LOS ANGELES (AP) — Basketball veteran Jason Colls beme the first openly gay active player North Ameri's major pro sports leagu when he walked onto the urt for a game agast the Los Angel Lakers, breakg a barrier team sports as the ntent's acceptance of gay athlet ntu to grow. Colls, once an obscure 7-foot (2.13-meter) journeyman known for his fensive play, had waed nearly a year for the moment. The 35-year-old rerve center revealed at the end of last season he is gay, and seemed poised to bee an athletic pneer. But he was an agg ee agent and had remaed unsigned until Sunday. He fally returned to the Natnal Basketball Associatn wh his origal team Sunday night jt hours after signg a 10-day ntract wh the Brooklyn Nets, and he told reporters beforehand that his foc was on how he'd do on the urt. "I don't have time to really thk about history right now," he said. After his announcement last year, numero NBA players sisted he would be weled the locker room. Durg his layoff, Colls quickly beme a kd of ambassador for gay rights, speakg at the Uned Natns and attendg Print Barack Obama's annual State of the Unn addrs last month as a gut of first lady Michelle Obama. Colls' signg shortly after Michael Sam, a star llege Amerin football player, revealed he is gay, meang that the Natnal Football League, by far Ameri's biggt pro sports league, uld soon have s first openly gay active player. Sam is takg part the NFL showse for prospects ahead of the league's April draft. Sam's on-field workouts are schled for Monday. Colls was asked if he felt the ti is turng regardg gay players g out, cludg Sam. "I hope so. What Michael said was was about him beg a football player and me beg a basketball player, and gog out there and tryg to help our rpective teams w," Colls said. The Nets are owned by billnaire Mikhail Prokhorov of Rsia, where a law banng so-lled gay "propaganda" was the subject of protts and ntroversy at the jt-nclud Sochi Wter Gam. Colls has played 12 NBA seasons, cludg his first seven wh the Nets, where he ranks third-most team history wh 511 gam played. Colls has been a teammate of new ach and former player Jason Kidd, as well as several other current Nets. Nets teammate and NBA star Pl Pierce said Colls' play was spirg. "I had him as a teammate last year and he is much need around here," Pierce said. "In the society we live , this was gog to happen eventually," Pierce said. "He is a guy that is gog to be able to open up the door for athlet around the world. It don't matter your race, genr or sexualy bee 's about beg part of a team and rg for one another. Every guy here do their own thg and so be . In this sport everythg is magnified and 's great to have him here to open up the doors for so many athlet." Colls, speakg at a crowd prs nference before his Sunday night game Los Angel agast the Lakers, said he was aware of the magnu of his signg, but he said he was most ncerned wh learng the Nets' plays. "The prsure is playg an NBA game tonight, and last time I played an NBA game was last April," he said. "So I thk that's enough prsure right there." The crowd weled him wh a nice ovatn Sunday night. Colls played 10 srels mut wh two rebounds and five fouls the Nets' 108-102 victory. The Nets posted a photo on their Twter acunt of Kidd watchg Colls sign his ntract, enuragg followers to retweet to wele Colls to Brooklyn. "Jason told that his goal was to earn another ntract wh an NBA team. Today, I want to mend him on achievg his goal. I know everyone the NBA fay is exced for him and proud that our league fosters an clive and rpectful environment," NBA Commissner Adam Silver said. England's John Amaechi beme the first openly gay former NBA player 2007, three years after retirg. The NHL and Major League Baseball are still awag their first openly gay players. Major League Soccer has s first Robbie Rogers, a former U.S. natnal team player who played profsnally England. Rogers announced a year ago that he was gay as he said he was retirg. Rogers, now 26, has sce joed the Los Angel Galaxy. ___ AP Sports Wrers Brian Mahoney, Bernie Wilson Los Angel and Steven We Miami ntributed to this report. ___ Follow Brian Mahoney on Twter:
Contents:
- DEFN OF 'GAY'
- JASON COLLS IS NBA’S 1ST OPENLY GAY PLAYER
- GAY (ADJ.)
- CNN REPORTER APOLOGIZ FOR ‘IMMATURE’ OLD TWEETS WH GAY SLURS
- GAY
DEFN OF 'GAY'
Gay fn: A gay person is homosexual. | Meang, pronunciatn, translatns and exampl * gay meaning collins *
Gay suggts a lightns of heart or livels of mood that is openly manifted: when hearts were young and gay.
JASON COLLS IS NBA’S 1ST OPENLY GAY PLAYER
Eric Bach is an openly gay broadster for the Frericksburg Natnals. He has major league aspiratns, but his path has been much lonelier than he would prefer. * gay meaning collins *
Merry is often terchangeable wh gay: a merry disposn; a merry party; suggts, even more than the latter, nvivial animated enjoyment. This sexual world clud homosexuals too, and gay as an adjective meang “homosexual” go back at least to the early 1900s.
World War II, as social attus toward sexualy began to change, gay was applied openly by homosexuals to themselv, first as an adjective and later. Homosexual as a noun is sometim ed only reference to a maleMost material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Pengu Random Hoe LLC. McCoy for The New York TimHis Sexualy Don’t Defe Him, but It Can Set Him ApartEric Bach is an openly gay broadster for the Frericksburg Natnals.
GAY (ADJ.)
The kids today will never know a world whout an openly gay male pro athlete * gay meaning collins *
Three years earlier, while he was studyg journalism at Michigan State Universy, he had publicly e out as gay an say he wrote for the time of the say, he braced for a backlash, but nothg materialized.
CNN REPORTER APOLOGIZ FOR ‘IMMATURE’ OLD TWEETS WH GAY SLURS
* gay meaning collins *
He worked his way up om ternships to full-time broadstg jobs, and while anyone wh an ter nnectn uld learn he was gay, nobody asked, and he did not say so aga publicly.
It was paful at the time — the worst thg that had happened to him as a gay man, he said — but has reced far enough to his memory that did not e to md an hourlong terview about his experienc as a gay broadster.
As far as Bach knows — and as far as many of his unterparts wh other teams are aware — there are no other openly gay broadsters the sport. McCoy for The New York TimBorn to BroadstLong before he knew he was gay, Bach knew he wanted to be a sports father was a ach, and a love of sports ran through the fay.
GAY
The first out gay male athlete to play a major pro sports league hasn’t retired om LGBTQ advocy. * gay meaning collins *
”)He began to accept that he was gay durg his sophomore year of high school, but wh that acceptance me worry. As a multisport athlete, Bach was often locker rooms filled wh chos of homophobic slurs and gay jok. ’”By the start of his sophomore year at Michigan State, Bach was ready to tell his parents that he was gay, tchg his father off guard but nfirmg what his mother had prevly assumed.
He did each job to the bt of his abily, and his sexualy never me, he has found that there’s a difference between beg a gay man baseball and beg pletely fortable as one.
That uncertaty mak him feel self-nsc a way he believ is mon for gay people mostly straight spac.
GAY Meang: "full of joy, merry; light-hearted, reee;" also "wanton, lewd, lasciv" (late 12c. as a surname,… See orig and meang of gay. * gay meaning collins *
“I feel like that’s the burn a lot of gay people live wh — tryg to be perfect for straight people, ” he job requir equent teractn wh the players and the achg staff — addn to his duti as play-by-play announcer, Bach also is the ma public relatns ntact for the team — and he said he hadn’t fully relaxed any of them. The environment is not hostile, but Bach never fets that he is the only openly gay person the room.
Mrer/Frericksburg NatnalsThat feelg is somewhat “self-flicted, ” Bach said, but he believ the solutn is to brg more openly gay people to sports and create a safe environment for those who are already there but have felt necsary to hi their League Baseball has touted self as a place of clivy. Billy Bean, an openly gay former player, was named the league’s first ambassador for cln 2014 and has sce been promoted to senr vice print and special assistant to Commissner Rob Maned.