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

Contents:

• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• ESPN IS GAY-FRIENDLY
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• ESPN'S ISRAEL GUTIERREZ REVEALS HE IS GAY—AND ENGAGED!— EMOTNAL BLOG POST
• MY HIDN JOURNEY: A PROFSNAL SOCCER PLAYER REVEALS HE IS GAY
• ESPN'S SARAH SPA LLS RAYS PLAYERS ‘BIGOTS’ FOR NOT WEARG GAY PRI PATCH
• HOW ALLEGIANCE TO AN ANTI-GAY FAN CHANT AT MEXI SOCCER GAM MIGHT SK EL TRI'S WORLD CUP FORTUN

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

-- 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. Outsi lebacker Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay and to play a game Associated Prs ntributed to this report.

It wasn't until I left Wake Fort [Universy] that I really began to [e to terms] wh my league legend Ian Roberts: I always knew [beg gay] wasn't embraced by the greater society so I kept secret. I me out at the Gay Gam 1994, welg the athlet and sayg, "It's great to be out and proud. " Another time, the owner of the team told me that my sexualy was agast the team's beliefs, so wouldn't look good to have a gay soccer player the Before I went pro, I said if I have to change how I look, how I drs, then I don't want [beg a pro].

Sce publicly g out 2015, Gutierrez, who works as an NBA reporter and mentator for ESPN, has emerged as one of the most proment openly gay figur sports media. One day, then-Marls closer Anton Alfonse teased Gutierrez for wearg an earrg his upper ear rtilage, suatg was a gay fashn statement. “It was not worth to me to have to fend myself when somebody who liked me, prumably, is tellg me to my face that that’s not ol, and that’s gay, ” Gutierrez said.

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

Each day, whether ’s on the ESPN airwav or his social media feed, Gutierrez normaliz beg gay sports, and simply the world. “Hearg a man say ‘boyiend’ or ‘partner’ or ‘hband’ or terjectg a gay joke where they weren’t expectg , or a gay sex joke.

Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to 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.

ESPN IS GAY-FRIENDLY

So I talked to Jon Kliment, the voice of mor league hockey’s Elmira Enforcers, about his experienc tryg to work his way up as an out gay voice an dtry that’s sorely need of reprentatn. McCoy for The New York TimHis Sexualy Don’t Defe Him, but It Can Set Him ApartEric Bach is an openly gay broadster for the Frericksburg Natnals.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

Three years earlier, while he was studyg journalism at Michigan State Universy, he had publicly e out as gay an say he wrote for the time of the say, he braced for a backlash, but nothg materialized.

He worked his way up om ternships to full-time broadstg jobs, and while anyone wh an ter nnectn uld learn he was gay, nobody asked, and he did not say so aga publicly. It was paful at the time — the worst thg that had happened to him as a gay man, he said — but has reced far enough to his memory that did not e to md an hourlong terview about his experienc as a gay broadster.

ESPN'S ISRAEL GUTIERREZ REVEALS HE IS GAY—AND ENGAGED!— EMOTNAL BLOG POST

As far as Bach knows — and as far as many of his unterparts wh other teams are aware — there are no other openly gay broadsters the sport. McCoy for The New York TimBorn to BroadstLong before he knew he was gay, Bach knew he wanted to be a sports father was a ach, and a love of sports ran through the fay.

”)He began to accept that he was gay durg his sophomore year of high school, but wh that acceptance me worry. As a multisport athlete, Bach was often locker rooms filled wh chos of homophobic slurs and gay jok. ’”By the start of his sophomore year at Michigan State, Bach was ready to tell his parents that he was gay, tchg his father off guard but nfirmg what his mother had prevly assumed.

MY HIDN JOURNEY: A PROFSNAL SOCCER PLAYER REVEALS HE IS GAY

He did each job to the bt of his abily, and his sexualy never me, he has found that there’s a difference between beg a gay man baseball and beg pletely fortable as one. That uncertaty mak him feel self-nsc a way he believ is mon for gay people mostly straight spac.

“I feel like that’s the burn a lot of gay people live wh — tryg to be perfect for straight people, ” he job requir equent teractn wh the players and the achg staff — addn to his duti as play-by-play announcer, Bach also is the ma public relatns ntact for the team — and he said he hadn’t fully relaxed any of them. The environment is not hostile, but Bach never fets that he is the only openly gay person the room.

ESPN'S SARAH SPA LLS RAYS PLAYERS ‘BIGOTS’ FOR NOT WEARG GAY PRI PATCH

Mrer/Frericksburg NatnalsThat feelg is somewhat “self-flicted, ” Bach said, but he believ the solutn is to brg more openly gay people to sports and create a safe environment for those who are already there but have felt necsary to hi their League Baseball has touted self as a place of clivy. Billy Bean, an openly gay former player, was named the league’s first ambassador for cln 2014 and has sce been promoted to senr vice print and special assistant to Commissner Rob Maned.

In Febary, Anrson Comás, a mor leaguer the Chigo Whe Sox anizatn, me out as gay wh a post on Instagram, and the announcement was met wh public support om his club and some people around the cints suggt there is more work to be done. The Boston Red Sox lled up a mor leaguer, Matt Dermody, who had posted an anti-gay msage on Twter 2021, and Anthony Bass, a reliever for the Toronto Blue Jays, reposted a vio on social media that lled for boytts of L.

HOW ALLEGIANCE TO AN ANTI-GAY FAN CHANT AT MEXI SOCCER GAM MIGHT SK EL TRI'S WORLD CUP FORTUN

“Those of that are this very small mory sports have to keep on havg the nversatns, keep on workg really ick’ hard to earn your spot this space, ” he aspir to be a gay person at home a big-league booth. McCoy for The New York TimA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 27 of the New York edn wh the headle: A Gay Broadster Climbs the Ladr, But It’s Been Lonely. For Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird, who me out as gay publicly 2017, the WNBA's embrace of Pri was a part of her journey and also ccial to the league's future.

"The WNBA began play June 1997, one year after the Defense of Marriage Act -- which ferally fed marriage as the unn of one man and one woman, and allowed stat to refe regnn for same-sex marriag that were legal other stat -- was signed to league tipped off about seven weeks after the famo "The Puppy Episo" of Ellen DeGener' s which her character out as gay, while DeGener herself was g out real life. The episo was a ratgs succs, but the show was nceled a season later amid cricism that was "too gay, " and DeGener has said she had to rebuild her reer. "I remember thkg, 'The same people that we're worried about bypassg bee of homophobia are gog to fd any reason to do that bee they're not supportive of women general.

1 draft pick 2006 who won four tl wh the Lynx before retirg ahead of the 2021 season, was another proment WNBA player who 2012 me out publicly as gay. "South Korea, Rsia and Turkey -- those aren't gay-iendly untri, but I adjt, " Wters wrote then, addg she saw a big difference between the Uned Stat 2000 when she first played the WNBA Cleveland, and 2016 when she won a tle wh Los Angel. 1 the draft, Grer spoke openly about beg gay and got strong support om her new team, the Phoenix spoke wh ESPN last year about her memori of the WNBA draft 2013, when she wore a su which she felt fortable, and talked to fellow draftee Layshia Clarendon, who did the same.