Jason Colls Is the 1st Openly Gay NBA Player and Was Engaged to a Woman — Insi His Story

Contents:

• HERE ARE THE 6 GAY MEN WHO HAVE BEEN OUT PUBLICLY WHILE PETG PRO BASKETBALL
• JASON COLLS ME OUT 10 YEARS AGO, HERG A PERD OF CREASG GAY VISIBILY MEN’S SPORTS
• FORMER NBA, KENTUCKY PLAYER ISAAC HUMPHRI OUT AS ONLY ACTIVE GAY PLAYER TOP-TIER MEN'S BASKETBALL
• NBA PLAYERS WHO HAVE OPENLY COME OUT AS GAY: THE STORY BEHD TEANNA TMP AND “GAY” NBA PLAYER
• TOP 3 NBA PLAYERS WHO ARE GAY FEAT. JASON COLLS AND MORE
• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
• THE 77 WNBA PLAYERS THAT HAVE COME OUT AS GAY LBIAN, TRANS OR NON-BARY
• JASON COLLS SAYS HE'S GAY
• THE ONLY 3 OUT, GAY NBA PLAYERS IN HISTORY
• ATHLET WHO ARE GAY
• JASON COLLS IS THE 1ST OPENLY GAY NBA PLAYER AND WAS ENGAGED TO A WOMAN — INSI HIS STORY
• 5 GAY ATHLET WHO ARE OUT AND PROUD
• GAY NBA PLAYERS
• SPORTS STARS WHO BATTLED GAY RUMORS
• NBA VETERAN JASON COLLS OUT AS GAY
• JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY NBA PLAYER, REFLECTS ON LEGACY, LIFE AFTER BASKETBALL
• THE N-B-GAY: OUT OF COMG OUT
• FORMER NBA PLAYER ISAAC HUMPHRI OUT AS GAY TO TEAMMAT AND ADMS HE NSIRED SUICI
• ‘I’M SENTIALLY STARTG A NEW LIFE,’ SAYS ISAAC HUMPHRI AS HE BE THE ONLY OPENLY GAY MAN PLAYG TOP-FLIGHT BASKETBALL
• NHL PROSPECT LE PROKOP OUT AS GAY, A FIRST FOR THE LEAGUE
• ‘I’M GAY’: NBA PLAYER JASON COLLS BREAKS BARRIER

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

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. 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. 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.

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. 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. In 10 years, Colls remas the only active NBA player to e out publicly (Bill Kennedy is an active gay NBA referee who is out; player John Amaechi me out after retirg).

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

When Rogers me out MLS, Michael Sam me out the NFL and Colls me out, I was nvced this was the begng of a seri of gay and bi athlet who would e out publicly men’s pro sports.

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

Sce those three gay pro athlet me out the urse of a year, only two active athlet big-time Amerin men’s pro sports have e out publicly while on a team: Coll Mart MLS and Carl Nassib the NFL.

This past September, was seven years sce I wrote, this magaze, “The Last Closet, ” a feature about the total sany that, September 2011, there were no openly gay players the four major North Amerin men’s profsnal sports leagu. A year after that, the Rams drafted openly gay fensive end Michael Sam the seventh round of the NFL draft, and he kissed his boyiend celebratn live on ESPN’s airwav; his jersey quickly beme the send-bt-sellg the NFL. After all, wasn’t long ago that LeBron Jam — who now is wily nsired a strong LGBT advote — was sayg that if you were gay and not tellg your teammat about , you were beg “untstworthy.

” He, like many players, has changed his tune sce then — Jam, forever a bsman, certaly saw the public relatns value evolvg as well — but ’s still rather mon to hear anti-gay sentiment om players; Amar’e Stoumire had to apologize for remarks he ma jt last year.

NBA PLAYERS WHO HAVE OPENLY COME OUT AS GAY: THE STORY BEHD TEANNA TMP AND “GAY” NBA PLAYER

But to learn that the league’s most hard-re fans appear to be as ristant to an openly gay player as some of his hypothetil teammat would be … well, we may have even further to travel than any of realized.

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. 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. He publicly shared he is gay a vio published Wednday morng Atralian time, and he jos former NBA player Jason Colls -- who announced his sexualy 2013 -- as the only players a top-tier basketball league to announce they are gay the midst of their playg reer.

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

Colls announced he is gay April 2013, shortly after the NBA season end, and he beme the first openly gay player to appear a top-tier basketball league Febary 2014 as a member of the Nets. An outfielr for the Los Angel Dodgers and the Oakland A's between 1976 and 1979, Glenn Burke beme the first Major League Baseball player to e out as gay to teammat and owners while still active, though the team asked that he keep his sexualy secret om the public and he plied.

@billybeanballThe only livg Major League Baseball veteran who has e out as gay, outfielr Billy Bean played for the Tigers, Dodgers, and Padr over a reer that spanned om 1987 to 1995. He me out four years after retirg om the field, and wrote his 2003 book Gog the Other Way: Lsons From a Life and Out of Major League Baseball that the bullyg and homophobic world of baseball led him to walk away om pro ball. @_DavidD_41A first baseman for the Helena Brewers, rhe Milwkee Brewers' rookie affiliate team Montana, David Denson 2015 beme the first player affiliated wh Major League Baseball to e out as gay.

@tampaMarkJWhen Mark Johnson and teammat won a champnship for the Universy of Tampa 1998, he still was nial about his gay sexualy, he told Outsports, but he beme more nfint over his adult life.

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

When Tyson Lk, director of baseball operatns at the Universy of South Carola, cid on Natnal Comg Out Day 2016 to publicly reveal he was gay, he beme the first person Divisn I llege baseball to ever e out as LGBT. An umpire for Major League Baseball most notable for a rather famo row wh Pete Rose, Dave Pallone would eventually be ducted to the first class of the Natnal Gay and Lbian Sports Hall of Fame.

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. "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.

After Michael Sam beme the first openly gay athlete to be drafted to the NFL 2014, then-Miami Dolphs safety Don Jon tweeted "horrible, " rultg penalti and a spensn.

THE 77 WNBA PLAYERS THAT HAVE COME OUT AS GAY LBIAN, TRANS OR NON-BARY

There are key differenc the cultur of men's and women's athletics While few active players the major men's sports leagu have e out, many female profsnal athlet have said publicly that they're gay, om U. Not only was their birthday a huge tone for women’s profsnal basketball, but the league’s growth has cid wh a growg acceptance of players that intify as gay, lbian, bisexual and trans.

Even though some outlets have approximated of the percentage of LGBTQ players the WNBA the real number will always be accurate as long as homophobia exists all ’s forms.

JASON COLLS SAYS HE'S GAY

The te percentage of WNBA players that intify as gay or lbian will always be termed by how acceptg society of differenc sexualy and genr, and th, how fortable players are of g out of the closet the public eye.

THE ONLY 3 OUT, GAY NBA PLAYERS IN HISTORY

We piled this list bee we know that the qutn of how many gay WNBA players there are and bee there’s not a lot of reputable rmatn to be had; leads to stereotyp beg perpetuated and biased opns are taken as fact. We saw the lack of available rearch as an opportuny to provi rmatn that is actually rearched wh the ntext of how culture affects the number of out gay and lbian WNBA players.

That’s also te the WNBA where All-Stars Dewanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas are engaged, former teammat Penny Taylor and Trasi are married, current teammat Allie Quigley and Courtney Vanrsloot have also wed, Natisha Heiman and Jasme Thomas are upled up and Breanna Stewart and Marta Xargay have a child together.

ATHLET WHO ARE GAY

And every WNBA superstar that is out now cludg Augt, Grer, Bird, McCoughtry, Candace Parker, Stewart, Katie Smh, and Jonquel Jon to name a few have all spoke to the glass closet they’re workg agast and homophobia that they’ve experienced that have silenced them. Sue Bird dumbed down how racism, sexism, and homophobia together to work agast the WNBA an ESPN terview: “To be pletely blunt, but also kd of simple, soccer players generally are cute ltle whe girls. Whether straight or gay, the great thg about the WNAB is that they’re unified their support of one another – not only terms of women’s sports, but genr equy, racial jtice, and issu impactg the LGBTQIA+ muny as all three h very close to home.

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

Insir is highlightg out and proud athlet honor of the annual celebratn of those who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, and morn-day stars like USWNT pta Megan Rapoe and WNBA legend, Diana Trasi, are NBA player Jason Pl Colls, former NFL nng back David Kopay, and tennis in Billie Jean Kg were trailblazers their rpective sports. Longtime NFL offensive leman Ryan O'Callaghan me out as gay publicly 2017 via a story for Outsports and revealed that he had long planned to kill himself once his football reer was over. 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.

5 GAY ATHLET WHO ARE OUT AND PROUD

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. "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. 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.

GAY NBA PLAYERS

She has been a relatnship wh Atralian soccer player Sarah Walsh for three 38Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Reddg, CaliforniaTeams: Chigo Red StarsTennis great Billie Jean Kg beme the first proment female profsnal athlete to e out as gay back 79Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Long Beach, California, Uned Stat of AmeriOlympic diver Greg Louganis is openly gay. He married his partner Johnny Chaillo 63Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: El Cajon, California, Uned Stat of AmeriWNBA player Sheryl Swoop announced that she was gay 2005. Age: 52Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Brownfield, Texas, Uned Stat of AmeriTeams: Hoton Comets, Uned Stat women's natnal basketball team, Texas Tech Lady Rairs basketballNBA player Jason Colls me out as gay an terview wh Sports Illtrated magaze 2013.

His announcement provoked mixed reactns om his fellow players and the 44Natnaly: Uned Stat of AmeriBirthplace: Northridge, Los Angel, CaliforniaTeams: Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Washgton Wizards, Memphis Grizzli, Brooklyn NetsAmerin soccer player Abby Wambach is openly gay. When Colls played his last season the NBA wh the Brooklyn Nets he bee the first publicly gay athlete to play any of the four major North Amerin pro team sports leagu.

Many people believe pro sports to be one of the last areas where homophobia was still proment but Colls g out was a step the right directn for acceptance of gay pro athlet everywhere. In 2012, he beme the first profsnally active boxer to e out as gay sayg, ”I want to try to be the bt role mol I n be for kids who might look to boxg as a sport and a profsnal reer. ” Unfortunately Sam didn’t end up makg through the preason and stead signed wh the Montreal Alouett before the 2015 season beg the first publicly gay player the CFL.

SPORTS STARS WHO BATTLED GAY RUMORS

While Colls regniz there is still a lot of work to be done, he says ’s helpful to be able to pot to the lany of star openly gay profsnal athlet, om Megan Rapoe to Robbie Rodgers. If an openly gay printial ndidate n thrive the rough world of polics — even garnerg support om some nservative Republins agast homophobic sults — then seems like only a matter of time before another NBA player out. Homosexualy, however, is viewed to be feme, and femy directly challeng the hegemonic masculy that exists basketball, makg difficult for those the NBA to be both homosexual and nform to the masculy expected by them.

Rearch has shown elevated rat of homophobia wh Black culture, which wh black culture, homosexualy is viewed as more of a whe man’s problem (Froyum, 2007; Kg, 2004). NFL hopeful Michael Sam me out as gay to his Universy of Missouri teammat 2013, then to ESPN as an "openly proud gay man" jt before the NFL draft 2014, makg him the first openly gay man to be drafted by an NFL team. In November 2014, Colls announced his retirement, wrg Sports Illtrated, "It feels wonrful to have been part of the ton for sports and for gay rights, and to have been embraced by the public, the ach, the players, the league and history.

An off-duty Dallas police officer who traveled wh the Cowboys and worked secury at their hotels first told me that 'the word on the street' was that Troy Aikman was gay. Dpe fatherg children wh at least two different women, NFL player Braylon Edwards was mored to be gay after fellow player Will Demps said an terview that Edwards had asked him about molg and actg opportuni.

NBA VETERAN JASON COLLS OUT AS GAY

Former NBA center Jason Colls, who me out 2013 and beme the first openly gay athlete any of the four major US sports leagu, wrote that he was “very proud” of Nassib. “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).

JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY NBA PLAYER, REFLECTS ON LEGACY, LIFE AFTER BASKETBALL

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.

THE N-B-GAY: OUT OF COMG OUT

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. In June 2021, NFL fensive end Carl Nassib me out as gay a vio posted to his Instagram, addg he donated $100, 000 to The Trevor Project, an anizatn that foc on suici preventn LGBTQ youth after he stggled wh his sexualy for 15 years. "I thk female athlet, general, are at the foreont of every prott general bee we're gay, we're women, we're women of lor, we're sort of everythg all at one time, " Rapoe told NBC news 2019.

FORMER NBA PLAYER ISAAC HUMPHRI OUT AS GAY TO TEAMMAT AND ADMS HE NSIRED SUICI

" He scribed hidg his sexualy while playg for the Utah Jazz, but said some teammat who spected he was gay were welg about a 2007 terview on "Outsi the L, " Amaechi, who played five seasons the NBA, said he thought there were other gay players the league, but said 's "terrifyg" for some to e out. ""If I n show that I'm out and I'm fe, then hopefully the younger generatn will feel the same way, " Grer said the same year, Grer recieved a multi-ln dollar al om Nike, and beme the first openly gay basketball player endorsed by the brand, acrdg to The married her wife, Cherelle, 2019.

Dghter Chelsea, who knew the player om Stanford, tweeted: "Very proud of my iend Jason Colls for havg the strength & urage to be the first openly gay player the NBA.

98 wh the Celtics and Wizards — that was the year Matthew Shepard, a gay llege stunt Wyomg, was killed, and the Trevor Project, a suici preventn anizatn, was found. However, acceptance is far om 100%, wh recent evince cludg Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill (and a variety of pyts around the untry) and three-quarters of the Republin members of the Hoe votg agast a bill difyg gay marriage to law.

‘I’M SENTIALLY STARTG A NEW LIFE,’ SAYS ISAAC HUMPHRI AS HE BE THE ONLY OPENLY GAY MAN PLAYG TOP-FLIGHT BASKETBALL

There are too many cints of gay slurs to lk dividually, but KD’s texts to the actor Michael Rapaport are particularly egreg, very few of which are punished beyond a slap on the wrist. Isaac Humphri, an Atralian basketball star who played at the Universy of Kentucky (NCAA) and played the NBA wh the Atlanta Hawks, has opened up about his sexualy and the mental battl he had to go did not e out as gay durg his NBA reer and none of his teammat knew until this pot. "I was around some of the most succsful people the world - everyone om micians, televisn and film producers, media personali, A-list celebri - and got to see that beg openly gay n e wh joy.

“Forever, I thought that beg a profsnal basketball player and gay were mutually exclive and that I had to hi that si of my life and wasn’t allowed to be who I tly am, ” Humphri exclively tells CNN Sport’s Amanda Davi. While he says his Melbourne Uned team is “so acceptg” and that he feels “honored and privileged” to play basketball, the six-foot, 11-ch center pots to the locker-room atmosphere as one of the barriers to feelg fortable as a gay man the sport. I ask this as only yterday a player wh the gby world me out as gay and such mak him only the send active player that is open about them beg LGBTQ the gby world and was wonrg if ’s siar basketball.

NHL PROSPECT LE PROKOP OUT AS GAY, A FIRST FOR THE LEAGUE

“I hope that sharg who I am I n help other people see that gay people are wele the hockey muny, as we work to make sure that hockey is tly for everyone, ” he wrote. Prokop hasn’t played an NHL game yet, but if he do, he’ll jo que a small club: There have only been two openly gay active players the four largt US sports leagu – Carl Nassib of the NFL’s Las Vegas Rairs, who me out last month, and Jason Colls, an NBA veteran who me out 2013 and retired the followg season.

This n evolve to lastg homophobic attus or e gay players to hi their sexualy om their teammat, said Erik Denison, a behavral scientist and lead rearcher on the Sport Incln Project at Monash Universy Atralia, a June terview wh CNN.

‘I’M GAY’: NBA PLAYER JASON COLLS BREAKS BARRIER

Women’s soccer players generally are cute ltle Whe girls while WNBA players, we are all shap and siz … a lot of Black, gay, tall women … there is maybe an timidatn factor and people are quick to judge and put down, ” she said. 98 wh the Celtics and Wizards: 1998 was the year Matthew Shepard, a gay llege stunt Wyomg, was killed, and the Trevor Project, a suici preventn anizatn, was found.

Earlier this month, the NHL and s players’ unn partnered wh an advocy anizatn fightg homophobia sports, and Commissner Gary Bettman said the You Can Play Project unrl that “the official policy of the NHL is one of cln on the ice, our locker rooms and the stands. While Colls is the first male athlete a major North Amerin profsnal league to e out while tendg to keep playg, several have prevly spoken after they retired about beg gay, cludg the NBA’s John Amaechi, the NFL’s Esera Tuaolo and Major League Baseball’s Billy Bean.