By Dan Woog Andrew Goldste (left), Braen and Courage Game -founr Nick Welton (right). OK, sports fans: Who was the first openly gay male athlete
Contents:
- 12-YEAR-OLD TO GAY LACROSSE PLAYER: 'THE DAY I GOT THAT VIO WAS THE BT DAY OF MY LIFE'
- THGS HAVE 'GOTTEN SO MUCH BETTER' FOR 13-YEAR-OLD GAY LACROSSE PLAYER
- SC FEATURED STORY ON YOUNG, GAY LACROSSE PLAYER RONAT WH VIEWERS
- SC FEATURED TELLS STORY OF YOUNG GAY LACROSSE PLAYER HELPED BY 2005 ESPN FEATURE
- HELP 12-YEAR-OLD GAY LACROSSE PLAYER RAISE MONEY FOR LGBT HOMELS YOUTH
- THE COURAGE GAME: SUPPORT GAY YOUTH, REBE BULLYG, AND PROMOTE AWARENS FOR LGBT EQUALY
- NFL WEEK 14: 12-YEAR GAY LACROSSE PLAYER, EAGL WERE PHILALPHIA WNERS LAST WEEKEND
12-YEAR-OLD TO GAY LACROSSE PLAYER: 'THE DAY I GOT THAT VIO WAS THE BT DAY OF MY LIFE'
Ten years ago, lacrosse player Andrew Goldste beme the first openly gay athlete to be drafted by a profsnal sports team. Today, he's spirg a new generatn of young athlet. * braeden gay lacrosse *
The All-Amerin goalie had stggled wh his sexualy sce he was 7, and like so many gay and transgenr kids, had ntemplated suici. '"Earlier this year, another young lacrosse player realized that he was gay.
THGS HAVE 'GOTTEN SO MUCH BETTER' FOR 13-YEAR-OLD GAY LACROSSE PLAYER
Gay lacrosse players are g together for a Memorial Day game Philalphia to support 12-year-old Braen and other gay lacrosse players. If you're a gay lax player, jo ! * braeden gay lacrosse *
"There's nothg wrong wh beg gay, " Braen rpond, "bee I am gay. Playg the celt of ccibl, the Syrace Carrier Dome, before 25, 000 fans, Dartmouth College's sophomore lacrosse goalie somehow has plucked Michael Sprger's pot-blank shot out of the air and starts sprtg up the curly open left sile.
"As Goldste would say later, "I gus tak a gay goalie to have enough balls to sre the NCAA tournament. But early his sophomore year at Milton Amy, his Massachetts hometown, he told a iend, was liberatg, even thrillg, but Goldste's secret stayed between the two until July 2003, two months after he sred that groundbreakg goal at Syrace. He worried that on the team's first road trip that the "unlucky guys who had to be my roommat would pla about sleepg the same room as the homo.
" He wonred if anybody would s next to him on the team, however, several teammat approached him to apologize for homophobic language and off-lor-jok om the past. A handful of notable profsnal team-sport athlet had e out after their reers end and, to be sure, there were a number of openly gay athlet dividual sports at the Divisn I, II and III levels.
SC FEATURED STORY ON YOUNG, GAY LACROSSE PLAYER RONAT WH VIEWERS
The story that spired the Courage Game, a lacrosse event created support gay youth, rebe bullyg, and promote tn and awarens for LGBT equaly * braeden gay lacrosse *
Still, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound goalie was, the sports work nclud after rearchg the ntext, the most acplished male, team-sport athlete North Ameri to be openly gay durg his playg that year he was drafted by the Boston Canons of Major League Lacrosse and eventually played for the Long Island a before Amerin soccer player Robbie Rogers played for the Los Angel Galaxy of Major League Soccer, prr to Jason Colls steppg on the urt for the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, before Michael Sam, a Missouri fensive end, me out advance of the 2014 NFL draft, there was Andrew Goldste.
SC FEATURED TELLS STORY OF YOUNG GAY LACROSSE PLAYER HELPED BY 2005 ESPN FEATURE
"Andrew was the first openly gay male athlete to be drafted by a profsnal sports league the Uned Stat, " said Cyd Zeigler, -founr of "And then he beme the first to play a profsnal sports league. "In 2005, the gay muny didn't want to talk about sports and the sports muny didn't want to talk about gay people. You n no longer say that gay men all jt want to listen to show tun.
"The ESPN profile won a televisn journalism award om the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn. "In 2013 Goldste was enshred the gural class of Natnal Gay and Lbian Sports Hall of Fame, joed by, among others, Marta Navratilova, Billie Jean Kg and Greg GoldsteToday, at 32, Goldste seems fortable his own sk.
"I would notice that a lot of people would make, like, homosexual jok, " he explas. And then I realized that I was gay. "They all say the same thg -- are you gay?
HELP 12-YEAR-OLD GAY LACROSSE PLAYER RAISE MONEY FOR LGBT HOMELS YOUTH
"So we go to Braen's room and ask him, 'Are you gay?
One boy at his school told Braen he was gog to hell bee beg gay wasn't mentned the Bible.
THE COURAGE GAME: SUPPORT GAY YOUTH, REBE BULLYG, AND PROMOTE AWARENS FOR LGBT EQUALY
"Stt had found the statistics on-le: The suici rate for gay teens is thought to be four tim the natnal average. "Makg a nnectnFive weeks after Braen me out, on March 16, the Lang found Andrew remembered seeg a televisn piece on a gay lacrosse player and wh a few mut she had Googled the ESPN feature. On the day before the 2015 Divisn I lacrosse champnship game between Denver and Maryland at Lln Fancial Field Philalphia, a few away on the mp of Pennsylvania Universy, several hundred people, gay lacrosse players and their alli, gathered for The Courage Game.
Now he is openly gay, proud, happy and full of life. His life changed when he met Andrew Goldste, an openly gay former pro lacrosse player.
The Courage Game's missn is to enurage and support gay youth, rebe bullyg, and promote wir tn and awarens for LGBT equaly.
NFL WEEK 14: 12-YEAR GAY LACROSSE PLAYER, EAGL WERE PHILALPHIA WNERS LAST WEEKEND
I was trapped wh a secret, and when I revealed the fact that I was gay to iends, didn't make thgs better immediately. Braen Lange, a 12-year-old lacrosse player who was bullied after g out as gay but found solace an ESPN feature. “The Courage Game” told the story of Braen Lange, a 12-year-old lacrosse player who was bullied after g out as gay but found solace an ESPN feature produced 10 years earlier.