I’ve always said that sports reflects culture. If there are certain worldviews and trends that seem pervasive in other sectors of mainstream society—government, media, pop culture—we will usually see them appear in sports as well. Right now, this theory is once again being validated.

On Monday, NBA basketball player Jason Collins announced publicly in a Sports Illustrated article that he considers himself gay. To many people, this was inevitable and long overdue—not that Collins himself would announce he is gay, but that someone currently playing professional sports would make this announcement. After all, the thinking goes, homosexuality is normal and natural. Surely, someone somewhere in a professional sports uniform is silently living as a homosexual, and eventually they will come out. We don’t know who it is, and we don’t really care. We just want someone to do it.

Well, the inevitable has finally happened. His name is Jason Collins.

Yet for all this, there was a second inevitability, dependent on the first. Just as there had to be a hero who had the “courage” to wear his homosexuality on his sleeve, there also had to be a villain who was despicable enough to publicly disagree with and even condemn the hero’s declaration. Well, we have our villain—Chris Broussard.

Following Collins’ announcement yesterday, ESPN basketball analyst Chris Broussard was asked on camera to comment. Why Broussard? Well, the obvious answer is that he is an NBA analyst and this is an NBA story. So it makes sense, right? But it quickly became clear that there was an even more specific reason ESPN chose Chris Broussard—and not, say, Jon Barry—to comment on Collins’ coming out.

You see, Chris Broussard has been very open about the fact that he is an evangelical Christian. That is, Broussard believes the gospel is uniquely true and that the Bible has complete authority. Most importantly, he has turned from willfully sinning and is trusting Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

So, when Jason Collins announced his homosexual lifestyle, ESPN saw an opportunity that was too good to pass up. On Monday’s edition of ESPN’s Outside The Lines, Broussard was asked to comment on Jason Collins’ claims to be both homosexual and a Christian. And here is how Broussard responded:

It is striking that when confronted with the question of homosexuality, the first words out of Broussard’s mouth are, “I’m a Christian.” He then provides a cogent summary of the Bible’s stance on homosexuality and unrepentant sin in general, noting particularly that the Bible expressly forbids people living in open sin and yet claiming to be Christian. As he makes the biblical case, Broussard registers his own assent to the Bible’s teaching. For Broussard, his stance on the matter is the Bible’s stance. For Christians, it can be no other way.

Not surprisingly, the backlash against Broussard has been sweeping and vitriolic. On Twitter, Broussard has been called almost every derogatory name one could imagine—many of them too heinous for me to repeat. Among his sports journalism peers, Broussard has been ostracized, with many people calling for him to be fined, suspended, or even fired. Indeed, the pervasive “tolerance” movement is once again driving its stake in the ground, just as it has done on so many other matters. And each time, the rhetoric is more extreme, more hateful—more intolerant to the minority who does not share the views of the majority. The irony is deep here.

But what is perhaps most interesting about the Collins-Broussard situation is the position of professional sports as an emblem of progress, or lack thereof, in society as a whole. What is true in sports must be true in society, and vice versa.

To be sure, there are many who desperately reject such a notion. Sports, it is thought by some, is one of the few spheres of public life in which one’s views on matters like race, religion, and sexuality are completely irrelevant. But we know better than this. For as the public debate over same-sex marriage has continued to heat up, there has been an increasing ground swell of people in sports clamoring for a brave soul who will finally break the “sexuality barrier” and become yet another powerful public symbol of America’s inevitable march toward complete normalization and integration of the homosexual lifestyle.

In order to finally achieve our ultimate aims, we need symbols—people, events, or objects that show us and those around us that our cause is authentic, legitimate, and achievable. On April 29, 2013, Jason Collins became that symbol in the realm of sports. The same-sex agenda already has its public symbols in the film, television, and music industries. The political sector has also provided its own share of high-profile symbols.

The only shoe that hadn’t dropped yet was sports. Advocates of same-sex marriage needed a public, high-profile symbol in one of the “big four” sports (i.e. football, basketball, baseball, hockey). And they got it. Make no mistake about it: Jason Collins now stands for something much bigger than himself. For many people in this country, he has become a living, breathing sign post that says same-sex attraction is normal, legitimate, and demanding of full, unqualified acceptance.

If Jason Collins is a symbol, then there is a flip side to that coin. Chris Broussard is also a symbol. When the news of Collins’ announcement became public, ESPN jumped at the opportunity to record a dissenting opinion from within the realm of sports. Why? Because every hero needs a villain to highlight the moral virtue of the hero’s cause. And that’s precisely what has happened. Broussard had barely finished articulating his position before hordes of people took to social media to register their moral outrage. For the mainstream pro-gay agenda, Broussard’s statement was a gift. It has served to further galvanize an ever-increasing consensus in favor of embracing the “tolerant” same-sex agenda.

For Christians, Broussard’s plight is a stark reminder of what we already know. That is, the era of Christian privilege in America has come to an end. We Christians have become a despised minority. It appears we are now entering a period of unprecedented marginalization of evangelicals in this nation. A clear line is being drawn right before our very eyes. More and more, the biblical worldview will be considered categorically incompatible with American ideals. As a result, there will no longer be a place in American public life for those of us who believe in the supreme authority of the Bible and the unique truth and saving power of the gospel.

Thankfully, God’s Word has prepared us to face such opposition:

Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn you name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

– Luke 6:22-23

Though Jesus here was speaking directly to a crowd of Jews in the first century, the lesson applies to us today. Following Christ and opposing unrighteousness will get you hated. And when that happens, remember your heavenly reward and let that be cause for joy. God himself is our great reward, and he is worth all our allegiance, even when it costs us everything in this world.

I applaud Chris Broussard for taking a courageous stand for biblical truth in the midst of vehement opposition. His struggle is our struggle. He is a pronounced symbol for what we will now face every day in every place. Yes, he is a symbol. But what our mainstream society has intended to be a symbol of our defeat, is actually a symbol of our joy-filled suffering in anticipation of the ultimate vindication of our righteous cause.