Bill Kennedy out as send active openly gay NBA official

gay league referee

English Football League referee Jam Adck has publicly e out as gay.

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BILL KENNEDY OUT AS SEND ACTIVE OPENLY GAY NBA OFFICIAL

* gay league referee *

Longtime NBA referee Bill Kennedy revealed to Yahoo Sports Sunday night that he is gay, makg him the send openly gay active NBA official after Vlet Palmer's announcement 2014.

He's also the third active openly gay official pro sports along wh MLB umpire Dale Stt.

"I am proud to be an NBA referee and I am proud to be a gay man, " Kennedy told Yahoo Sports on Sunday night.

FOOTBALL LEAGUE REFEREE JAM ADCK OUT AS GAY

Ryan Atk tells the BBC about his experienc as an openly gay match official after beg named one of Stonewall's Sport Champns. * gay league referee *

Source: NBA referee Bill Kennedy reveals he is gay; Rajon Rondo ma alleged homosexual slur to him - Yahoo Sports. OutSports spoke wh an openly gay high school ach for his reactn, which summed up the announcement well:.

"I thk any time someone n be out at the top of their profsn 's a w, " out gay high school basketball ach Anthony Nimo told Outsports. Source: NBA referee Bill Kennedy out as gay after Rajon Rondo lled him gay slurs - Outsports.

Yahoo Sports reveals that Rondo's one-game spensn was the rult of a tira that clud the Kgs guard's e of homophobic slurs towards Kennedy.

RYAN ATK: FROM LMAN TO CHAMPN - FIRST OPENLY GAY REFEREE ON EXPERIENC

Vio: Premier League referee out as an openly gay man * gay league referee *

Adam Silver said 2014 that he felt the league "fell behd" on the issue, even wh Jason Colls' announcement several years ago that he was an active gay NBA player. A recent 2015 NBC/USA poll shows that 25% of sports fans surveyed believed an openly-gay athlete on a team harms the team and the entire sport (see story lk below).

VIO: PREMIER LEAGUE REFEREE OUT AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN

Gay gby league referee Jam Child has opened up on how revealg his sexualy publicly for the first time 2021 affected his officiatg reer * gay league referee *

Tennis Associatn appoted s first out gay Chief Umpire for the U.

Great Bra's Ryan Atk is nsired the first out gay referee profsnal football/soccer.

GAY GBY LEAGUE REFEREE LIFTS LID ON HOW G OUT AFFECTED OFFICIATG REER

XFL center judge Amanda Ser-Cook is the first openly gay official a major natnal profsnal football league. * gay league referee *

“To e out as gay or not e out as gay, you have to choose that as a person and not as a ref.

“I don’t need to wear a T-shirt sayg: ‘I’m Jam Adck and I’m a gay guy.

“I’ve not had any homophobic abe thrown at me, and I n’t tell you a story where I’ve had to bat or overe that.

LONG EATON REFEREE SHAR EXPERIENCE OF BEG OPENLY GAY FOOTBALL

Pro soccer referee Matthew Nelson says ‘hidg the fact that I am gay was unproductive.’ * gay league referee *

”Adck’s fellow EFL official Ryan Atk me out gby, 2015 World Cup Fal referee Nigel Owens and Gallagher Premiership regular Craig Maxwell-Keys are also both openly gay.

They've crossed paths on the Phoenix karaoke circu before, but only recently did a iend tell him Kennedy's name and what he do for a most refere at the big league level, Kennedy don't seek the spotlight, but found him last December, when he publicly clared his sexual inty as a gay man a few days after the league spend Rajon Rondo for llg Kennedy a "motherfuckg faggot. " Though NBA staff, fellow officials and numero players and ach have known for years that Kennedy is gay, the announcement stantly ma him a public figure. 13, tellg Yahoo Sports, "I am proud to be an NBA referee, and I am proud to be a gay man.

He tells Kennedy he was the bt man at his gay 's weddg.

THIS GAY MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER REFEREE IS G OUT TO EASE HIS MD

And a crowd whose energy was wang before the microphone found s way to Kennedy has been drawn to the man who, jt an hour ago, was visible to referee Bill Kennedy scrib the challeng he faced on and off the urt as a gay manAfter Rajon Rondo berated NBA referee Bill Kennedy wh an anti-gay slur durg a game last season, Kennedy publicly revealed that he was gay.

Kennedy talks about the fears he lived wh as a closeted gay man and the reactn he received om the York/AP PhotoFOR A MOMENT that stands as a watershed event Kennedy's life -- and arguably the history of gay people profsnal sports -- the cint at the Palace of Auburn Hills is shroud mystery.

He knew that an ter mor -- or even a news story -- on a gay NBA referee might not be a fireable offense, but the acpanyg chatter was exactly the kd of attentn he wanted to avoid. "Pearl had Kennedy wa outsi the nference room while he went to brief the powers that be on his new fdg: Billy Kennedy was not terted appropriately touchg the female her; Kennedy was a gay the NBA uld fd no report on the Kennedy vtigatn s offic or outsi fil, the league says the matter was put to rt.

EFL REFEREE JAM ADCK: ‘I’M AN OPENLY GAY MAN FOOTBALL’

"The Letter led to The Talk, " Kennedy says, addg that he's certa his mother knew he was gay before he did. After The Talk, he began to venture to gay spac his early 20s -- cludg Charlie's, a gay untry bar a few blocks om where he went to gra school.

"Like many gay men, Kennedy existed somewhere between the closet and daylight durg his early adult years.

THIS GAY REFEREE JT WORKED AN AMERIN HOCKEY LEAGUE GAME, A FIRST FOR THE LEAGUE

Though he wasn't out Ref World, there was a tac "don't ask, don't tell" policy between Kennedy and his iends, who operated unr the assumptn that he is gay.

And so Kennedy, forced to disclose his sexual inty to the league office New York to save his reer, proceed to spend the next 15 years gog about the bs of the bifurted life of a gay referee. He might not have clared himself openly gay, but when did refere publicly clare anythg about themselv? "Back Phoenix, Kennedy was a member of an extend circle of young, gay male profsnals who socialized, played sports and traveled on weekend getaways together.

Yet as central as Kennedy's gay iends were to his life and he to theirs, he often went missg. "Billy was the origal ghoster, " says Mike Fornelli, a close iend of Kennedy's who owns BS Wt, a popular gay club Sttsdale, Arizona, that Kennedy has equented and sung karaoke at for years.

STTISH REFEREE CRAIG NAPIER OUT AS GAY

A dozen men joyoly pose for a gay newspaper Hoton that was verg the event, but one of the subjects is obscured. Friends om his officiatg life unanimoly say they eher knew or spected Kennedy is gay -- and didn't re.

NBA REFEREE REVEALS HE IS GAY AS LEAGUE CONTU TO GRAPPLE WH INTOLERANCE

All the while, gay iends found his attempt to manage his persona entertag, given that peggg Kennedy as gay might seem obv to anyone wh even a margally tuned gaydar. "Billy, you don't want people to know you're gay, " Fornelli would quip, "but your hands are on your hips all the fuckg time.

"When disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy effectively outed Kennedy 2010 by tellg a rad host Boston, "It's no secret on [the NBA officiatg] staff that Bill Kennedy is a homosexual, " Kennedy simultaneoly beme more relaxed about his sexual inty around people he knew yet more sktish about the possibily of beg public at a time when social media was explodg. "Still, Kennedy embraced life as an openly gay man the digal age. Off nights NBA ci were spent at gay karaoke or untry bars, maybe a steam hoe or flirtg on Grdr.

(Kennedy's profile photo is what's known gay parlance as a "headls torso, " om the waist to the neck. The Natnal Basketball Refere Associatn's general unsel, Lee Seham, also got touch to discs wh Kennedy a more nuanced pot: Players who have yelled anti-gay ephets at officials, as Kobe Bryant did at Adams 2011, were typilly h wh a fe ($100, 000 Bryant's se) but no spensn.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY LEAGUE REFEREE

Long Eaton referee shar experience of beg openly gay football - Nottghamshire Live .

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