Why There Few Openly Gay Athlet In Men's Profsnal Sports : NPR

Contents:

• ARE THERE GAY PLAYERS ON THE PGA TOUR? BRANDT SNEKER SAYS ODDS ARE Y
• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
• LYNCH: GAY MEN ARE NEARLY VISIBLE GOLF, BUT WE’RE NOT NON-EXISTENT
• TADD FUJIKAWA BE FIRST MALE PRO GOLFER TO E OUT AS GAY
• GAY GOLF PRO OUT TO CHANGE PERCEPTNS NSERVATIVE SPORT

ARE THERE GAY PLAYERS ON THE PGA TOUR? BRANDT SNEKER SAYS ODDS ARE Y

__An openly gay athlete the ttosterone-filled world of male profsnal sports isn't the radil thought was even a year ago.

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

But the PGA Tour remas uncharted terrory for homosexuals. While women's golf has had several openly gay players through the years, the men's tour is wag on s first. And, as Brandt Sneker said on the upg season premiere of Golf Channel's "Feherty, " that's probably not bee of an absence of gay golfers -- jt none willg to make their sexual preference public.

"I don't believe that at all, " Brandt Sneker said when host David Feherty remarked the tour don't have any gay players. "I don't thk a gay golfer is gog to be that big of a al.

But Sneker said he would enurage a gay golfer to e out if he was ready. "The fact that the tour don't have an openly gay player -- I don't know if there is or isn't, but odds are there probably is a gay person on the PGA Tour. 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.

LYNCH: GAY MEN ARE NEARLY VISIBLE GOLF, BUT WE’RE NOT NON-EXISTENT

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. They also highlighted the arth of openly gay players the hypermascule world of U. Though many retired former players have e out, is more unual for male profsnal athlet to say they are gay while still playg.

TADD FUJIKAWA BE FIRST MALE PRO GOLFER TO E OUT AS GAY

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. Rory Magrath, a rearcher at Solent Universy England, has suggted that 's possible gay men are unrreprented profsnal sports. "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.

GAY GOLF PRO OUT TO CHANGE PERCEPTNS NSERVATIVE SPORT

That uld be due to the mascule culture at the center of the major sports, experts say, creatg an environment that is ls welg to gay athlet.

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. Robbie Rogers ma history 2013 when he took the field for the Los Angel Galaxy after as the first openly gay player profsnal U. 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.