Celebratg LGBTQ sports history: MLB players who have e out as gay - Outsports

Contents:

• MLS PLAYER OUT, MAKG HIM THE ONLY OPENLY GAY ATHLETE THE 5 MAJOR SPORTS LEAGU
• COLL MART IS U.S. SOCCER'S ONLY OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYER, AND HE'S WORKG TO MAKE THE GAME MORE CLIVE FOR FUTURE LGBTQ+ PLAYERS
• CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY
• COLL MART, MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER PLAYER, SAYS, 'I'M GAY'
• MNOTA UNED'S COLL MART OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• HOW MANY OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYERS HAVE BEEN THERE? HONORG LGBTQ INS OF BASEBALL ON PRI NIGHT

MLS PLAYER OUT, MAKG HIM THE ONLY OPENLY GAY ATHLETE THE 5 MAJOR SPORTS LEAGU

On the pch, celebratg wh his teammat, will be the only active gay athlete men’s US profsnal team sports. Loons midfielr Coll Mart on Friday morng announced to the world via Twter that he is a gay man.

It's an important night for me — I'll be announcg that I am an openly gay player Major League Soccer.

Michael Sam beme the first openly gay football player to be selected the NFL Draft, but never appeared a profsnal game.

COLL MART IS U.S. SOCCER'S ONLY OPENLY GAY MALE PLAYER, AND HE'S WORKG TO MAKE THE GAME MORE CLIVE FOR FUTURE LGBTQ+ PLAYERS

Jason Colls ma history by beg the first openly gay man to play the NBA when he signed wh the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets 2014, nearly a year after he publicly me out an terview wh Sports Illtrated. And elsewhere MLS, Robbie Rogers — who publicly me out early 2013 shortly after he ially retired om the game when his Premiere League club cut him — joed the LA Galaxy months later to bee the first gay man to play a game any of the five major profsnal sports leagu.

Moments earlier, an opposg player targeted Mart, an openly gay man, wh a homophobic slur, and as they gathered unr a tent at halftime, they discsed how to team was agreement: Somethg need to be done. "Flemmgs was later spend for six gam by the league, and he nied g an anti-gay slur toward Mart. "Beg able to have a posive msage e out of a really tough suatn was the silver lg, " he the only openly gay men's profsnal soccer player the Uned Stat -- and one of the few who have ever e out globally -- Mart has e to embrace the signifince of what he reprents, pecially for the LGBTQ+ muny.

CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY

Play1:48Coll Mart: Locker room support was all I needSan Diego Loyal midfielr Coll Mart says the support om his old teammat at Mnota Uned was a big help to him when he me out as gay. Around those years, havg to hi, havg to remd myself that like, 'Oh, my bt iend on the team, who jt lled another person a f----t, he isn't really homophobic, but he is jt tryg to be hurtful to that person.

"Mart is not unique that he didn't have ach who were willg to step to put an end to homophobic language when was ed.

Today, as the Los Angel Dodgers prepare to play the World Seri agast the Tampa Bay Rays, -founr Jim Buzski remds that the Dodgers anchise is a part of LGBTQ sports history as havg the only two MLB players who ever were public about beg gay. Dodgers have had Major League Baseball’s only 2 openly gay players. In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been only two players who have e out as gay: Glenn Burke and Billy Bean.

COLL MART, MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER PLAYER, SAYS, 'I'M GAY'

Burke, while never publicly out wh the media while playg, did nothg to hi the fact to his teammat that he was gay.

Not a “Hey world, I’m gay” way, but the sense that his teammat knew as did the management of the Los Angel Dodgers, Burke’s first team. ” A memorable moment “Out” occurs when is relled that the Dodgers — tryg to stifle mors that a popular player was gay — offered Burke $75, 000 to get married.

The Dodgers and their manager, Tom Lasorda, prented a versn of themselv as a clean-cut, All-Amerin team and a flamboyantly gay player uld not be tolerated, pecially one who hung out wh Lasorda’s gay son.

MNOTA UNED'S COLL MART OUT AS GAY

(“Spunky’), himself a gay man and the son of the team’s manager, Tommy Lasorda.

“Spunky” Lasorda later died of AIDS and his father shamefully never acknowledged that his son was gay. “My son wasn’t gay.

His beg gay was known and players were reluctant to shower wh him. A former Burke teammate Clll Washgton rells that A’s Manager Billy Mart was openly homophobic:.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Burke went on to settle San Francis and was a fixture on the gay scene there, even playg the Gay Gam softball. While baseball is still wag for s first openly gay active MLB player, Bean’s elevatn to a posn of thory the missner’s office is a sign that thgs have changed sce the days when Glenn Burke was lled a faggot by his manager.

Coll Mart, a soccer player for Mnota Uned, announced on Twter Friday that he is gay, beg the only openly gay male player any of the major North Amerin sports leagu. It's an important night for me — I'll be announcg that I am an openly gay player Major League Soccer, " the player an exclive terview wh NBC News, Mart said his teammat already knew that he was gay before he me out publicly. ”In an terview wh NBC News, Hudson Taylor, the executive director of Athlete Ally, a group that aims to end the homophobia sports, said Mart jos a select group of male profsnal athlet who me out publicly.

HOW MANY OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYERS HAVE BEEN THERE? HONORG LGBTQ INS OF BASEBALL ON PRI NIGHT

“We n still unt the number of current or former openly gay athlet on pretty much two hands, ” he said. “Sport teach a very narrow fn of masculy and femy, " Taylor said, "and if you don’t nform to that very narrow fn, you’re gonna be met wh a culture that a lot of homophobic, sexist language, and as a rult is not perceived to be a very acceptg space.