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

Contents:

• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS
• HERE ARE THE 6 GAY MEN WHO HAVE BEEN OUT PUBLICLY WHILE PETG PRO BASKETBALL
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN FIRST MALE PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
• KEV MAXEN, JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH, OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU
• THE 77 WNBA PLAYERS THAT HAVE COME OUT AS GAY LBIAN, TRANS OR NON-BARY
• HOW MANY OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYERS HAVE BEEN THERE? HONORG LGBTQ INS OF BASEBALL ON PRI NIGHT
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• RUDY GAY EXPECTED TO DRAW TERT OM WARRRS, LAKERS, MAVERICKS, BULLS, PELINS
• A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL 40 OUT GAY PLAYERS THE NWSL
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY
• ARE THERE GAY PLAYERS ON THE PGA TOUR? BRANDT SNEKER SAYS ODDS ARE Y

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

Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual. Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. 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.

The NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars strength ach, Kev Maxen, has e out as gay — makg him the first male ach a U.

While Maxen is believed to be the first male ach to have e out publicly as gay, there have been a few female ach U.

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

When to players, there have only been 16 the history of the NFL to e out as gay or bisexual as of September 2022, per Outsports. An entreprenr lnched a nned cktail this week lled “Gay Water” that’s aimed at LGBTQ drkers — and said he’s lookg to palize on Bud Light’s mistak. But “Gay Water” — which adopts a moniker the gay muny has long given to the simple vodka and soda cktail — has been spired by the dtup to bee even bolr about the dience ’s targetg, founr and CEO Spencer Hodson told The Post.

Gay Water — a nned cktail brand that plays on the gay muny’s lloquialism for the vodka-and-soda mixed drk — lnched on Wednday and promis to unrstand s dience better than Bud Light.Spencer Hodson/Instagram.

The 30-year-old Hodson said he is g suggtive — albe playful — msagg and imagery Gay Water’s social media and webse, cludg a provotive nod to the 12-ounce n’s 6.1-ch height. “Our missn is to -stigmatize the word ‘gay’ and start to create reprentatn spac that tradnally don’t have queer-owned products, let alone products wh the word ‘gay’ their tle,” Hodson told The Post. “When was the last time you saw the word gay at a rtrant, bar, liquor store, or grocery store?

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

The word ‘gay’ origally was fed as happy, and we’re hopg to remd folks of that by beg prent,” he add.

Founr Spencer Hodson, a gay man, says the brand is about reclaimg the word “gay” as a word that “jt means happy.”Spencer Hodson/Instagram. “Part of the pot of lnchg outsi of Pri month is to rerce the msage that Gay Water is here to make the LGBTQ+ muny more visible 365 days a year, not jt a sgle month,” he said.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN FIRST MALE PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

When John Amaechi me out publicly 2007, he was ahead of his time, sharg that he’s gay and a former profsnal basketball player.

Sce Colls showed the world you uld be a gay man profsnal basketball, there has been a trickle of gay athlet to follow, most recently former NBA player and current Atralian pro basketball player Isaac Humphri.

Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted when the then-St Louis Rams selected him 2021, Carl Nassib, then wh the Las Vegas Rairs, beme the first active NFL player to e out publicly. Last time at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, the Netherlands lay claim to the honor of beg the team wh the most out LGBTQ players, but this year Atralia boasts 10 out players and overtak them for the tle of Gayt Team 2k23. Ireland’s historic entry to the tournament marks another triumph for out midfielr Sead Farrelly, whose natnal team but and 2023 return to the NWSL e more than six years after retirg om soccer the wake of systemic homophobic and sexual abe wh the league, which the Athletic first reported on 2021.

A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

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. "He ntued: "Growg up I always felt the need to hi myself, you know, bee I was ashamed, and ashamed I'll never be able to do what I love and be gay. In a September terview wh USA Today, 25-year-old mor league baseball player beme the only active baseball profsnal to be out as gay!

Natnal Hockey League prospect Le Prokop me out as gay July, the first active player the league to e out.

"I am proud to publicly tell everyone that I am gay, " he wrote a heartfelt msage on social media. 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.

KEV MAXEN, JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH, OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU

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.

"He wanted everyone to know he was "still the same Colton everybody met on TV" and is "proud to be gay. Hiltz had prevly e out as gay while llege and has been a visible and affirmg prence for gay athlet the past. 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.

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. He ially feared negative stereotyp about gay male athlet but threw those ncerns asi after his two-tle performance at the U.

THE 77 WNBA PLAYERS THAT HAVE COME OUT AS GAY LBIAN, TRANS OR NON-BARY

Not only was their birthday a huge tone for women’s profsnal basketball, but the league’s growth has cid wh a growg acceptance of players that intify as gay, lbian, bisexual and trans. I remember when the WNBA kicked off and though there was an assumptn that there mt have been gay players the league, yet no player was open about their sexualy. Even though some outlets have approximated of the percentage of LGBTQ players the WNBA the real number will always be accurate as long as homophobia exists all ’s forms.

The te percentage of WNBA players that intify as gay or lbian will always be termed by how acceptg society of differenc sexualy and genr, and th, how fortable players are of g out of the closet the public eye.

We piled this list bee we know that the qutn of how many gay WNBA players there are and bee there’s not a lot of reputable rmatn to be had; leads to stereotyp beg perpetuated and biased opns are taken as fact. We saw the lack of available rearch as an opportuny to provi rmatn that is actually rearched wh the ntext of how culture affects the number of out gay and lbian WNBA players. That’s also te the WNBA where All-Stars Dewanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas are engaged, former teammat Penny Taylor and Trasi are married, current teammat Allie Quigley and Courtney Vanrsloot have also wed, Natisha Heiman and Jasme Thomas are upled up and Breanna Stewart and Marta Xargay have a child together.

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

All that said beg one of the top players don’t exclu you om experiencg homophobia or the feelgs of fear, anxiety and shame. Beg bullied, havg feelgs of not beg accepted for beg gay or not fully g out aren’t unique to WNBA players whatsoever.

And every WNBA superstar that is out now cludg Augt, Grer, Bird, McCoughtry, Candace Parker, Stewart, Katie Smh, and Jonquel Jon to name a few have all spoke to the glass closet they’re workg agast and homophobia that they’ve experienced that have silenced them. We’ve foced on g as gay or lbian and haven’t even approached the subject om the cross sectn of the multiple inti that are at play. By also then intifyg as Gay, Lbian, Bi-Sexual, Queer or Trans Black woman, well that pretty much tak all offers off the table.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Sue Bird dumbed down how racism, sexism, and homophobia together to work agast the WNBA an ESPN terview: “To be pletely blunt, but also kd of simple, soccer players generally are cute ltle whe girls.

RUDY GAY EXPECTED TO DRAW TERT OM WARRRS, LAKERS, MAVERICKS, BULLS, PELINS

Whether straight or gay, the great thg about the WNAB is that they’re unified their support of one another – not only terms of women’s sports, but genr equy, racial jtice, and issu impactg the LGBTQIA+ muny as all three h very close to home. Though there is a lot of ternalized and systemic homophobia the WNBA to unpack and remove, ’s no surprise that the league go big durg Pri month.

A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL 40 OUT GAY PLAYERS THE NWSL

In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that.

“The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer. The nned cktail is named after a lloquialism given to the popular mixed drk (vodka and soda) orred at bars by the gay muny.

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

“Puttg a product wh the word gay the tle is reprentatn self,” which he hop reclaims the word om the negativy ’s sometim associated wh. He thought of creatg Gay Water about a year ago while on a vatn wh his iend that had got a job wh the beverage dtry. The two chatted about the limed amount of gay people wh , and wh Hodson burnt out om his tradnal day job tech, started the nned cktail.

Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water.

“Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”.

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

For now, Gay Water is sold largely onle (wh a few retailers) and four sugar-ee flavors — watermelon, lime, peach and grapeu — at lnch. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN.

ARE THERE GAY PLAYERS ON THE PGA TOUR? BRANDT SNEKER SAYS ODDS ARE Y

“There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said. Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space. As the world be more progrsive, so do the baseball muny wh clubs, fans, and teammat embracg openly gay MLB players.

As the MLB ntu embracg the LGBTQ muny, the players have also taken steps towards clivens wh Chigo Whe Sox pcher, Anrson Comás, g out as openly gay. The 23-year-old pcher om the Domin Republic hop the revelatn of his sexualy enurag other gay players to e out.

Although Anrson Comás is only the send openly gay MLB player to e out while actively wh an anizatn, the Chigo Whe Sox, he is far om the first openly gay player to play profsnal baseball. "Anrson Comás beme the send known player to e out as gay while actively affiliated wh an MLB anizatn.