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 - ESPN

Contents:

• 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
• GAY U.S. LACROSSE GOALIE ME OUT TO ‘NORMALIZE WHAT MAK DIFFERENT’
• LE PROKOP COM OUT AS GAY AND MAK NHL HISTORY
• THE PROFSNAL ATHLETE WHO CAME OUT AS A GAY MAN— 1989
• GAY FORMER SOCCER GOALKEEPER NS FOR BOARD OF EDUTN WT VIRGIA
• GOALIE INTERFERENCE: A GAY SPORTS ROMANCE (HAT TRICK BOOK 2) KDLE EDN
• GERMAN GOAL-SRER SENDS MSAGE ON GAY RIGHTS
• ‘NO PLACE THE GAME’: USMNT’S MATT TURNER BLASTS ANTI-GAY CHANTS THAT END W OVER MEXI EARLY
• RAISED A MORMON, GAY UTAH GOALIE OVER HATE AND BULLYG TO FD HAPPS
• GAY FORMER SOCCER GOALKEEPER NS FOR BOARD OF EDUTN WT VIRGIA
• LE PROKOP COM OUT AS GAY AND MAK NHL HISTORY
• THE PROFSNAL ATHLETE WHO CAME OUT AS A GAY MAN— 1989
• ‘NO PLACE THE GAME’: USMNT’S MATT TURNER BLASTS ANTI-GAY CHANTS THAT END W OVER MEXI EARLY
• GERMAN GOAL-SRER SENDS MSAGE ON GAY RIGHTS

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

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.

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.

GAY U.S. LACROSSE GOALIE ME OUT TO ‘NORMALIZE WHAT MAK DIFFERENT’

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.

LE PROKOP COM OUT AS GAY AND MAK NHL HISTORY

The All-Amerin goalie had stggled wh his sexualy sce he was 7, and like so many gay and transgenr kids, had ntemplated suici. '"Earlier this year, another young lacrosse player realized that he was gay. "There's nothg wrong wh beg gay, " Braen rpond, "bee I am gay.

Playg the celt of ccibl, the Syrace Carrier Dome, before 25, 000 fans, Dartmouth College's sophomore lacrosse goalie somehow has plucked Michael Sprger's pot-blank shot out of the air and starts sprtg up the curly open left sile. "As Goldste would say later, "I gus tak a gay goalie to have enough balls to sre the NCAA tournament.

THE PROFSNAL ATHLETE WHO CAME OUT AS A GAY MAN— 1989

But early his sophomore year at Milton Amy, his Massachetts hometown, he told a iend, was liberatg, even thrillg, but Goldste's secret stayed between the two until July 2003, two months after he sred that groundbreakg goal at Syrace. He worried that on the team's first road trip that the "unlucky guys who had to be my roommat would pla about sleepg the same room as the homo. " He wonred if anybody would s next to him on the team, however, several teammat approached him to apologize for homophobic language and off-lor-jok om the past.

A handful of notable profsnal team-sport athlet had e out after their reers end and, to be sure, there were a number of openly gay athlet dividual sports at the Divisn I, II and III levels.

GAY FORMER SOCCER GOALKEEPER NS FOR BOARD OF EDUTN WT VIRGIA

Still, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound goalie was, the sports work nclud after rearchg the ntext, the most acplished male, team-sport athlete North Ameri to be openly gay durg his playg that year he was drafted by the Boston Canons of Major League Lacrosse and eventually played for the Long Island a before Amerin soccer player Robbie Rogers played for the Los Angel Galaxy of Major League Soccer, prr to Jason Colls steppg on the urt for the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, before Michael Sam, a Missouri fensive end, me out advance of the 2014 NFL draft, there was Andrew Goldste.

"Andrew was the first openly gay male athlete to be drafted by a profsnal sports league the Uned Stat, " said Cyd Zeigler, -founr of "And then he beme the first to play a profsnal sports league. "In 2005, the gay muny didn't want to talk about sports and the sports muny didn't want to talk about gay people. You n no longer say that gay men all jt want to listen to show tun.

"The ESPN profile won a televisn journalism award om the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn. "In 2013 Goldste was enshred the gural class of Natnal Gay and Lbian Sports Hall of Fame, joed by, among others, Marta Navratilova, Billie Jean Kg and Greg GoldsteToday, at 32, Goldste seems fortable his own sk. "I would notice that a lot of people would make, like, homosexual jok, " he explas.

GOALIE INTERFERENCE: A GAY SPORTS ROMANCE (HAT TRICK BOOK 2) KDLE EDN

And then I realized that I was gay. "They all say the same thg -- are you gay? "So we go to Braen's room and ask him, 'Are you gay?

One boy at his school told Braen he was gog to hell bee beg gay wasn't mentned the Bible. "Stt had found the statistics on-le: The suici rate for gay teens is thought to be four tim the natnal average. "Makg a nnectnFive weeks after Braen me out, on March 16, the Lang found Andrew remembered seeg a televisn piece on a gay lacrosse player and wh a few mut she had Googled the ESPN feature.

GERMAN GOAL-SRER SENDS MSAGE ON GAY RIGHTS

On the day before the 2015 Divisn I lacrosse champnship game between Denver and Maryland at Lln Fancial Field Philalphia, a few away on the mp of Pennsylvania Universy, several hundred people, gay lacrosse players and their alli, gathered for The Courage Game. Goldste emerged as the first openly gay Amerin male profsnal team-sport athlete 2005 when he was drafted by his hometown Boston Cannons Major League Lacrosse. Even before breakg barriers on the profsnal level, Goldste shattered the stereotype of the ttosterone-fueled lacrosse bro by g out to his teammat and petg as an openly gay athlete at Dartmouth College 2003.

“I never once imaged that I would be an openly gay person, that that would be my life. Already tablished as a val part of the Dartmouth lacrosse team, his teammat stepped up and embraced him for dog so, wh several immediately apologizg for g “gay” as a pejorative the locker room. As Goldste later wrote, “I gus tak a gay goalie to have enough balls to sre the NCAA Tournament.

Two months after that reputatn-makg moment, Goldste started the g out procs by tellg one of his teammat that he was gay. A two time All-Amerin at Dartmouth, he was later named to the OUT 100 2006, earned a GLAAD Media Award for his ESPN feature, and was among the first ducte to the Natnal Gay and Lbian Sports Hall of Fame.

‘NO PLACE THE GAME’: USMNT’S MATT TURNER BLASTS ANTI-GAY CHANTS THAT END W OVER MEXI EARLY

After tablishg a succsful reer as a doctor and medil rearcher Los Angel, Goldste was ntacted by the father of a twelve year old gay lacrosse player named Braen Lange who was alg wh severe bullyg shortly after g out himself. He then helped anize The Courage Game, a lacrosse exhibn to support gay youth partnership wh the You Can Play Project. 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.

I'm a footballer and I'm gay. "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!

RAISED A MORMON, GAY UTAH GOALIE OVER HATE AND BULLYG TO FD HAPPS

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.

GAY FORMER SOCCER GOALKEEPER NS FOR BOARD OF EDUTN WT VIRGIA

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.

I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay.

LE PROKOP COM OUT AS GAY AND MAK NHL HISTORY

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.

THE PROFSNAL ATHLETE WHO CAME OUT AS A GAY MAN— 1989

Hiltz had prevly e out as gay while llege and has been a visible and affirmg prence for gay athlet the past.

‘NO PLACE THE GAME’: USMNT’S MATT TURNER BLASTS ANTI-GAY CHANTS THAT END W OVER MEXI EARLY

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.

Women’s lacrosse team that won the unr-19 gold medal last year, hat the notn of beg known as a gay athlete, yet she accepts why the distctn is necsary. “As proud as I am to be who I am — to reprent my untry as a gay athlete — I hate that I have to, ” Doucette wr a g out say US Lacrosse Magaze.

GERMAN GOAL-SRER SENDS MSAGE ON GAY RIGHTS

That’s well said and te — no one lik beg known as the “gay (fill the sport) player” — yet visibily is important to enurage more LGBTQ people sports to e out. Le Prokop, a prospect for the Nashville Predators, me out as gay on Monday. Nashville Predators prospect Le Prokop has e out as gay, beg the first active player unr ntract to an NHL team to do so.

High-level female hockey players, such as Olympic gold medalist Meghan Duggan, have prevly e out as gay, acrdg to the league. Prokop's announcement ls than a month after Las Vegas Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay.