allow an atheist man to set up a so-called “reason station” in the atrium at city hall, similar to the one his religious counterparts have.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Hluchaniuk never mentioned the words “freedom of religion” or “separation of church and state” in his order, but rather focused on ensuring that believers and non-believers receive the same type of access to city hall.
As happens with all organically good things in life, Marshawn Lynch’s signature catchphrase, “I’m just here so I won’t get fined,” is getting packaged and prepared for profit. In other words, it’s no longer a cool thing to say.
Marshawn Lynch’s legal team last week filed a trademark application in hopes of soon owning the NFL star’s signature Super Bowl XLIX phrase. Chris Bevans, the man who runs Lynch’s “Beast Mode” apparel line, told ESPN that the company is “just listening to the marketplace,” and the marketplace apparently wants a bunch of clothing with the phrase “I’m just here so I won’t get fined” on it.
That makes sense, and Lynch is right to grab all the money he can, of course, but it’s also sort of a shame when a small act of rebellion is monetized by way of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, no?
For those who need a refresher, Lynch, an unambiguously cool guy who cares deeply about his hometown of Oakland, used the phrase over and over again to avoid a $500,000 league fine during one of his many mandatory press conferences in the week leading up to the Super Bowl. Here’s a video for old times’ sake:
It seems worth noting that the NFL is also making money off the phrase by uploading this video to YouTube and throwing a pre-roll ad on it.
We shouldn’t be surprised Lynch has decided to trademark the once-cool phrase. After all, a lot of people predicted money was on his mind when he essentially protested Super Bowl Media Day in the first place.
Lynch has also trademarked many other of his signature phrases, including “About that action BOSS” and “Power Pellets,” which is how Lynch describes the Skittles he loves so much, as well as with a bunch of different “Beat Mode” trademarks.
And again, that’s all fine. Make that money. But you can’t have your trademark and keep it cool. “I’m just here so I won’t get fined” is about to make Lynch a lot of money, but it’s also now just that: a money-maker.
Michael Sam will soon be turning his attention from the football field to the dance floor.
Sam, who made history last year as the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL, is (at least temporarily) moving into reality TV by joining the 20th season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
Other notable names to join Sam for this season of “Dancing With The Stars” include Patti LaBelle, Rumer Willis and gold-medal-winning gymnast Nastia Liukin.
It’s a dramatic shit for Sam, who is not currently on the NFL roster after being released by the St. Louis Rams and the Dallas Cowboys last year (although he did show off some moves in a video of himself dancing to Michael Jackson at a gay bar in a video picked up by TMZ).
He took to Twitter to address naysayers who might criticize the move.
Very excited to be a part of @DancingABC. Football remains my unquestioned number 1 priority, however, while I continue to train and (1/4)
— Michael Sam (@MichaelSamNFL) February 24, 2015
stay ready, I am ecstatic to participate in a fun, athletic competition like so many players before me have done. Filming this (2/4)
— Michael Sam (@MichaelSamNFL) February 24, 2015
offseason is very flexible and allows me to be part of the veterans combine 3/22 if accepted or any other workouts. (3/4)
— Michael Sam (@MichaelSamNFL) February 24, 2015
I’m looking forward to getting started with @PetaMurgatroyd and winning! Thanks for the support! #TeamSambatroyd (4/4)
— Michael Sam (@MichaelSamNFL) February 24, 2015
It’s shaping up to be another big year for Sam, who proposed to boyfriend Vito Cammisano while traveling in Europe in January.
Earlier this month, the athlete reflected on his coming out experience at the Human Rights Campaign’s “Time to Thrive” conference in Oregon. Head here to watch the speech.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.