NHL Prospect Le Prokop Mak History As League's First Gay Player : NPR

Contents:

• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT
• IN A FIRST FOR THE NFL, JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY
• MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAYSHARHARE-SQUARE-249729MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAY
• HOW MANY OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYERS HAVE BEEN THERE? HONORG LGBTQ INS OF BASEBALL ON PRI NIGHT
• DODGERS FALLY HONOR FIRST OPENLY GAY MLBER ON PRI NIGHT
• CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY
• THE FOTTEN HISTORY OF THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN TO PLAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
• 9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY
• FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE PCHER T.J. HOE OUT AS GAY
• 'IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME FOR THIS:' BRYAN RUBY BE ONLY ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO BE OUT AS GAY
• LE PROKOP COM OUT AS GAY AND MAK NHL HISTORY
• BRYAN RUBY BE FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO E OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS GAY

Last Febary, Maxen nnected wh lebacker Carl Nassib, who beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay 2021, as he navigated a path forward.

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

No NFL ach had ever publicly e out as gay, so Maxen, an assistant strength and ndng ach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, kept quiet about his sexual that ma him angry — at himself. Former San Francis 49ers offensive assistant Katie Sowers beme the NFL’s first ach to e out as gay 2017.

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Acrdg to the article, Maxen ma his cisn to do so last year and reached out for advice om Carl Nassib, who 2021 beme the NFL’s first out gay active player as a member of the Las Vegas was Nassib who put Maxen ntact wh Outsports.

Jacksonville Jaguars associate strength ach Kev Maxen me out as gay on Thursday what is believed to be a first for a male ach major U. Augt 10th, 2022SAN DIEGO -- Former Giants Mor League pcher Solomon Bat me out publicly as gay an Instagram post on Tuday, also announcg that he had been released by the anizatn. ”Bat is the send Mor League player to e out as gay, jog former Brewers farmhand David Denson, who beme the first openly gay player affiliated baseball 2015.

No active Major League player has e out as gay, though Billy Bean, who now works as MLB’s senr vice print for diversy, equy and cln, and Glenn Burke both me out after their playg reers end.

IN A FIRST FOR THE NFL, JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY

“I’m a mascule man who lov the sport of baseball, and now I want to open up doors for gay athlet like me. Ken Felts, who didn't e out until he was 90, has jt gotten married Ken Felts didn't e out as gay until he was 90. As the world be more progrsive, so do the baseball muny wh clubs, fans, and teammat embracg openly gay MLB players.

MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAYSHARHARE-SQUARE-249729MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAY

As the MLB ntu embracg the LGBTQ muny, the players have also taken steps towards clivens wh Chigo Whe Sox pcher, Anrson Comás, g out as openly gay. The 23-year-old pcher om the Domin Republic hop the revelatn of his sexualy enurag other gay players to e out. Although Anrson Comás is only the send openly gay MLB player to e out while actively wh an anizatn, the Chigo Whe Sox, he is far om the first openly gay player to play profsnal baseball.

Former Los Angel Dodgers outfielr Glenn Burke was the first MLB player to e out as gay, however, he did so followg his retirement. The former Detro Tigers outfielr me out as gay 1999, beg the send former MLB player to do so, followg the footsteps of Glenn Burke.

HOW MANY OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYERS HAVE BEEN THERE? HONORG LGBTQ INS OF BASEBALL ON PRI NIGHT

An advote for the cln of homosexualy baseball, Bean was named as the MLB's first "Ambassador for Incln". He also helped David Denson, who beme the first openly gay mor league player signed to an MLB anizatn.

"Former Player of The Day - Billy Bean - Outfielr, #Padr #Tigers #Dodgers #PlayerOfTheDay" - @GayBaseballFanIt has been a long road, but thanks to pneers such as Glenn Burke, Billy Bean, David Denson, and Anrson Comás, baseball is beg a more welg place for everyone. The Los Angel Dodgers are fally honorg Glenn you don’t know Burke’s story, you should, as he was first MLB player to e out as gay to teammat and ownership, somethg he did while playg back the 1970s. Learship om both clubs ed Burke profsnal and personal strife durg his time the league, cludg a Dodgers GM attemptg to bribe him to marryg a woman, but only one club has sce honored his legacy and the urage took to e out as gay the MLB the late 1970s.

The A’s were the club that ultimately phed him out of the sport, after new manager Billy Mart me on 1980, troduced Burke to his new team members wh a homophobic slur and promptly sent him to the mor leagu followg a knee jury and then released him om his ntract. ” The A’s were also the club to help him out fancially after his AIDS diagnosis, to ve his brother to throw out the first pch at their 2015 Pri Night, to rename their team’s annual Pri Night after Burke, and to pledge Pri Night ticket profs to the Glenn Burke Wellns Clic at the Oakland LGBTQ while the gtur don’t necsarily make up for the homophobic and bigoted treatment he received om teammat, fans, and executiv, ’s an effort, at least, to right past Dodgers, on the other hand, are long overdue acknowledgg Burke’s urage and legacy.

DODGERS FALLY HONOR FIRST OPENLY GAY MLBER ON PRI NIGHT

Per the New York Tim, many believed that the reason the Dodgers sent Burke to Oakland was a rult of his iendship wh manager Tommy Lasorda’s son, who was also gay, and whose father publicly nied his sexualy up to and followg the younger Lasorda’s ath, which was also ed by AIDS plitns. ”In a sport where no active major league player has ever e out as gay, and only one former player bis Burke has (Billy Bean, the MLB’s Ambassador for Incln), the honorg of Burke’s memory and life holds real signifince both baseball history and the sport’s current culture, as several MLB players have felt fortable wh exprsg open homophobia as recently as 2015 (and, of urse, there’s the Thom Brennaman cint 2020).

In other sports, Robbie Rodgers beme the first active openly gay player a major team sport while playg for the L.

CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY

McCoy for The New York TimHis Sexualy Don’t Defe Him, but It Can Set Him ApartEric Bach is an openly gay broadster for the Frericksburg Natnals.

Three years earlier, while he was studyg journalism at Michigan State Universy, he had publicly e out as gay an say he wrote for the time of the say, he braced for a backlash, but nothg materialized.

THE FOTTEN HISTORY OF THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN TO PLAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

He worked his way up om ternships to full-time broadstg jobs, and while anyone wh an ter nnectn uld learn he was gay, nobody asked, and he did not say so aga publicly. It was paful at the time — the worst thg that had happened to him as a gay man, he said — but has reced far enough to his memory that did not e to md an hourlong terview about his experienc as a gay broadster.

9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY

As far as Bach knows — and as far as many of his unterparts wh other teams are aware — there are no other openly gay broadsters the sport. McCoy for The New York TimBorn to BroadstLong before he knew he was gay, Bach knew he wanted to be a sports father was a ach, and a love of sports ran through the fay. ”)He began to accept that he was gay durg his sophomore year of high school, but wh that acceptance me worry.

’”By the start of his sophomore year at Michigan State, Bach was ready to tell his parents that he was gay, tchg his father off guard but nfirmg what his mother had prevly assumed. He did each job to the bt of his abily, and his sexualy never me, he has found that there’s a difference between beg a gay man baseball and beg pletely fortable as one.

“I feel like that’s the burn a lot of gay people live wh — tryg to be perfect for straight people, ” he job requir equent teractn wh the players and the achg staff — addn to his duti as play-by-play announcer, Bach also is the ma public relatns ntact for the team — and he said he hadn’t fully relaxed any of them. Mrer/Frericksburg NatnalsThat feelg is somewhat “self-flicted, ” Bach said, but he believ the solutn is to brg more openly gay people to sports and create a safe environment for those who are already there but have felt necsary to hi their League Baseball has touted self as a place of clivy. Billy Bean, an openly gay former player, was named the league’s first ambassador for cln 2014 and has sce been promoted to senr vice print and special assistant to Commissner Rob Maned.

FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE PCHER T.J. HOE OUT AS GAY

In Febary, Anrson Comás, a mor leaguer the Chigo Whe Sox anizatn, me out as gay wh a post on Instagram, and the announcement was met wh public support om his club and some people around the cints suggt there is more work to be done.

The Boston Red Sox lled up a mor leaguer, Matt Dermody, who had posted an anti-gay msage on Twter 2021, and Anthony Bass, a reliever for the Toronto Blue Jays, reposted a vio on social media that lled for boytts of L.

“Those of that are this very small mory sports have to keep on havg the nversatns, keep on workg really ick’ hard to earn your spot this space, ” he aspir to be a gay person at home a big-league booth. McCoy for The New York TimA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 27 of the New York edn wh the headle: A Gay Broadster Climbs the Ladr, But It’s Been Lonely.

'IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME FOR THIS:' BRYAN RUBY BE ONLY ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO BE OUT AS GAY

Today, as the Los Angel Dodgers prepare to play the World Seri agast the Tampa Bay Rays, -founr Jim Buzski remds that the Dodgers anchise is a part of LGBTQ sports history as havg the only two MLB players who ever were public about beg gay. In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been only two players who have e out as gay: Glenn Burke and Billy Bean. Burke, while never publicly out wh the media while playg, did nothg to hi the fact to his teammat that he was gay.

Not a “Hey world, I’m gay” way, but the sense that his teammat knew as did the management of the Los Angel Dodgers, Burke’s first team.

” A memorable moment “Out” occurs when is relled that the Dodgers — tryg to stifle mors that a popular player was gay — offered Burke $75, 000 to get married. The Dodgers and their manager, Tom Lasorda, prented a versn of themselv as a clean-cut, All-Amerin team and a flamboyantly gay player uld not be tolerated, pecially one who hung out wh Lasorda’s gay son. “Spunky” Lasorda later died of AIDS and his father shamefully never acknowledged that his son was gay.

LE PROKOP COM OUT AS GAY AND MAK NHL HISTORY

Burke went on to settle San Francis and was a fixture on the gay scene there, even playg the Gay Gam softball. While baseball is still wag for s first openly gay active MLB player, Bean’s elevatn to a posn of thory the missner’s office is a sign that thgs have changed sce the days when Glenn Burke was lled a faggot by his manager. In 1974, The Advote wrote letters to Major League Baseball teams askg to terview players “livg a gay liftyle.

” The requt “was meant to jolt the baseball tablishment to acknowledgg that there were ed gay men playg the game, ” Andrew Maraniss wr his new book, Sgled Out: The Te Story of Glenn Burke.

Along wh beg the first openly gay man to have played the MLB — he me out 1982, after leavg the league — Burke and his teammate Dty Baker are often creded wh ventg the high five.

BRYAN RUBY BE FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO E OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Yet his acplishments were largely fotten or tentnally obscured, whether by a homophobic society that had no e for a gay athlete or by a baseball anchise that wanted to claim cred for the thgs Burke had done for the team whout acknowledgg the prence of an out gay man their Sgled Out, Maraniss do his bt to pture the tragedy and weight of Burke’s story. He signed a Mor League ntract wh the Los Angel Dodgers his first uple of years the mors, Burke didn’t yet know that he was gay, jt that he was “different” om his teammat. He also spent the off-season prowlg the gay bars of the Castro San Francis, across the Bay om his hometown of Maraniss explas his book, was unheard of for profsnal male athlet to be gay at that time.