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

Contents:

• COLLEGE & PROFSNAL ATHLET WHO ARE OPENLY GAY
• ‘I’M SENTIALLY STARTG A NEW LIFE,’ SAYS ISAAC HUMPHRI AS HE BE THE ONLY OPENLY GAY MAN PLAYG TOP-FLIGHT BASKETBALL
• NORTH AMERI’S FOUR BIGGT PRO SPORTS LEAGU HAVE BEEN AROUND A BED 398 YEARS. THEY’VE HAD TWO OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYERS
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR MEN'S PRO SPORTS TO INTIFY AS GAY
• JASON COLLS, FIRST OPENLY GAY ATHLETE TO PLAY NBA, MAK U.S. SPORTS HISTORY
• JASON COLLS SAYS HE'S GAY
• UMASS' DERRICK GORDON SAYS HE'S GAY
• OPENLY GAY MEN'S LLEGE BASKETBALL PLAYER ON G OUT
• OPENLY GAY COLLEGE COACH MAK A LOW-PROFILE ROLE MOL
• OPENLY GAY ATHLET
• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS

COLLEGE & PROFSNAL ATHLET WHO ARE OPENLY GAY

LGBTQ+ CelebriLists of lbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and all other kds of celebs workg the entertament dtry and the public of openly gay athlet volved both profsnal and llege sports. This list clus athlet who have "e out" durg their active play and athlet who have e out as gay after of the people on this list probably aren't too faiar sce few, if any, are active athlet. From openly gay soccer players to famo gay sports stars, some of the people on this list aren't hoeholds nam, but they are fely makg history.

‘I’M SENTIALLY STARTG A NEW LIFE,’ SAYS ISAAC HUMPHRI AS HE BE THE ONLY OPENLY GAY MAN PLAYG TOP-FLIGHT BASKETBALL

Check out this list of all the openly gay athlet the Wikimedia Commons / CC-BYBirthplace: Seattle, WashgtonGraham Samuel Ackerman (born July 14, 1983) is an Amerin gymnast.

“Forever, I thought that beg a profsnal basketball player and gay were mutually exclive and that I had to hi that si of my life and wasn’t allowed to be who I tly am, ” Humphri exclively tells CNN Sport’s Amanda Davi. “I’m makg the cisn to e out … bee I believe that I n be who I am my environment, and I n change the trajectory of how we view beg gay sport. In 2013, former NBA player Jason Colls beme the first openly gay athlete one of the four major North Amerin sports leagu when he me out late his reer.

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

More recently, Josh Cavallo, who plays for Alai Uned Atralia’s A League, beme the only current openly gay top-flight male soccer player when he me out last year.

“My self-hate, my self-homophobia – everythg that realm was very, very real wh my bra and got so dark that I absolutely thought about exg this world, ” he adds. While he says his Melbourne Uned team is “so acceptg” and that he feels “honored and privileged” to play basketball, the six-foot, 11-ch center pots to the locker-room atmosphere as one of the barriers to feelg fortable as a gay man the sport.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR MEN'S PRO SPORTS TO INTIFY AS GAY

The LGBT movement emerged as early as the 1870s, but homosexual rights groups didn't appear until after World War II September 1945. 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.

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. 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.

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

JASON COLLS SAYS HE'S GAY

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. 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.

UMASS' DERRICK GORDON SAYS HE'S GAY

“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.

OPENLY GAY MEN'S LLEGE BASKETBALL PLAYER ON G OUT

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.

Quali players necsary for succs football – domance, aggrsn and, ocsnally, vlence – are often associated wh homophobia and sexism, too. 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.

OPENLY GAY COLLEGE COACH MAK A LOW-PROFILE ROLE MOL

The next season, Burke was trad to the Oakland A’s, where a ach lled him a homophobic slur and said he would “ntamate” the team, Maraniss wrote.

“He was a phenomenal athlete at the time when majory of straight sports fans the untry assumed that there’s no way there uld even be a gay player the game, let alone the most popular player on his team, ” Maraniss said.

OPENLY GAY ATHLET

Denison said that progrs mt start at the youth level by curbg the e of gay slurs by ach and players and emphasizg a narrow fn of masculy. 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 says he's news servicApr 29, 2013, 11:46 AM ETNBA center Jason Colls on Monday announced that he's gay a story for Sports Illtrated, beg the first active player one of the four major Amerin profsnal team sports to announce that he is gay. Last year, durg his re-electn mpaign, Print Barack Obama announced his support for gay after Colls disclosed his sexualy, Obama reached out by phone, exprsg his support and tellg Colls he was imprsed by his urage, the Whe Hoe Print Bill Clton, whose dghter Chelsea attend Stanford wh Colls, also appld Colls' announcement.

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

"Jason's announcement today is an important moment for profsnal sports and the history of the LGBT [lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr] muny, " he said a statement.