Photos: Openly gay athlet | CNN

Contents:

• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
• COLLEGE & PROFSNAL ATHLET WHO ARE OPENLY GAY
• ATHLET WHO ARE GAY
• NORTH AMERI’S FOUR BIGGT PRO SPORTS LEAGU HAVE BEEN AROUND A BED 398 YEARS. THEY’VE HAD TWO OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYERS
• PRO ATHLET WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY: SPORTS STARS WHO INTIFY AS LGBTQ
• JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY ATHLETE TO PLAY NBA, MAK U.S. SPORTS HISTORY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS
• OPENLY GAY ATHLET
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS
• GAY ATHLET ARE MAKG HISTORY AT THE 2018 WTER OLYMPICS
• JASON COLLS SAYS HE'S GAY

WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS

When Nashville Predators prospect Le Prokop me out this week, was the first time an active player unr ntract to an NHL team had ever publicly acknowledged they were gay. Overnight, Prokop's announcement doubled the number of out gay athlet currently playg the untry's four major men's sports — football, basketball, baseball and hockey.

COLLEGE & PROFSNAL ATHLET WHO ARE OPENLY GAY

Gay male athlet face cultural barriers Part of the reason for the lack of out gay players men's profsnal sports uld be that there are jt fewer of them the game. "Gay men are a fe rource, so they n't exist great numbers every quarter, " Magrath told "Gay men are overreprented some areas, and as a nsequence are gog to be unrreprented sports.

NBA player Jason Colls, who me out 2013 while he was still playg the league, later told NPR " went great" when he scribed the perd after announcg he was gay. After Michael Sam beme the first openly gay athlete to be drafted to the NFL 2014, then-Miami Dolphs safety Don Jon tweeted "horrible, " rultg penalti and a spensn.

ATHLET WHO ARE GAY

There are key differenc the cultur of men's and women's athletics While few active players the major men's sports leagu have e out, many female profsnal athlet have said publicly that they're gay, om U. In June 2021, NFL fensive end Carl Nassib me out as gay a vio posted to his Instagram, addg he donated $100, 000 to The Trevor Project, an anizatn that foc on suici preventn LGBTQ youth after he stggled wh his sexualy for 15 years. The athlete quickly ma a name for herself a seri of TV terviews, where she voiced her support of women's rights and LGBTQ rights as an openly gay woman.

"I thk female athlet, general, are at the foreont of every prott general bee we're gay, we're women, we're women of lor, we're sort of everythg all at one time, " Rapoe told NBC news 2019. " He scribed hidg his sexualy while playg for the Utah Jazz, but said some teammat who spected he was gay were welg about a 2007 terview on "Outsi the L, " Amaechi, who played five seasons the NBA, said he thought there were other gay players the league, but said 's "terrifyg" for some to e out. Greg Louganis won four gold medals and one silver medal at three Olympic Gam om 1976 to 1988 as a diver, but wasn't until 1994 that he me out as gay.

NORTH AMERI’S FOUR BIGGT PRO SPORTS LEAGU HAVE BEEN AROUND A BED 398 YEARS. THEY’VE HAD TWO OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYERS

""If I n show that I'm out and I'm fe, then hopefully the younger generatn will feel the same way, " Grer said the same year, Grer recieved a multi-ln dollar al om Nike, and beme the first openly gay basketball player endorsed by the brand, acrdg to The married her wife, Cherelle, 2019. LGBTQ+ CelebriLists of lbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and all other kds of celebs workg the entertament dtry and the public of openly gay athlet volved both profsnal and llege sports. This list clus athlet who have "e out" durg their active play and athlet who have e out as gay after of the people on this list probably aren't too faiar sce few, if any, are active athlet.

Check out this list of all the openly gay athlet the Wikimedia Commons / CC-BYBirthplace: Seattle, WashgtonGraham Samuel Ackerman (born July 14, 1983) is an Amerin gymnast. She has been a relatnship wh Atralian soccer player Sarah Walsh for three 38Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Reddg, CaliforniaTeams: Chigo Red StarsTennis great Billie Jean Kg beme the first proment female profsnal athlete to e out as gay back 79Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Long Beach, California, Uned Stat of AmeriOlympic diver Greg Louganis is openly gay.

PRO ATHLET WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY: SPORTS STARS WHO INTIFY AS LGBTQ

He married his partner Johnny Chaillo 63Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: El Cajon, California, Uned Stat of AmeriWNBA player Sheryl Swoop announced that she was gay 2005. Age: 52Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Brownfield, Texas, Uned Stat of AmeriTeams: Hoton Comets, Uned Stat women's natnal basketball team, Texas Tech Lady Rairs basketballNBA player Jason Colls me out as gay an terview wh Sports Illtrated magaze 2013. His announcement provoked mixed reactns om his fellow players and the 44Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Northridge, Los Angel, CaliforniaTeams: Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Washgton Wizards, Memphis Grizzli, Brooklyn NetsAmerin soccer player Abby Wambach is openly gay.

The Las Vegas Rairs fensive end is now jt one of two openly gay active players the history of the four biggt North Amerin sports leagu (the Natnal Football League, Natnal Basketball Associatn, Major League Baseball and the Natnal Hockey League).

Homophobic language is still a regular feature of playg on a boys’ sports team the US and abroad, Denison’s rearch shows – one of his studi found that more than half of the ice hockey and gby players he terviewed said they’d ed slurs. Regular exposure to slurs or stereotyp eventually rerc among players that their succs as an athlete is tied to an ia of masculy that exclus gay men, he said. Denison scribed what he lls a “cycle of excln” that begs when a boy hears ach or olr players e homophobic language and observ a “posive rponse” to that behavr – maybe they lgh at each other, or the ach don’t challenge them, he said.

JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY ATHLETE TO PLAY NBA, MAK U.S. SPORTS HISTORY

As a child, before Davis unrstood what meant to be LGBTQ, he was already absorbg the norms beg set around him durg practice – that “beg gay those walls was unsafe, that [he] would be danger. Almost 50 years earlier, there was Glenn Burke, a buddg Los Angel Dodgers star whose reer was cut short by homophobia the 1970s, argu Andrew Maraniss, an thor and special projects ordator wh Vanrbilt Universy Athletics, his book on Burke. “He was a phenomenal athlete at the time when majory of straight sports fans the untry assumed that there’s no way there uld even be a gay player the game, let alone the most popular player on his team, ” Maraniss said.

Atralian A-League soccer star Josh Cavallo me out as gay an October vio posted to his social media, beg hailed as the first current male top-flight profsnal soccer player to publicly do so.

The 28-year-old Natnal Football League player and Rairs fensive leman ma history when he me out as gay on Instagram durg Pri Month, beg the first veteran NFL player to e out as gay while signed to a regular-season ntract. The Bachelor star and former football player (who was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted ee agent and was on the practice squad of the Oakland Rairs and the Philalphia Eagl) me out as gay April, sayg he had fally e to terms wh his sexualy and the "next step all of this was sort of lettg people know. Corey Walsh, the 27-year-old pro BMX rir and Vans spokperson, said he isn't normally the type of person to "let people " on his personal life, but felt was important to e out as gay a March Instagram post bee "there are a lot of people still stgglg wh the same suatns" and he "jt wanted to let people know that they are not alone.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

Champn long track speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy never hid beg gay om his fay, iends, and fellow athlet, but he also wasn't one to rate his locker wh rabow Pri flags eher. Simply bee of the jtifiable fear, of what might happen to them if fans, ach, teammat and y sponsors disvered the profsnal athlet have ‘e out’ as gay? Louis 2014, Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player drafted to the opened up about the journey that saw him step away om football for some time before g back to the game he lov wh the Barcelona Dragons.

A former fensive end for both the Cowboys and the Bucneers, Rsell was the talk of the town 2019 when he announced via an say on ESPN, that he was Vegas Rairs' Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to announce that he is gay. Defensive end Carl Nassib announced he was gay via a social media post, before also explag that he had donated $100, 000 to The Trevor Project - an anizatn that foc on suici preventn LGBTQ youth.

Nassib is the first openly gay active player the Pl Colls - BasketballProvg that this is not limed to any specific sport, let’s jump to the NBA where 2013, Jason Pl Colls ma history by beg the first person to openly e out any of the four major profsnal sports. Yet, as you’ve surely noticed by now, a large part of what people talk about when to the former star, is not her prows on the urt, but rather her 2005 admissn that she is gay.

OPENLY GAY ATHLET

” After beg an openly gay woman the league, Swoops would go on to retire Rogers - SoccerInto the world of soccer we go, where we fd Robbie Rogers who played profsnally England up until 2013 when he announced he was gay and leavg the sport. ’” Incintally, Rogers joed the Los Angel Galaxy jt a few months later, makg him the first openly gay man to play a major profsnal league the Uned Rapoe - SoccerIf you’re readg this article, then chanc are you probably know of Megan Rapoe. While we’re hopg you know of her, bee of the fact that she ptaed the women’s US Natnal Soccer Team to a FIFA World Cup tle 2019, ’s highly likely you’ve heard her name relatn to her beg openly gay and very vol about LGBTQ rights.

“I thk female athlet, general, are at the foreont of every prott general bee we’re gay, we’re women, we’re women of lor, we’re sort of everythg all at one time, ” Rapoe said back 2019. ”Sue Bird - BasketballThough we’ve ma our way back to the WNBA wh Bird, we thought worthwhile to mentn that 2017 she me out as gay and moreover, disclosed that she was datg the above-mentned Megan her 20 years wh the WNBA, Sue Bird says she’s seen players engage more on social issu, like BLM, and that the league has “embraced who we are. In 2020 Bird and Rapoe got Burke - BaseballOften referred to as the first gay man MLB, Glenn Burke joed the league 1977 where he played for the Los Angel Dodgers.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIANS

What’s tertg to note, is that while playg, everyone on the team knew Burke was gay, however, the general public did years later 1980, Burke left the game for good and ma a move to San Francsi, where jt two years later he would publicly e out as gay 1982. Tragilly, Burke died of AIDS 1995 at the age of Denson - BaseballThe year was 2015 and at the time David Denson was playg for the Milwkee Brewers, when he announced that he was gay durg an terview.

” In 2016, Cz dited a match to the victims of the horrific mass shootg at a gay at Pulse, a gay nightclub Orlando, Humphri - BasketballJt last November, we saw another athlete take the monumental step, when Atralian basketballer Isaac Humphri me out as gay. The number doubl the 40 openly gay, lbian and bisexual women who peted of the women are om North and South Ameri, Europe, Atralia and New Zealand, Outsports reported. Not only don’t they have our backs, our liv don’t matter, ” Robbie Rogers, one of the first openly gay major league soccer players, said a 2015 opn article for USA Today after FIFA announced the untri that would host the upg tournaments.

GAY ATHLET ARE MAKG HISTORY AT THE 2018 WTER OLYMPICS

Former NBA center Jason Colls, who me out 2013 and beme the first openly gay athlete any of the four major US sports leagu, wrote that he was “very proud” of Nassib.

The 35-year-old journeyman plays 10 srels mut, rerdg two rebounds and five fouls the Nets’ 108-102 victory over the Los Angel May 2013, Colls revealed he is gay a first-person say  Sports Illtrated. 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.

JASON COLLS SAYS HE'S GAY

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. 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.