The New York Rangers' Sean Avery has taken a stand support of gay marriage, and even the negative backlash is helpg the e. - ESPN

Contents:

• NEW YORK RANGERS LEGEND SEAN AVERY COM OUT AS GAY, IS ENGAGED TO ANOTHER MAN
• GAY MALE HOCKEY PLAYERS ARE G OUT DROV, AND CHANGG THE SPORT’S CULTURE
• SEAN AVERY, FORMER NEW YORK RANGER, ON BEG GAY RIGHTS ADVOTE
• SEAN AVERY GAY? ANDY COHEN DENI HE'S ENGAGED TO FORMER NHL STAR, CLAIMS ALLEGED BOYIEND IS 'VERY, VERY STRAIGHT' [VIDEO]
• FORMER NY RANGERS AGATOR SEAN AVERY THE UNLIKELY LEAR THE FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS SPORTS
• IN RARY, A PLAYER SPEAKS OUT FOR GAY RIGHTS

NEW YORK RANGERS LEGEND SEAN AVERY COM OUT AS GAY, IS ENGAGED TO ANOTHER MAN

It has been revealed today that former New York Rangers legend Sean Avery is a gay man who has actually been engaged to a boyiend that he has been seeg for a year and a half now. "If this news is te (and is), Sean Avery has jt e out as the first NHL player, retired or active, to be openly gay.

There have been mors for years the NHL league about Sean Avery’s sexualy, but he has always vehemently nied , Sean even went as far as to “date” a beard girliend (Elisha Cuthbert), who he was never even remotely to, to ver up him receivg backlash om his NHL teammat and ternally the NHL for beg gay.

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

“… Sean thks that by havg an openly gay relatnship wh another pubic figure such as Andy will give him the tle of “NHL’s first openly gay athlete datg a BRAVO Executive” followg him and people not notice him for anythg else.

SEAN AVERY, FORMER NEW YORK RANGER, ON BEG GAY RIGHTS ADVOTE

Sean is openly gay/bisexual around close iends, but not to the public. ”Cohen is known as the first openly gay host of an Amerin late-night talk show.

Avery was the first NHL player to speak out favor of marriage equaly New York and was the talyst for discsns about gay athlet that have ntued wh mpaigns like “You Can Play.

” He was on the board of Athlete Ally, “a group of straight athlet voted to eraditg homophobia sports. ” Avery has also been the target of gay slurs durg gam, cludg an famo one om Wayne Simmonds of the has appeared on Bravo’s programmg for years, and even ma a facto retirement claratn on Cohen’s show.

SEAN AVERY GAY? ANDY COHEN DENI HE'S ENGAGED TO FORMER NHL STAR, CLAIMS ALLEGED BOYIEND IS 'VERY, VERY STRAIGHT' [VIDEO]

Author of "The Rivals"It's hard to gge who did more to advance the e of legalizg gay marriage the past week -- New York Rangers forward Sean Avery (the first pro athlete to publicly support New Yorkers for Marriage Equaly), or the father-and-son sports agent team of Don and Todd Reynolds, whose swift attacks of Avery's stance ed a remarkable thg to happen. The Reynolds' reactns ed thoands of other people to step forward and out themselv as gay rights supporters, too, a lour, longer show of support for Avery on Twter and Facebook, rad and TV, blogs and newspapers and sports fan msage boards than Avery's appearance a vio advertisement for the marriage equaly mpaign might have generated on s of which led to a send surprise: Avery's support for gay rights isn't unique male pro sports at last pot is worth lgerg on bee challeng an endurg nard that we've been told about gays and male sports for forever -- that revealg yourself as a supporter of gay rights is only slightly ls risky than admtg you are 's been 30 years sce Billie Jean Kg and Marta Navratilova were outed wh months of each other 1981 and then ntued petg pro tennis after acknowledgg they are lbians.

And yet, male pro sports ntue to be portrayed as one of last unbreachable bastns of homophobia.

FORMER NY RANGERS AGATOR SEAN AVERY THE UNLIKELY LEAR THE FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS SPORTS

When people speak of how the gay movement still needs s own Jackie Robson, sometim sounds as if what they really mean is that will take a martyr, not jt a sports hero wh a social is that still te? Especially now that sports ntue to prent wh exampl of how people such as the Reynolds -- and not Avery -- face the bigger backlash for their views on gay rights?

IN RARY, A PLAYER SPEAKS OUT FOR GAY RIGHTS

This is a good time to start re-appraisg all the thgs we've so long taken as "fact" -- cludg the nventnal wisdom that would be impossible for a gay male athlete to e out durg his playg reer, rather than jt male athlet are g out now at the high school and llege levels. Gay male pro athlet have e out durg their playg reers other untri, too, sports such as gby and boxg and soccer. He told The Natnal Post of Canada, "The majory, I thk, of Canadians would say that they don't agree wh gay marriage -- that man and woman were created to be married, not man and man or man and horse, you know?

Gays have been gettg legally married Canada sce 2005. And they're entled to their the last few weeks alone, Kobe Bryant did apologize for g a three-letter gay slur reference to a referee durg the playoffs, even before the NBA fed him $100, 000; and Major League Baseball spend Atlanta pchg ach Roger McDowell for allegedly menacg a fan and his two dghters at a San Francis Giants game wh a bat while makg some homophobic remarks.

"Phoenix Suns players Grant Hill and Jared Dudley filmed public service mercials that began nng last month agast the bullyg of gay teens. Olympic Commtee recently after was revealed he had backed anti-gay marriage iativ the past.

Cleveland lebacker Stt Fuja is a supporter of gay rights, and Baltimore Ravens lebacker Brendon Ayanbajo has backed the ph to legalize gay marriage Maryland even more actively than Avery has New York. Ayanbajo, who is bi-racial, has noted that much of what people say now to nmn gay marriage rembl the language people ed to argue agast terracial marriage the 1960s. "It's barbaric, " Ayanbajo is the latt pro athlete to speak out, but he's not even the first big name hockey to step up for gay rights.