Baseball’s First Out Player, Glenn Burke, Created the High-Five, Briefly a Symbol of Gay Pri | Hor, the Queer Social Network

Contents:

• IN 1977, A GAY BASEBALL PLAYER VENTED THE HIGH-FIVE
• DEEP INSI HOLLYWOOD: JAMIE LEE CURTIS HIGH FIV A GAY BASEBALL LEGEND
• BASEBALL’S FIRST OUT PLAYER, GLENN BURKE, CREATED THE HIGH-FIVE, BRIEFLY A SYMBOL OF GAY PRI

IN 1977, A GAY BASEBALL PLAYER VENTED THE HIGH-FIVE

The only problem he seemed to be facg was the fact that he was a gay baseball player the 1970s and was iends wh the openly gay son of his manager, Tommy Lasorda. The first openly gay athlete.

211, LA Progrsive took this as an ditn that the double life of beg a gay baseball player was affectg his abily to play. ' He said, 'They don't want any gays on the team. Thirteen years later, he told People magaze that "My missn as a gay ballplayer was to break a stereotype...

They n't ever say now that a gay man n't play the majors, bee I'm a gay man and I ma .

DEEP INSI HOLLYWOOD: JAMIE LEE CURTIS HIGH FIV A GAY BASEBALL LEGEND

" Although he did play softball gam and low sle petns like the 1986 Gay Gam basketball, his life still scend to sex and durgs, a hab that secured him a e addictn that stroyed his body. While Burke never me out durg his playg reer, he also ma no effort to hi the fact that he was gay om his teammat.

Burke’s big league reer was short and tumultuo, marked by clash wh homophobic managers Tommy Lasorda and Billy Mart. Its orig is documented to the Los Angel Dodgers’ Glenn Burke, the first gay player Major League Baseball out to his teammat and management. Related: Meet Ameri’s first openly gay profsnal baseball player.

” The elr Lasorda nied his son was gay, even as his son eventually died of plitns om AIDS 1991. After baseball, Burke peted the 1982 and 1986 Gay Gam, and he was a standout player the San Francis Gay Softball League. “They n’t ever say now that a gay man n’t play the majors, ” Burke said, “bee I’m a gay man, and I ma .

BASEBALL’S FIRST OUT PLAYER, GLENN BURKE, CREATED THE HIGH-FIVE, BRIEFLY A SYMBOL OF GAY PRI

The year of his ath, Burke published his bgraphy, Out at Home: The Te Story of Glenn Burke, Baseball’s First Openly Gay Player. He was also the first Major League Baseball player to e out as gay to his teammat durg his reer and, later, publicly. If you remember the Oprah episos where the term “down low” me to natnal attentn, you’ll remember a lot of handwrgg about men who had sex wh men who didn’t que (OK, at all) intify as gay.

That would be Glenn Burke of the Los Angel Dodgers, who was also the sport’s first openly gay player.