The Delphi Expert Panel comprised 50 participants from 14 countries and was representative of: patient/carers organisations; healthcare providers and professionals; commissioners and policy makers; academics; and industry representatives.
Even the NBA's David Stern, a fellow professional sports commissioner, said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should not tolerate the promotion of such an offensive term.
David Stern is probably one of the greatest professional sport commissioners in any country for any sport.
But Emmert is quick to acknowledge that he lacks the unilateral power of professional league commissioners like the N.B.A.'s David Stern and the N.F.L.'s Roger Goodell.
For Bourlet, change will come only with a major shift in social, cultural and professional attitudes: "Commissioners need to meet with people and their families and the result will be better understanding of people and their worth and needs".
Given these factors, professional sports commissioners and team owners should follow President Obama's lead and ban LGBT discrimination on the field and in the locker room, in boardrooms and contracting, among fans and employees -- and they should do it now, in this national month of Gay Pride.
More than a dozen community leaders, athletes, politicians and service providers testified in favor of the resolution before the city's Committee on Human Relations May 7. The resolution would call on professional sports commissioners to publicly express support for LGBT athletes and to sanction athletes who use anti-gay slurs.
Yet, notwithstanding the "coming out" of players in the NBA and NFL, the evolving views of the American public, and state courts' interpretation of the 14th Amendment to provide equal protection to LGBT persons, professional sports commissioners and team owners largely have been silent on their commitment to LGBT equality.
Yoshiaki Kanai, secretary general of the Japan Professional Baseball Commissioner's Office, said the commissioner's office agonized over whether to allow the major leagues to stage the games but eventually decided to grant approval because Japan could no longer resist the growing globalization of sports.
Families, professionals and commissioners are understandably keen to promote stable foster placements wherever possible.
