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Contents:

• JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY ATHLETE TO PLAY NBA, MAK U.S. SPORTS HISTORY
• JASON COLLS SAYS HE'S GAY
• THE ONLY 3 OUT, GAY NBA PLAYERS IN HISTORY
• HERE ARE THE 6 GAY MEN WHO HAVE BEEN OUT PUBLICLY WHILE PETG PRO BASKETBALL
• JASON COLLS IS THE 1ST OPENLY GAY NBA PLAYER AND WAS ENGAGED TO A WOMAN — INSI HIS STORY
• JASON COLLS ME OUT 10 YEARS AGO, HERG A PERD OF CREASG GAY VISIBILY MEN’S SPORTS
• JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY N.B.A. PLAYER, SIGNS WH NETS AND APPEARS GAME
• FORMER NBA, KENTUCKY PLAYER ISAAC HUMPHRI OUT AS ONLY ACTIVE GAY PLAYER TOP-TIER MEN'S BASKETBALL
• TOP 3 NBA PLAYERS WHO ARE GAY FEAT. JASON COLLS AND MORE
• JASON COLLS WEIGHS ON CARL NASSIB’S CISN TO ANNOUNCE HE IS GAY
• UMASS' DERRICK GORDON SAYS HE'S GAY

JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY ATHLETE TO PLAY NBA, MAK U.S. SPORTS HISTORY

On Febary 23, 2014, Brooklyn Nets center Jason Colls be the first openly gay athlete to play a game the Uned Stat’ four major profsnal leagu. The 35-year-old journeyman plays 10 srels mut, rerdg two rebounds and five fouls the Nets’ 108-102 victory over the Los Angel May 2013, Colls revealed he is gay a first-person say  Sports Illtrated.

Jason Colls says he's news servicApr 29, 2013, 11:46 AM ETNBA center Jason Colls on Monday announced that he's gay a story for Sports Illtrated, beg the first active player one of the four major Amerin profsnal team sports to announce that he is gay.

JASON COLLS SAYS HE'S GAY

Last year, durg his re-electn mpaign, Print Barack Obama announced his support for gay after Colls disclosed his sexualy, Obama reached out by phone, exprsg his support and tellg Colls he was imprsed by his urage, the Whe Hoe Print Bill Clton, whose dghter Chelsea attend Stanford wh Colls, also appld Colls' announcement.

THE ONLY 3 OUT, GAY NBA PLAYERS IN HISTORY

"Jason's announcement today is an important moment for profsnal sports and the history of the LGBT [lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr] muny, " he said a statement.

"Colls said he realized he need to make his sexual orientatn public when his former roommate at Stanford, Massachetts ngrsman Joe Kennedy, who is straight, marched Boston's Gay Pri Para last Boston Marathon bombgs earlier this month then rerced to him "that I shouldn't wa for the circumstanc of my g out to be perfect.

98 wh the Celtics and Wizards -- 1998 was the year that Matthew Shepard, a gay llege stunt Wyomg, was killed, and the Trevor Project, a suici preventn anizatn, was found. "Sayg 'I'm gay' sets a new standard of honty, openns and teamwork that will posively affect athlet and fans at every level of sports. Today, we’re rewdg to 2007 and the story of the former pro athlete who beme the first NBA player to e out as gay: John Amaechi.

HERE ARE THE 6 GAY MEN WHO HAVE BEEN OUT PUBLICLY WHILE PETG PRO BASKETBALL

John Amaechi, a former player wh the Utah Jazz and Orlando Magic, has bee the first NBA player to e out as gay. “I am simply dog what a good person of nscience would do, which is makg people aware that gay people don’t jt look like Jack om ‘Will and Grace, ’ and that they don’t want to jump your bon every ocsn and that some are mp and some are butch and that we’re different and we’re eful and we are here. His guaranteed ntract wh the Jazz set his md at ease, and was there that he began venturg out to gay tablishments and buildg a mostly gay circle of iends (the first wi circle of iends of his life, acrdg to the book).

“Those gmpy social nservativ who ntue to sist that gay life is lonely and unhappy have obvly never met my iends, ” Amaechi wrote. He also acknowledg that those gay clubs like New York’s Splash and Los Angel’ Abbey who have claimed the past to have spotted him there while he was wh the Jazz may, fact, have done so. In a 2002 terview wh the Stsman newspaper, Amaechi had this to say about the subject of gays the NBA: “If you look at our league, mori aren’t very well reprented.

JASON COLLS IS THE 1ST OPENLY GAY NBA PLAYER AND WAS ENGAGED TO A WOMAN — INSI HIS STORY

There’s hardly any Hispanic players, no Asian-Amerins, so that there’s no openly gay players is no real surprise. The book also offers sight to the closed world of profsnal sports, cludg Amaechi’s spired and iendly polil arguments wh Karl Malone, what he lled the betrayal of Orlando Magic management, kd words om former Indiana ach Bobby Knight, his regret that he never told Greg Ostertag, “the gentle big man” whom he rpected, that he was gay when Ostertag asked him while they played together Utah, his rpect for then-Rockets ach Jeff Van Gundy, and his lack of rpect for Jazz ach Jerry Sloan.

While the book giv a glimpse to the life of the first openly gay former NBA player, more importantly pats a picture of a man whose ditn to philanthropy once led him to turn down a $17 ln ntract wh the Los Angel Lakers. Jason CollsCareerComg OutJon AmaechiCareer Comg Out Isaac HumphriCareerComg OutAre There Closeted Gay NBA Players?

JASON COLLS ME OUT 10 YEARS AGO, HERG A PERD OF CREASG GAY VISIBILY MEN’S SPORTS

One ESPN mentator, Chris Brosard, exprsed both his admiratn for Colls’ bravery and his belief that Colls uld not be both gay and christian. Tennis great Marta Navratilova, who had somewhat unbelievably e out 1981, praised Colls and exprsed her hope that this would help end homophobia team sports and lead to more players g out.

JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY N.B.A. PLAYER, SIGNS WH NETS AND APPEARS GAME

Colls beme the first, and still only, active gay NBA player when he signed wh the Broolyn Nets Febary of 2014. The difference reactn between Ameachi’s and Colls’ statements is a sign of the growth acceptance of gay people between 2007 and 2013. Lebron Jam said “Wh teammat you have to be tstworthy, and if you’re gay and you’re not admtg that you are, then you are not tstworthy”.

FORMER NBA, KENTUCKY PLAYER ISAAC HUMPHRI OUT AS ONLY ACTIVE GAY PLAYER TOP-TIER MEN'S BASKETBALL

He actually went to unselg and beme the 1st person to sign his name to a 2013 petn to legalize gay marriage Florida. While the percentage of people who are gay vari wh different measur, there is no reputable measure sayg the number is zero. Jason Colls me out 2013 and went on to play the next season beg the first and only openly gay active player NBA history.

TOP 3 NBA PLAYERS WHO ARE GAY FEAT. JASON COLLS AND MORE

The LGBT movement emerged as early as the 1870s, but homosexual rights groups didn't appear until after World War II September 1945.

Homophobia is somethg that shouldn't have a place sports bee LGBT folks n be fans, media members, employe and executiv too. " We, as a untry, need to une and not jt bee of the tragic gay nightclub shootg Orlando, Florida, that occurred last summer.

His fay reportedly had mixed emotns towards the announcement, but he still changed the game, beg the first Divisn I men's basketball player to e out as gay and play gam. He also received praise om Colls and former NFL fensive end Michael Sam, who beme the first openly gay football player.

JASON COLLS WEIGHS ON CARL NASSIB’S CISN TO ANNOUNCE HE IS GAY

When then-Phoenix Suns print and CEO Rick Welts me out as gay May 2011, former NBA pot guard Steve Nash pledged his support favor of the LGBT muny. Nash said the vio, "A growg number of profsnal athlet are speakg out support of gay and lbian upl gettg married, I'm proud to be one of them. Asi om his open support for gay rights, he also ns the Steve Nash Foundatn, which helps children who are affected by poverty, illns, abe or neglect, and creat opportuny for tn, play, and empowerment, Phoenix, Arizona, and Brish Columbia, Canada.

In his hman year at Villanova, he first me out as gay to his teammate and roommate Mike Villa before nfsg to his parents three months later. There's hardly any Hispanic players, no Asian-Amerins, so that there's no openly gay players is no real surprise.

Last year, the NBA moved s 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carola, due to the state's law that lims anti-discrimatn protectns for lbian, gay and transgenr people. When John Amaechi me out publicly 2007, he was ahead of his time, sharg that he’s gay and a former profsnal basketball player. Sce Colls showed the world you uld be a gay man profsnal basketball, there has been a trickle of gay athlet to follow, most recently former NBA player and current Atralian pro basketball player Isaac Humphri.

UMASS' DERRICK GORDON SAYS HE'S GAY

”Fortunately, was what he need to bee fortable his own sk, pecially bee he always knew he was gay but didn’t want to accept . JASON COLLINS’ FIANCÉEComg back to former WNBA center Carolyn Moos, she was as shocked – or even more so – as the rt of the world at Jason Colls beg gay. Sce Jim Buzski and I started Outsports 1999, we’d talked about an active gay player the Big Four — MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL — g out publicly.

Colls has seen the effects of beg out the sport firsthand, talkg repeatedly about one of his former teammat who ed anti-gay slurs the locker room eventually beg a supporter.