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

nhl player gay soccer

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.

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LE PROKOP COM OUT AS GAY AND MAK NHL HISTORY

* nhl player gay soccer *

Le Prokop, a prospect for the Nashville Predators, me out as gay on Monday.

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

Carl Nassib is one of only two openly gay active players the history of the four biggt North Amerin sports leagu – the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL. Experts say homophobia sports begs at the youth level. * nhl player gay soccer *

Nashville Predators prospect Le Prokop has e out as gay, beg the first active player unr ntract to an NHL team to do so. High-level female hockey players, such as Olympic gold medalist Meghan Duggan, have prevly e out as gay, acrdg to the league. Prokop's announcement ls than a month after Las Vegas Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay.

NORTH AMERI’S FOUR BIGGT PRO SPORTS LEAGU HAVE BEEN AROUND A BED 398 YEARS. THEY’VE HAD TWO OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYERS

Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib publicly me out June 2021, makg him the first openly gay man to actively play the NFL. * nhl player gay soccer *

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!

ATRALIAN SOCCER STAR JOSH CAVALLO OUT AS GAY

Atralian soccer star Josh Cavallo me out Wednday, beg the only openly gay male top-level profsnal soccer player the world. * nhl player gay soccer *

Natnal Hockey League prospect Le Prokop me out as gay July, the first active player the league to e out. "I am proud to publicly tell everyone that I am gay, " he wrote a heartfelt msage on social media.

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.

"He wanted everyone to know he was "still the same Colton everybody met on TV" and is "proud to be gay. Hiltz had prevly e out as gay while llege and has been a visible and affirmg prence for gay athlet the past. 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.

PROKOP REFLECTS ON YEAR SCE G OUT AS GAY

Le Prokop said feels much longer than a year sce he beme the first player unr ntract to an NHL team to e out as gay. * nhl player gay soccer *

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. 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. They also highlighted the arth of openly gay players the hypermascule world of U. Though many retired former players have e out, is more unual for male profsnal athlet to say they are gay while still playg.

Gay male athlet face cultural barriers Part of the reason for the lack of out gay players men's profsnal sports uld be that there are jt fewer of them the game. Rory Magrath, a rearcher at Solent Universy England, has suggted that 's possible gay men are unrreprented profsnal sports. "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.

NHL PROSPECT LE PROKOP ANNOUNC HE'S GAY

Le Prokop, a Nashville Predators draft pick and Alberta native, announced Monday that he was "proud to publicly tell everyone that I am gay." * nhl player gay soccer *

That uld be due to the mascule culture at the center of the major sports, experts say, creatg an environment that is ls welg to gay athlet. Magrath helped thor a study that found that male athlet who me out as gay while still playg sports were largely met wh acceptance by their teammat. Robbie Rogers ma history 2013 when he took the field for the Los Angel Galaxy after as the first openly gay player profsnal U.

NBA player Jason Colls, who me out 2013 while he was still playg the league, later told NPR " went great" when he scribed the perd after announcg he was gay.

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. David Kopay, a former NFL nng back who me out 1975, was unable to land a profsnal achg job after he announced publicly that he was gay.

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

Prokop, who was drafted by the Nashville Predators last year, me out as gay wh a heartfelt statement to fans this week, an admissn he said he hoped would improve gay visibily wh the hockey muny. * nhl player gay soccer *

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. The Las Vegas Rairs fensive end is now jt one of two openly gay active players the history of the four biggt North Amerin sports leagu (the Natnal Football League, Natnal Basketball Associatn, Major League Baseball and the Natnal Hockey League). It’s not that gay men aren’t playg profsnal sports, experts say.

Homophobic language is still a regular feature of playg on a boys’ sports team the US and abroad, Denison’s rearch shows – one of his studi found that more than half of the ice hockey and gby players he terviewed said they’d ed slurs. Regular exposure to slurs or stereotyp eventually rerc among players that their succs as an athlete is tied to an ia of masculy that exclus gay men, he said.

EACH OF AMERI’S BIG 5 SPORTS CURRENTLY HAS AN OUT GAY MAN THE PROS. THAT’S NEVER HAPPENED

For the first time, pro baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer has an out gay male player unr ntract. * nhl player gay soccer *

Denison scribed what he lls a “cycle of excln” that begs when a boy hears ach or olr players e homophobic language and observ a “posive rponse” to that behavr – maybe they lgh at each other, or the ach don’t challenge them, he said.

That sends the msage that homophobic language is harmls and OK to e – and cements the assumptn that all members of the team are heterosexual.

Gay players on those teams may also e the language as a shield to hi their sexualy and nform wh their team, Denison said.

GAY MALE HOCKEY PLAYERS ARE G OUT DROV, AND CHANGG THE SPORT’S CULTURE

Many gay male hockey players and officials me out on Outsports this year. Together, they’re makg the sport’s culture more clive. * nhl player gay soccer *

In many s, though, gay players will jt drop out of the sport.

LE PROKOP, PREDATORS PROSPECT, BE FIRST PLAYER UNR NHL NTRACT TO E OUT AS GAY

So what is about the NHL that keeps current and former gay players closeted? * nhl player gay soccer *

“We often fd that male ach ntue to e homophobic language and teach nformy to this tough mascule athlete inty that don’t really exist, ” he said. As a child, before Davis unrstood what meant to be LGBTQ, he was already absorbg the norms beg set around him durg practice – that “beg gay those walls was unsafe, that [he] would be danger. And by the time he was an NFL locker room, he said he didn’t hear homophobic slurs beg ed, but sexist on.

JOSH CAVALLO BE ONE OF THE FEW PROFSNAL MEN'S FOOTBALLERS TO E OUT AS GAY

Prokop's announcement after Las Vegas Rairs fensive leman Carl Nassib June beme the first ever active NFL player to e out as gay * nhl player gay soccer *

Insert someone who’s gay … and you fely want to have domn over this gay person, and you actually don’t want them your space.

Quali players necsary for succs football – domance, aggrsn and, ocsnally, vlence – are often associated wh homophobia and sexism, too. So whether or not a male athlete actually holds sexist or homophobic views, featur of both are often baked to his sport. He beme the first openly gay player an NBA game when he was signed to a 10-game ntract wh the Brooklyn Nets Febary 2014.

Almost 50 years earlier, there was Glenn Burke, a buddg Los Angel Dodgers star whose reer was cut short by homophobia the 1970s, argu Andrew Maraniss, an thor and special projects ordator wh Vanrbilt Universy Athletics, his book on Burke. When his ach found out he was gay and offered him a sizable sum to marry a woman, he refed.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* NHL PLAYER GAY SOCCER

North Ameri's four biggt pro sports leagu have had only 2 openly gay active players | CNN .

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