Celebratg LGBTQ sports history: MLB ump Dale Stt out as gay - Outsports

Contents:

• THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL UMPIRE REFLECTS ON G OUT, COORS FIELD AND THE ‘ROBO-UMPIRE’
• ‘DALE, WE KNOW YOU’RE GAY. WE DON’T RE.’ HOW A MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL UMPIRE ME OUT
• MLB UMPIRE DALE STT RETIR, SAYS G OUT AS GAY UNBURNED HIM
• CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: MLB UMPIRE DALE STT OUT AS GAY
• NEYER: A CHAT WH DAVE PALLONE, BASEBALL’S FIRST GAY UMPIRE
• MLB'S FIRST GAY UMPIRE IGNORED ON OPENG DAY AND THAT'S HOW SHOULD BE
• DALE STT BE FIRST ACTIVE MLB UMPIRE TO E OUT AS GAY
• THE MLB NOW HAS S FIRST GAY UMPIRE
• MLB UMPIRE DALE STT: ‘I WASN’T TIMIDATED BY THREATS TO OUT ME AS GAY’
• UMPIRE DALE STT SAYS HE'S GAY
• OPENLY GAY MLB UMPIRE, DALE STT, ANNOUNC RELEASE OF AUTOBGRAPHY
• DALE STT’S TOBGRAPHY AS AN OPENLY GAY MLB UMPIRE IS A WNER
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL UMPIRE REFLECTS ON G OUT, COORS FIELD AND THE ‘ROBO-UMPIRE’

In 2014, Dale Stt beme the first active Major League Baseball umpire to e out as gay. Stt was ducted to the Natnal Gay and Lbian Sports Hall of Fame 2015 and has sce wrten a memoir about his reer.

‘DALE, WE KNOW YOU’RE GAY. WE DON’T RE.’ HOW A MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL UMPIRE ME OUT

On the rponse he’s gotten om the gay muny after umpirg the majors for more than three s and penng a memoir “The Umpire is Out: Callg the Game and Livg My Te Self”: SCOTT: The people I’ve talked to on this book tour, tellg me my story changed their life, my story gave them the urage to do this, or … this one lbian uple San Francis, she was, I gave her a big hug bee she said, “You don’t know how much hearg about you a game I love …” and that kd of stuff.

MLB UMPIRE DALE STT RETIR, SAYS G OUT AS GAY UNBURNED HIM

And you were gay and you were out! But you know gays, we love to make an ex (lghs). Stt me out as gay 2014.

The first time any of my lleagu said anythg to me about beg gay was durg sprg trag ’98 or ’99. Dale, we know you’re gay.

For one thg, they had a stereotypil ia their md of what a gay person is like. There were a hundred thgs sayg, Dale’s gay.

CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: MLB UMPIRE DALE STT OUT AS GAY

“Dale Stt recently beme the first Major League umpire to e out as gay. I told all three the same thg: I’m still gay.

NEYER: A CHAT WH DAVE PALLONE, BASEBALL’S FIRST GAY UMPIRE

Bs as ual, never heard anythg om the stands about beg gay. In a perfect world, everyone gay would e out and blow away the stereotyp and prenceived notns of who, what, and how many we are. Are there gay umpir workg Major League Baseball right now?

Are there gay players?

I heard om police officers, firemen, members of the ary, mothers, fathers, om those who were straight, gay, bi, out, closeted. Of the hundreds of msag and ments, lerally two were hateful or homophobic. Closeted gay ach, police and fire personnel, teachers, and many others said this took them another step closer to walkg through that closet door.

MLB'S FIRST GAY UMPIRE IGNORED ON OPENG DAY AND THAT'S HOW SHOULD BE

Bee I want to be known not as “that gay umpire” but, stead, jt as an umpire who happens to be gay. I wonred how thgs would have been different if I’d had an umpire to look up to, a role mol dog what I was strivg to do and who, oh by the way, happened to be gay?

DALE STT BE FIRST ACTIVE MLB UMPIRE TO E OUT AS GAY

Jt a few months earlier December 2014, a story on Outsports, Stt had discsed for the first time beg an openly gay umpire, the first the sport’s history. "I didn't really thk about this or expect this, ” Stt told Outsports this week, “but when I walked onto the field for the first time sprg trag and throughout the season [as an openly gay man], there were tim when I thought there was a burn lifted off of my shoulrs and that I'm totally a ee man now.

He is leavg wh no regrets and is pecially glad that he cid to e out publicly as gay before retirg. His boss at MLB and fellow umpir knew he was gay for years and never negatively affected his reer.

THE MLB NOW HAS S FIRST GAY UMPIRE

But by gog public, he was able to spire others, both and out of baseball, who never would have known that MLB had a gay umpire and that was a non-issue.

One person who reached out was an assistant traer for an MLB team who is gay but not out to his team.

MLB UMPIRE DALE STT: ‘I WASN’T TIMIDATED BY THREATS TO OUT ME AS GAY’

“I don't thk the first thg fans are thkg is that's the gay guy that ma that ll. Any mentns the media of him beg gay were always ntext. "Bob Costas mentned was Pri night and mentned nonchalantly, 'Oh by the way, the home plate umpire is Dale Stt, a veteran umpire who me out as gay December.

Billy Bean, a former player who is gay, was named the league’s first Ambassador for Incln and was given greater rponsibili this season. “Before, if 40, 000 fans would have Googled me and found out I was the gay guy, that would have horrified me, ” he said. Today, we’re revisg December 2014, and the public acknowledgement by our iend, MLB umpire Dale Stt, that he was a married gay man, as reported by -founr Jim Buzski.

MLB umpire Dale Stt out as gay quiett way possible. He is gay and married to his partner of 28 years. Yet is unrstandably the one that most people will notice, bee Stt is the first Major League Baseball umpire to publicly say he is gay while active (and the first out active male official the NBA, NHL, NFL or MLB).

UMPIRE DALE STT SAYS HE'S GAY

One Outsports rear, an active NCAA Divisn I baseball umpire who is gay but do not want his name ed, did notice and he sent this email: “Fantastic! He wasn’t seekg attentn for beg gay and was also worried that would e a distractn jt as baseball’s postseason was startg. Stt is a classic example of someone who is openly gay wh his workplace and social circle but, until now, not publicly out.

OPENLY GAY MLB UMPIRE, DALE STT, ANNOUNC RELEASE OF AUTOBGRAPHY

“The first 10 years of my Major League umpire reer, I would have been horrified if a story had e out that I was gay, ” he said. The two met on a Monday night October 1986 at CC Slghters, a gay bar Portland.

One day I jt said to myself: ‘I get , you’re gay. I unrstood that there was a game that had to be played the game of life as a gay man 1979, but I also unrstood who I was and what I was and wasn’t like some long-drawn out procs. Stt says that addn to never havg a negative exchange wh anyone the umpirg ranks over beg gay, he believ he has changed some mds.

We were the locker room and he was tellg a story about someone and he ed the term ‘that’s so gay. The last thg I want is people screamg at me bee I’m gay. I’m an umpire who happens to be gay.

DALE STT’S TOBGRAPHY AS AN OPENLY GAY MLB UMPIRE IS A WNER

I’m not tryg to be some gay person who happens to be an umpire.

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

While he has no tentn of wrg a book when he retir, he jok that if he did would be lled “Out at Home, ” a reference to him always beg openly gay his private life. One thg we know for sure: Dale Stt isn’t Major League Baseball’s first gay umpire. But the 1980s, Dave Pallone umpired Natnal League gam, and Dave Pallone was gay.

In his 1990 memoir, Behd the Mask: My Double Life Baseball, Pallone dismissed MLB’s stated ratnale for firg him, wrg, “The reasons were mouflage for the real reason: I was gay, and they didn’t want the publicy surroundg that to tarnish baseball’s macho image. Baseball celebrated s Openg Day today and for the first time, an openly gay umpire was on the field. Beg an umpire is largely an anonymo job, and an openly gay player would have received far more attentn.

In an ial world, we would have numero openly gay athlet and ach and they would jt be part of the landspe whout special notice. It's far om an ial environment for gays sports, but at least Stt's se was a posive se of "nothg to see here, move on. For the first time Major League Baseball -- or any major profsnal sport, actually -- a game official has e out as gay.

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

’”That’s the quiet, subtle way which Stt beme the first openly gay official any of the Uned Stat’ four major male profsnal ’s cisn -- and the posive way was received by the Major League Baseball dtry -- still ronat here Pri Month, nearly seven years after the Referee Magaze piece was published. Straight, gay, bi or whatever. “You’re gay!

-- Stt’s first as an openly gay umpire. He observed wh great tert when several active players spoke out agast the homophobic slur that led to Reds broadster Thom Brennaman’s rignatn last season, bee backs up his belief that the LGBTQ muny has many more alli Major League clubho today than when his umpirg reer began all those years ago.

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

“If someone has an issue wh me beg gay, ’s really not my issue, ’s their issue, ” he says. But Stt, the first openly gay official any of the Uned Stat’ four major male profsnal sports, knew his would make headl when he me out publicly. “I wanted to be known not as ‘that gay umpire, ’” Stt wr his new memoir, "but stead, jt as an umpire who happens to be gay.

It arrived eight years after Stt me out publicly 2014, after 28 years workg the game whout tellg lleagu he was gay. The followg terview has been eded for length and you wre the book, you me out as gay 2014 and have been retired sce 2018.

I really believe the vast majory of the players have played wh gay guys before, and I thk the vast majory of players only re about: Can he h? A veteran umpire has announced that he is gay -- the first umpire the MLB, and the first male official all four major leagu, to do so Stt, who has been officiatg baseball gam for 29 years, was glowgly profiled by Referee magaze October. He me out as gay, the first MLB umpire to do so.