The NBA Has An Openly Gay Player: What Chang? : NPR

Contents:

• HERE ARE THE 6 GAY MEN WHO HAVE BEEN OUT PUBLICLY WHILE PETG PRO BASKETBALL
• JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY ATHLETE TO PLAY NBA, MAK U.S. SPORTS HISTORY
• THE LIST OF GAY BASKETBALL PLAYERS NTU TO GROW WH ANOTHER G OUT
• A GAY NBA FAN FOUND 78 HOMOPHOBIC TWEETS BY 40 PLAYERS ON 23 TEAMS
• THE ONLY 3 OUT, GAY NBA PLAYERS IN HISTORY
• JASON COLLS SAYS HE'S GAY
• THE NBA HAS AN OPENLY GAY PLAYER: WHAT CHANG?
• BILL KENNEDY OUT AS SEND ACTIVE OPENLY GAY NBA OFFICIAL

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

When John Amaechi me out publicly 2007, he was ahead of his time, sharg that he’s gay and a former profsnal basketball player. 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.

On Febary 23, 2014, Brooklyn Nets center Jason Colls be the first openly gay athlete to play a game the Uned Stat’ four major profsnal leagu. The 35-year-old journeyman plays 10 srels mut, rerdg two rebounds and five fouls the Nets’ 108-102 victory over the Los Angel May 2013, Colls revealed he is gay a first-person say  Sports Illtrated.

JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY ATHLETE TO PLAY NBA, MAK U.S. SPORTS HISTORY

In 2021, Las Vegas Rairs fensive leman Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to announce he is gay. The LGBT movement emerged as early as the 1870s, but homosexual rights groups didn't appear until after World War II September 1945.

To add onto the topic of the Warrrs, print Rick Welts me out as gay an terview wh the New York Tim 2011. Homophobia is somethg that shouldn't have a place sports bee LGBT folks n be fans, media members, employe and executiv too. " We, as a untry, need to une and not jt bee of the tragic gay nightclub shootg Orlando, Florida, that occurred last summer.

THE LIST OF GAY BASKETBALL PLAYERS NTU TO GROW WH ANOTHER G OUT

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. He also received praise om Colls and former NFL fensive end Michael Sam, who beme the first openly gay football player. Denver Nuggets power forward Kenh Faried has been a gay rights supporter for a long time.

In 2011, mors surfaced, claimg that Selby was gay after an alleged email to another man was leaked.

When then-Phoenix Suns print and CEO Rick Welts me out as gay May 2011, former NBA pot guard Steve Nash pledged his support favor of the LGBT muny. Nash said the vio, "A growg number of profsnal athlet are speakg out support of gay and lbian upl gettg married, I'm proud to be one of them. 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.

A GAY NBA FAN FOUND 78 HOMOPHOBIC TWEETS BY 40 PLAYERS ON 23 TEAMS

He told Good Day LA, "I thk gay marriage, same-sex marriage is them go through what we go through. In his hman year at Villanova, he first me out as gay to his teammate and roommate Mike Villa before nfsg to his parents three months later. There's hardly any Hispanic players, no Asian-Amerins, so that there's no openly gay players is no real surprise.

THE ONLY 3 OUT, GAY NBA PLAYERS IN HISTORY

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. Today, we’re rewdg to 2007 and the story of the former pro athlete who beme the first NBA player to e out as gay: John Amaechi.

John Amaechi, a former player wh the Utah Jazz and Orlando Magic, has bee the first NBA player to e out as gay. “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).

“Those gmpy social nservativ who ntue to sist that gay life is lonely and unhappy have obvly never met my iends, ” Amaechi wrote. 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.

JASON COLLS SAYS HE'S GAY

In a 2002 terview wh the Stsman newspaper, Amaechi had this to say about the subject of gays the NBA: “If you look at our league, mori aren’t very well reprented.

There’s hardly any Hispanic players, no Asian-Amerins, so that there’s no openly gay players is no real surprise. 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. “Unbeknownst to me at the time, ” Amaechi wrote, “Sloan had ed some anti-gay nuendo to scribe me.

THE NBA HAS AN OPENLY GAY PLAYER: WHAT CHANG?

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. Wh Derrick Gordon g out today, the UMASS shootg guard adds his name to a growg list of gay male basketball players that have e out the media. Th far, this list of gay basketball players stands at seven players — five om the llege ranks and a uple om the NBA.

Derrick Gordon: Wh his announcement on April 9, 2014, Gordon bee the first openly gay active Divisn I player. The Sophomore for the UMass Mutemen had been stgglg over the last year before fally cidg to e out to his teammat. A gay man the hight level of profsnal sports is what the LGBT muny was lookg for and on April 29, 2013, Colls me out to Sport Illtrated.

In this list of gay basketball players, five of the seven players have e out the last year. What seems to be the most mon thread all the g outs were the feelg of isolatn, fear, and lonels that an athlete feels ught between the hyper-masculy of male sports and the gay world. The ments are among 78 tweets om 36 current and active NBA players on teams that are homophobic language, nature or even tent (four other players were on a roster when the list was piled last month, but they are no longer on an NBA team).

BILL KENNEDY OUT AS SEND ACTIVE OPENLY GAY NBA OFFICIAL

The players clu CJ McCollum, the print of the Natnal Basketball Players Assn., who tweeted “no homo, ” as well as superstar Kev Durant, who tweeted “shut up fag boy. “I don’t re how long ago was, shows the person’s character, my opn, ” said Derrick Gordon, who me out publicly as gay while playg basketball at UMass and who now plays profsnally Germany. “It was shockg but not surprisg, ” Chris said of the number of homophobic tweets he found.

“The culture of homophobia sports ns very ep, pecially a hyper-mascule league like the NBA. Beg a big NBA fan, Chris cid to check the acunts of some of his favore players and found var homophobic tweets.