Sports Stars Who Battled Gay Rumors

Contents:

• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
• EACH OF AMERI’S BIG 5 SPORTS CURRENTLY HAS AN OUT GAY MAN THE PROS. THAT’S NEVER HAPPENED
• KORLL STEWART’S STORY IS WHY WE’VE AVOID SPREADG GAY ATHLETE MORS
• THERE ARE VAR PERSONAL REASONS MORE GAY MALE PRO ATHLET HAVE NOT E OUT. HERE ARE 7 OF THEM
• 5 GAY PRO ATHLET WHO BROKE GROUND BY G OUT WHILE STILL PLAYG
• ATHLET WHO ARE GAY
• THE 39 CURRENT NFL PLAYERS HAVE ALL PLAYED WH AN OUT GAY TEAMMATE
• NORTH AMERI’S FOUR BIGGT PRO SPORTS LEAGU HAVE BEEN AROUND A BED 398 YEARS. THEY’VE HAD TWO OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYERS
• PRO ATHLET WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY: SPORTS STARS WHO INTIFY AS LGBTQ
• 9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY
• SPORTS STARS WHO BATTLED GAY RUMORS
• FRZ SAYS OPENLY GAY PLAYER WOULD BE ACCEPTED ON ATP TOUR

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

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. "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.

EACH OF AMERI’S BIG 5 SPORTS CURRENTLY HAS AN OUT GAY MAN THE PROS. THAT’S NEVER HAPPENED

Magrath helped thor a study that found that male athlet who me out as gay while still playg sports were largely met wh acceptance by their teammat. 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.

KORLL STEWART’S STORY IS WHY WE’VE AVOID SPREADG GAY ATHLETE MORS

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 purpose of this list is to go a b more pth about some of the mors that are surroundg the players, not to nvce the rear that the athlet are gay.

In fact, as society is now much more open to people no matter their orientatn, we have seen a ton more athlet, both active and retired, e out and adm that they are homosexuals, and 's absolutely a great thg.

This list will look at some of the most high profile exampl of pro athlet who have had mors about beg gay surroundg them, but aga, none of those are nfirmed and even if they were nfirmed, they would be somethg to celebrate. Qutns about Aikman's sexual orientatn have been around for s and the mor was started by Skip Bayls, when, his book, he stated that Troy Aikman might be gay.

THERE ARE VAR PERSONAL REASONS MORE GAY MALE PRO ATHLET HAVE NOT E OUT. HERE ARE 7 OF THEM

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.

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.

5 GAY PRO ATHLET WHO BROKE GROUND BY G OUT WHILE STILL PLAYG

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. It was ls than a month after we lnched the se that Stewart publicly addrsed mors that he was gay, and that he had talked about wh his Ptsburgh Steelers teammat.

The one athlete we’ve handled slightly differently — Troy Aikman — we’ve done so part bee he’s actually ma problematic ments about beg gay, sayg ’s “a liftyle people choose. People believe Te'o was tfished to the whole thg while others believed he may be gay and was merely g the Kekua story as a way of hidg his relatnship wh Tuiasosopo.

He was talkg about fashn week and said "It was this one thg durg fashn week: I had my legs crossed, and they lled me gay, I've got my legs crossed, I'm chill', I'm gettg my grown man on at the event. Almost a ago, when Robbie Rogers, Jason Colls and Michael Sam all me out publicly three different pro sports leagu wh a year, I was nvced that there would then be a stream of gay and bi pro athlet who followed su and me out publicly. Now 2022 we have Carl Nassib out on a new team the NFL, Solomon Bat out on a new team mor league baseball, Le Prokop as an NHL prospect, Coll Mart the USL Champnship, and a few other gay guys playg pro sports while publicly out other untri.

ATHLET WHO ARE GAY

Over the years reportg at Outsports about gay athlet, there has been one most-mon qutn I’ve heard the most often, and ’s picked up steam over the last year: Are we on the precipice of a slew of gay and bi men g out pro sports and changg the game? I’ve spoken to straight and gay athlet om var generatns — Michael Irv, Chris Kluwe, O’Callaghan, Trenton Thompson — and they’ve each told me that yeah, you’d hear some homophobic stuff high school, but by the time guys enter the ranks of profsnal sports, that’s mostly gone (though Kluwe had choice words and a lawsu for one ach). Send, while homophobic and anti-gay slurs may be rare as athlet elevate to high-level llege and pro sports, nversatns about women still abound.

While gay pro baseball player Bryan Ruby has wrten about athlet askg him about his relatnship, I’m not gog to profs that every locker room is que there yet. Playg out my theory on the other si of sports, men’s ele leagu are domated by straight guys bee so many of the gay and bi athlet have cid to foc on another votn before they get here.

He had a theory many years ago (unproven) that gay men gravated to sports bee was a great hidg spot: If you’re a football player, no one assum you’re gay. “We n fively say that gay men are numerilly ls attracted to popular mastream sports and more attracted to athetic sports, ” Anrson told Outsports. If you accept this premise — there are simply fewer gay and bi men who choose profsnal sports than the general populatn — the rt of the reasons substantiate the power of beg a mory of a mory a mory ele-level men’s sports.

THE 39 CURRENT NFL PLAYERS HAVE ALL PLAYED WH AN OUT GAY TEAMMATE

Yet football gets blamed for the arth of out football players (spe the NFL havg more current and former out gay and b athlet than all the other men’s Amerin pro leagu bed). Havg more players and ach publicly talk about their gay iends and fay members, addn to their undyg support for people on their team who are gay, n absolutely help gay athlet and ach be their te selv both on the team and to spire others. When Colls me out as gay the May 6, 2013 issue of Sports Illtrated, he was the first active male athlete any of the natn’s four major pro-sports leagu to do so.

He said he chose his jersey number, 98, as a way to honor Matthew Shepard, the gay man whose 1998 murr led to the passage of a natnal hate crim law. When the team won the 2014 MLS Cup champnship, Rogers beme the first out gay male athlete ever to w a major profsnal team sports tle the Uned Stat. Perkz/@rlnassib/@rkrelentls)When Kansas State offensive tackle and NFL hopeful Stt Frantz me out to the natn as gay, he shared that his teammat (to whom he'd e out earlier) had warmly received the news, a sign the most alpha of locker rooms may fally be ready for equaly.

Roy "Sugar Bear" Simmons, an offensive leman for the New York Giants and Washgton Redsks, beme the send NFL player ever to publicly reveal he was gay. So Coach Vce Lombardi knew McDonald was gay when he took over learship of the team 1969, but ma clear there would be no discrimatn his locker room, those close to the legend say.

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

Cornerback Wa Davis, who played preason wh the Tennsee Tans, Seattle Seahawks and Washgton Redsks and spent two seasons wh NFL Europe teams Berl Thunr and Barcelona Dragons, me out as gay 2012, nearly a after his retirement. He later cled to sign wh the Tennsee Tans and Dallas Cowboys before g out as gay at 24, he told Philalphia Magaze revealed to the magaze that he'd dated a male cheerlear at Purdue who had threatened to out him then.

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 of 2021, sayg he had fally e to terms wh his sexualy and the "next step all of this was sort of lettg people know. The Rairs leman ma NFL history durg Pri Month 2021 when he me out as gay a heartfelt Instagram post, beg the first active NFL player to e out as member of the LGBTQ+ muny. The Hampton Universy player ma history October of 2022 when he me out as gay an Instagram Story post, beg the first out gay football player at a Historilly Black College or Universy.

PRO ATHLET WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY: SPORTS STARS WHO INTIFY AS LGBTQ

She has been a relatnship wh Atralian soccer player Sarah Walsh for three 38Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Reddg, CaliforniaTeams: Chigo Red StarsTennis great Billie Jean Kg beme the first proment female profsnal athlete to e out as gay back 79Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: USA, Long Beach, CaliforniaOlympic diver Greg Louganis is openly gay. He married his partner Johnny Chaillo 63Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: USA, California, El CajonWNBA player Sheryl Swoop announced that she was gay 2005. Age: 52Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Texas, USA, BrownfieldTeams: Hoton Comets, Uned Stat women's natnal basketball team, Texas Tech Lady Rairs basketballNBA player Jason Colls me out as gay an terview wh Sports Illtrated magaze 2013.

His announcement provoked mixed reactns om his fellow players and the 44Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Northridge, Los Angel, CaliforniaTeams: Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Washgton Wizards, Memphis Grizzli, Brooklyn NetsAmerin soccer player Abby Wambach is openly gay.

Dpe Outsports chroniclg lerally dozens of piec of evince to the ntrary, there’s a ntued belief amongst some that NFL players would overwhelmgly reject a gay player if he me out. Wh that experience, solid veteran learship, a ach Kliff Kgsbury who has ld gay football player Stt Frantz, and a ont office that has monstrated an embrace of LGBTQ people, is easy to make the se that an out gay player wh the Cardals would be weled. In June 2021, NFL fensive end Carl Nassib me out as gay a vio posted to his Instagram, addg he donated $100, 000 to The Trevor Project, an anizatn that foc on suici preventn LGBTQ youth after he stggled wh his sexualy for 15 years.

9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY

The athlete quickly ma a name for herself a seri of TV terviews, where she voiced her support of women's rights and LGBTQ rights as an openly gay woman. "I thk female athlet, general, are at the foreont of every prott general bee we're gay, we're women, we're women of lor, we're sort of everythg all at one time, " Rapoe told NBC news 2019. " He scribed hidg his sexualy while playg for the Utah Jazz, but said some teammat who spected he was gay were welg about a 2007 terview on "Outsi the L, " Amaechi, who played five seasons the NBA, said he thought there were other gay players the league, but said 's "terrifyg" for some to e out.

Greg Louganis won four gold medals and one silver medal at three Olympic Gam om 1976 to 1988 as a diver, but wasn't until 1994 that he me out as gay.

SPORTS STARS WHO BATTLED GAY RUMORS

""If I n show that I'm out and I'm fe, then hopefully the younger generatn will feel the same way, " Grer said the same year, Grer recieved a multi-ln dollar al om Nike, and beme the first openly gay basketball player endorsed by the brand, acrdg to The married her wife, Cherelle, 2019.

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). 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. Regular exposure to slurs or stereotyp eventually rerc among players that their succs as an athlete is tied to an ia of masculy that exclus gay men, he said.

FRZ SAYS OPENLY GAY PLAYER WOULD BE ACCEPTED ON ATP TOUR

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. “We often fd that male ach ntue to e homophobic language and teach nformy to this tough mascule athlete inty that don’t really exist, ” 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. The next season, Burke was trad to the Oakland A’s, where a ach lled him a homophobic slur and said he would “ntamate” the team, Maraniss wrote.