Openly gay basketball player Derrick Gordon transfers to Seton Hall and shuns the spotlight - ESPN

derek gay basketball player

"I was blsed to fd out who my life was real; which relatnships were based on love," wr Derek Schell, who was openly gay on his llege basketball team.

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HERE ARE THE 6 GAY MEN WHO HAVE BEEN OUT PUBLICLY WHILE PETG PRO BASKETBALL

The first openly gay Divisn I men's basketball player was embraced by fay and teammat after g out at UMass. But after transferrg to Seton Hall, he walked away om the attentn. * derek gay basketball player *

After a year of isolatn, gay UMass basketball player Derrick Gordon disvered the strength to share his tth wh fay and teammat.

Last Wednday, at the requt of redshirt sophomore shootg guard Derrick Gordon, Universy of Massachetts men’s basketball head ach Derek Kellogg lled a team meetg. Two weeks after his team’s upset loss to Tennsee the NCAA tournament, Gordon had a secret he wanted to share wh them, one that a week’s time he would share wh the world: He’s gay. “I jt wanted you all to know, ” Kellogg said, “I’m gay.

But the last month, spendg time wh other gay people sports, somethg different had sudnly driven him to share his secret: Hope. That was all nearly railed when Gordon’s then-boyiend last summer posted a photograph on Instagram of the two of them ont of a gay bar on the New Jersey ast.

32 THGS I LEARNED AFTER G OUT AS GAY

The gay athlet have broken through the noise to fd they n be accepted as gay athlet basketball. * derek gay basketball player *

Gordon was wary of the post but figured there was ltle chance someone would stumble across the photo on a random Instagram acunt and intify him and said gay bar.

Wh hours, some of his teammat asked him if he were gay.

'I’M GAY. I’M A CHRISTIAN. I’M A BASKETBALL PLAYER.'

* derek gay basketball player *

The “gay” label lgered.

” Darryl hasn’t seen his brother play basketball sce his sophomore year high school. “I was jt aaid that if I was to go to a party or a gay club Boston, someone might spot me. Gordon did feel safe New York Cy, where he would venture out to gay clubs.

OUTSPORTS: FIRST-HAND ACUNT OF MALE BASKETBALL PLAYER COMG OUT AS GAY

"I realized that I uld be an athlete, be a iend, be a son, be a brother, be an artist, and be gay as well." * derek gay basketball player *

He spent this past New Year’s Eve the gay clubs of Manhattan – gettg no sleep and takg two tras to get there – simply to be an environment where he felt he uld be himself, anonymoly.

A uple tim the last year someone did regnize him a gay bar, drivg him eper to the closet and prsn. The first cracks the straight faça me last year when a mutual iend troduced Gordon to Davis, a gay former NFL Player and You Can Play project executive director.

I don’t thk he had that on his team, and he hadn’t met other gay mal whom he uld nnect wh.

THE LIST OF GAY BASKETBALL PLAYERS NTU TO GROW WH ANOTHER G OUT

College basketball player Derek Schell tells how he renciled his fah wh beg gay. * derek gay basketball player *

In that time he has gotten a unique glimpse to the liv of gay men sports who are livg life openly. Jog them were former ESPN rad host Jared Max and Snrs High School basketball ach Anthony Nimo, who had e out as gay himself a year earlier.

Sudnly Gordon found himself surround by openly gay men var rners of sports, all of whom were publicly out. While Gordon said he had read about gay athlet on Outsports for years, meetg the people – talkg wh them and lghg wh them over the last month – has been a revelatn. As soon as he arrived at his parents’ home om Philalphia the eveng of Sunday, March 30, he told his fay that he’s gay.

“Mom says I had gay tennci growg up. Last Wednday, after ach Kellogg broke the ice wh the team, Gordon stood before them and revealed that he’s gay.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* DEREK GAY BASKETBALL PLAYER

Openly gay basketball player Derrick Gordon transfers to Seton Hall and shuns the spotlight - ESPN .

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