Kev Maxen be first male ach a US men’s pro sports league to publicly e out as gay | CNN

Contents:

• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS
• NFL ACH BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR U.S. MEN’S PRO SPORTS TO E OUT AS GAY
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• 9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
• NORTH AMERI’S FOUR BIGGT PRO SPORTS LEAGU HAVE BEEN AROUND A BED 398 YEARS. THEY’VE HAD TWO OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYERS
• FOR GAY ATHLET, WHAT AFTER G OUT?
• THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN ‘COMG OUT’ AS LBIAN, GAY, OR BISEXUAL AND EXPERIENC OF HOMOPHOBIC BEHAVUR YOUTH TEAM SPORTS
• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS GAY

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

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.

NFL ACH BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR U.S. MEN’S PRO SPORTS TO E OUT AS GAY

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.

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

For a variety of reasons, n be extremely hard for profsnal athlet to e out as LGBTQ+ their personal one, sports are largely domated by straight cis men who have been notorly homophobic and transphobic acrdg to numero stori om LGBTQ+ athlet. "Now is a good time for me bee the Commonwealth Gam is a month's time, and there's gog to be a lot of people watchg that, and there are so many untri the Commonwealth where beg gay is illegal. The 25-year-old athlete and former Richmond Flyg Squirrels player revealed to his fans and followers that while he is no longer playg for the team, which is part of the San Francis Giants system, he is thankful for the time he had and isn't givg up on his love of baseball, pecially as an out, gay man.

9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY

The Asie Olympic gold medalist and gby player me out as a trans man an Augt vio for the Bgham Cup's Internatnal Summ Tacklg Transphobia and Homophobia Sport event. -- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar suatns.It's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn."I don't want to feel like I have to thk about anymore," Maxen said the piece published Thursday afternoon. -- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar 's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

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. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league. At both the llegiate and profsnal level, sports have historilly been the last ontier for LGBT acceptance, and homophobia still ns rampant locker rooms and on playg fields across the Uned Stat and Europe.

Gay athlet and anti-bullyg activists like Ben Cohen, former pro English gby player, are fightg to change the game and create more clive spac for LGBT players everywhere.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

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.

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.

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

"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.

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

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.

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. 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).

FOR GAY ATHLET, WHAT AFTER G OUT?

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.

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. 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. Defensive prospect Michael Sam had e out before the NFL draft and been selected by the looked as if we as a society were ready to take a quick leap om havg no out gay athlet major team sports to nsirg ordary. '"It's important to remember that profsnal athlet didn't grow up the more acceptg environment we live today; chanc are, g out, they have to overe a lifetime of exposure to anti-gay attus.

THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN ‘COMG OUT’ AS LBIAN, GAY, OR BISEXUAL AND EXPERIENC OF HOMOPHOBIC BEHAVUR YOUTH TEAM SPORTS

Many teammat and opponents knew that Burke and Smh were gay -- Burke particular suffered for at the hands of A's manager Billy Mart the late 1970s and early '80s, while Smh was accepted by Hall of Fame ach Vce Lombardi a earlier.

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS GAY

If athlet their 20s or 30s -- a generatn that grew up wh gay-straight allianc their schools -- aren't ready to e out publicly for the benef of the media or the LGBT muny, younger athlet see far ls to lose.

However, ltle is known about whether lbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) young people experience discrimatory behavur team sports bee of their sexualy and whether g out to sport teammat is associated wh homophobic behavur. MethodThis study ed a sample (N = 1173; 15–21 years; llected 2014–2015) om six untri (Uned Stat, Uned Kgdom, Canada, Atralia, New Zealand, Ireland) to exame whether LGB youth who ‘e out’ to teammat experience homophobic behavur.

Multivariate logistic regrsn mols adjtg for age, genr, untry and ntact sport participatn found that participants who ‘me out’ as beg LGB to sports teammat were signifintly more likely to report beg a target of homophobic behavur.