Two athlet recently g out has highlighted the arth of openly gay players the world of U.S. men's profsnal sports, often dubbed "the last closet" for s lack of LGBTQ reprentatn.
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
* gayest moments in 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!
TOP 10 UNTENTNALLY GAY MOMENTS
Tom Wadll, an athlete the 1968 Olympics, created the Gay Gam first held 1982 to celebrate LGBTQ cln. The Gay Gam are still held to this day wh the next round schled for 2022 Hong Kong. * gayest moments in sports *
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. 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.
WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE
The gay athlet have broken through the noise to fd they n be accepted as gay athlet basketball. * gayest moments in sports *
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.
HERE ARE THE 6 GAY MEN WHO HAVE BEEN OUT PUBLICLY WHILE PETG PRO BASKETBALL
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.
NFL ACH OUT AS GAY HISTORIC MOMENT AMERIN SPORTS
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. 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.
JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT
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.