Wele to the 'Gay Gam,' an Olympics alternative, where activism is enuraged and everyone's an athlete | CNN

Contents:

• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
• TOP 10 UNTENTNALLY GAY MOMENTS
• WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE
• HERE ARE THE 6 GAY MEN WHO HAVE BEEN OUT PUBLICLY WHILE PETG PRO BASKETBALL
• NFL ACH OUT AS GAY HISTORIC MOMENT AMERIN SPORTS
• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT

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

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. In a September terview wh USA Today, 25-year-old mor league baseball player beme the only active baseball profsnal to be out as 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.

TOP 10 UNTENTNALLY GAY MOMENTS

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. He ially feared negative stereotyp about gay male athlet but threw those ncerns asi after his two-tle performance at the U. While recent data om the US shows that the acceptance of homosexualy society often remas divid by untry, regn and enomic velopment, overall there has been creasg acceptance most untri.

Rearch the UK, for example, nsistently shows high levels of acceptance of homosexualy - wh only 16% of those surveyed 2018 believg same-sex relatnships were eher “always” or “mostly” wrong. Figure skatg has long been seen as a safe haven for gay men, but no publicly out skaters peted at a Gam until PyeongChang 2018, when Adam Rippon, Eric Radford and Jorik Hendrickx led the way that sport. Kenworthy did not medal the eki sloptyle event, but NBC meras beamed imag of him and Wilkas sharg their affectn once Kenworthy was done petg, a moment the out Amerin said at the time was powerful for many reasons: “I thk that the only way to really change perceptns, break down homophobia, break down barriers is through reprentatn, ” he said.

“That’s fely not somethg I had as a kid: I fely didn’t see a gay athlete at the Olympics kissg their boyiend and I thk that if I had would have ma a lot easier for me, so hopefully did that for other people. While queer historians have reported on plenty of closeted gay athlet to pete at an Olympics, not one was on rerd as beg out until Seoul 1988, when Amerin Robert Dover, an equtrian athlete, beme the first. Havg not been out at his but Gam Los Angel 1984, Dover ma the choice to e out prr to 1988 as the AIDS epimic ripped through the queer muny: “I ma a statement that I was gay, ” Dover said plaly.

WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE

This year we’ve seen an unprecented number of gay athlet e out of the closet, and we’ve seen even more straight athlet stand up agast homophobia.

" There were certaly amazg gay and lbian athlet before the Stonewall rts 1969, but there wasn’t a ph for gay equaly sports until after that fateful day New York Cy.

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

We uld not have veloped the list whout the help of several people who dug ep to their archiv for many of the moments: Gay wrtlg gu Gene Dermody; Longtime gay-sports advote and current head of the GLSEN Sports Project Pat Griff; Author and high school soccer ach Dan Woog; and thor Patricia Nell Warren, who has wrten about the history of gay athlet for Outsports for years. 1) Dave Kopay out / 1975 / football2) Marta Navratilova out / 1981 / tennis 3) Billie Jean Kg outed / 1981 / tennis 4) Publitn of 'The Front Runner' / 1974 / books 5) First Gay Gam / 1982 / var sports 6) Corey Johnson's story is told / 2000 / football 7) Billy Bean outt / baseball / 1999 8.

) John Rocker spews homophobia to Sports Illtrated / 1999 / baseball 9) First gay softball world seri / 1977 / softball 10) Matthew Mcham ws divg gold / 2008 / divg 11) Ian Roberts out / 1995 / gby 12) Renee Richards ws right to play U. Open / 1977 / tennis 13) Magic Johnson announc he has HIV / 1991 / basketball 14) Greg Louganis out / 1994 / divg 15) John Amaechi out / 2007 / basketball 16) Esera Tuaolo out / 2002 / football 17) Brendan Burke pass away / 2010 / hockey 18) Gareth Thomas out / 2009 / gby19) ESPN airs 'World of the gay athlete'' / 1998 / media20) NCLR iat sports project / 2001 / sports 21) Tim Hardaway tells rad host, 'I hate gay people'' / 2007 / basketball 22) IOC allows trans athlet to pete / 2004 / Olympics 23) Jt Fashanu ms suici / 1998 / soccer 24) Out John Curry ws world figure skatg tle / 1976 / figure skatg 25) Mike Piazza announc he's straight / 2002 / baseball 26) Umpire Dave Pallone fired by MLB / 1988 / baseball 27) Intersex Spanish hurdler banned om track / 1986 / track & field 28) Sheryl Swoop out / 2005 / basketball 29) Majory of pro athlet would wele gay teammate / 2006 / sports 30) 11 out athlet at Athens Summer Olympics / 2004 / Olympics 31) NBC airs 'He's here, he's Weir' / 2006 / Olympics 32) Brendan Lemon reveals MLB boyiend / 2001 / baseball 33) Mark Bgham killed Sept.

11 attacks / 2001 / gby 34) Canadian volleyball ach Betty Baxter fired / 1982 / volleyball 35) First gay roo / 1976 / roo 36) Jeremy Shockey says he don't want gay teammate / 2002 / NFL 37) Eric Anrson's nner attacked / 1996 / cross-untry 38) Gay Gam III Vanuver is first outsi San Francis / 1990 / Gay Gam 39) ESPN hir LZ Granrson / 2004 / sports media 40) John Damien su over dismissal / 1975 / horse racg 41) The foundg of the Internatnal Gay Bowlg Org. / 1980 / bowlg 42) Lana Lawls ws right to play on LPGA Tour / 2010 / golf 43) Brian Sims tells his story / 2009 / llege football 44) Kye Allums out / 2010 / llege basketball 45) Hudson Taylor openly supports gay rights / 2010 / wrtlg 46) NBA f Kobe Bryant $100k / 2011 / NBA 47) Rene Portland leav Penn State / 2007 / llege basketball 48) Figure skater Andrej Nepela named Slovakia athlete of the century / 2000 / figure skatg 49) IOC ends mandatory genr ttg / 1999 / Olympics 50) Rick Welts out / 2011 / NBA51) Amelie Mrmo ws Wimbledon / 2006 / tennis52) Roger Brigham out to general manager / 1982 / sports reportg53) Kirk Walker be only male D.

NFL ACH OUT AS GAY HISTORIC MOMENT AMERIN SPORTS

1 head ach / 2007 / softball54) Glenn Burke out / 1993 / baseball55) 'Ball Four' TV show clus gay ballplayer / 1976 / baseball 56) Supreme Court l agast 'Gay Olympic Gam' / 1987 / var sports 57) Bodybuilr Bob Paris out / 1989 / Bodybuildg 58) Christe Daniels out as transgenred sportswrer / 2007 / media 59) Diana Nyad swims om Bimi to Florida / 1979 / swimmg 60) Stanley Cup part of Chigo's gay pri para / 2010 / NHL 61) Terrell Owens impli Jeff Garcia is gay / 2004 / NFL 62) CBC airs "The Last Closet"/ 1993/media 63) NCAA workshop on sexual orientatn / 2003 / var sports 64) Bill Konigsberg out at ESPN / 2001 / media65) Caster Semenya asked to unrgo genr tt / 2009 / track & field 66) Formatn of Penn's Athlet & Alli PATH / 2003 / var sports 67) Homophobic chants at Brazil volleyball match / 2011 / volleyball 68) NCAA chief enurag embrace of sexual orientatn 69) Ed Gallagher surviv suici attempt / 1985 / football 70) World Outgam spls om Gay Gam / 2003 / var sports 71) Anton Hysen out/ 2011 / soccer 72) Sean Avery leads New York gay marriage charge / 2011 / hockey73) Steven Davis is first ternatnal cricketer to e out / 2011 / cricket 74) Irish hurlg star Donal Óg Cack out / 2009 / hurlg 75) 'Take Me Out' hs Broadway / 2003 / baseball 76) San Francis Giants say 'It Gets Better' / 2011 / baseball77) First Trans Stunt-Athlete thk tank / 2009 / var sports 78) NAGAAA sued over straight-athlete lim / 2010 / softball 79) Canadian Olympian Mark Tewksbury out / 1998 / swimmg 80) Sherri Murrell is first out Div. 1 basketball ach / 2009 / basketball 81) Brendan Burke out / 2009 / hockey 82) Gay and Lbian Athletics Foundatn nference / 2003 / var sports 83) Greg Congdon outed / 1998 / football 84) Lbian uple ejected om Dodgers Stadium for kissg / 2000 / baseball 85) First EuroGam held / 1992 / var sports 86) Former NFL player Roy Simmons out on 'Donahue' / 1992 / football 87) Jen Harris su Penn State / 2005 / basketball88) Nong Toom ws first petive match / 1998 / kickboxg89) Washgton be first state to adopt trans high school athlete policy / 2008 / var sports90) Mike Mka named athletic director at Oberl College / 1998 / var sports91) Robert Dover elected pta of U.

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Equtrian team / 2000 / equtrian92) Pat Griff publish 'Strong Women, Deep Closets' / 1998 / var sports93) David Pichler, Patrick Jefey are out divers at '96 Olympics / 1996 / divg94) Openly gay Rudy Galdo ws U. 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.