Change doesn't happen overnight. But it does happen.

So the news that Major League Soccer suspended Houston Dynamo midfielder Colin Clark for uttering a gay slur is welcome — and somewhat surprising — because sports is the last bastion where it's been OK to be homophobic. Clark called a ball boy a "fucking faggot" for not giving him a new ball fast enough at a game in Seattle last week.

Clark, who apologized, was suspended for three games — with pay — and fined an undisclosed amount. MLS commissioner Don Garber said the 27-year-old player had expressed "sincere remorse."

In a case like this, there's a temptation to question the sincerity of a player's apology, particularly since one wonders if it weren't picked up by an online microphone in the nationally televised game, he simply would have denied it. But I'll take him at his word that he intends never to use the word again "in any context."

The latest incident follows a string of players who can't seem to find anything more original to say. Last spring, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for using the same slur after a referee called him for a technical foul. Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah drew a $50,000 fine for directing a similar slur at a Miami fan in last year's NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

While the fines appear steep, for players like these who make multi-million dollar salaries, it's chump change.

Last month, Houston Aeros rookie Justin Fontaine and Houston Texans right tackle Rashad Butler got in hot water after using the word "faggot" in tweets. Fontaine was suspended for two games and Butler made a half-hearted apology that indicated he really didn't realize what all the fuss was about.

I bet that Butler, who is African-American, wouldn't feel so blasé if someone used the "N-word." To a gay person, being called a "faggot" is just as incendiary.

What makes this use of language surprising to me is that all of these players are young enough to know better. In today's society, a lot of people their age have gay friends and colleagues at work, so they are supportive of gay causes — 75 percent of people between the ages of 18-34 support gay marriage, according to a Gallup Poll. And because athletes travel so much, you would think they would be more exposed to all types of people.

But I guess I didn't realize how insular the sports world is and how divorced it seems from real life. In a profession in which virtually no athletes have publicly acknowledged their sexual orientation while competing, these players work in an environment virtually devoid of openly gay co-workers. So such behavior is tacitly condoned.

But the way society is changing, it won't be that way forever. The careers of openly-gay stars like Neil Patrick Harris, who plays a straight lothario on How I Met Your Mother, and White Collar star Matt Bomer are thriving. Gays no longer have to hide their sexual orientation to serve in the military or run for political office (unless they are a closeted Republican).

I wonder if it's a matter of time before the same thing happens in the sports world. Once you have a friend who's a "faggot," I doubt you'll ever use the word again.