Wait, I thought Billie Jean King came out while she was still playing? She came out in 1981, and stopped playing in 1983. So she isn't the first American player to come out and continue playing.
First (openly) gay athlete in American sports
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For this man to come out as the first openly gay athlete is not amazing, when athletes can come out as openly gay and not have it be reported on, that will be amazing. It's the same for any "first" Barack Obama being the first black president is important and groundbreaking; now hopefully, any future black politician won't feel like they are committing to some great undertaking. It's important, but not amazing or unheard of.
There also is Martina Navratilova, who came out in 1981 before becoming a US citizen and she played to 2006 at age of 50.Supertegwyn said:
I can't remember the circumstances but it wasn't a great surprise. There had been jokes about her smoking a pipe on the TV for years beforehand. At the time I didn't get what that meant but clearly it was an open secret.wombat_of_war said:
I'm looking at the comments now(for the feature story and also ended up on the Bill Simmons interview[footnote]Though I don't know if this counts. ESPN advertises it and links to it like a regular feature, but for some reason it's under a different .com.[/footnote]) and most of the exasperation comes from wondering why this is news since he's evidently not a good player, some even cynically wondering if he's using this to try to boost his career in its twilight. Purely anti-gay sentiments tend to get a rash of chastising responses and likes to those responses(though some do go completely unanswered) and there is a smattering of poking fun at the Bible and Christians acting like they're being persecuted by the media for some reason or another. Still not the most intellectually stimulating conversations, but not even close to Fox News.NameIsRobertPaulson said:
Edit: Though I did notice some trying to start a "> Collins" meme. Weird.
Edit2: I trotted over to Fox News to see if they'd live up to my low expectations on this story or not. The comments section on their articles about this are conspicuously missing.
Supertegwyn said:
You are both correct that they came out during their career (although I had to Google it) but when they are reporting the first openly gay athlete, they are reporting on the big 4 sports. Sorry tennis, you're not big enough in America to be countedwombat_of_war said:
So when the reports are stating the first active gay athlete in American sports, they are reporting on Football, Hockey, Baseball, and specifically here, Basketball.
Likewise for England, apart from the late Justin Fashanu.SmashLovesTitanQuest said:
Robbie Rogers is the only openly gay footballer whose actually alive that I can think of and he's not a footballer any more, because of the fact he came out. Very sad indeed. There may be more though, but I'd be surprised.
Football fans can be a pretty intolerant bunch - and very close to the bone when making songs up about some players. All well and good if they're horrible cunts, but even when the only thing you've done "wrong" is to come out, guaranteed there would be abuse from those in the stands, and probably other players too.
It's less big 4 and more ignoring women's sports. A quick google puts up a couple openly gay women in the WNBA.tippy2k2 said:Supertegwyn said:You are both correct that they came out during their career (although I had to Google it) but when they are reporting the first openly gay athlete, they are reporting on the big 4 sports. Sorry tennis, you're not big enough in America to be countedwombat_of_war said:
So when the reports are stating the first active gay athlete in American sports, they are reporting on Football, Hockey, Baseball, and specifically here, Basketball.
Well... he has a point. It may even be worse than that:NameIsRobertPaulson said:
OT: He's (among) the first to be openly gay? I'm not into sports but I could hardly tell. Heck, casually overhearing sports talk, I thought being gay is perfectly normal in sports. It seemed that at least half the teams were actually composed of homosexuals and as well as all the judges/referees/etc. So were those things I heard lies?
<..>
I'll go get my coat.
Okay look, I'm not arguing that this is something that should already be acceptable. I'm not saying that someone's sexual orientation in any way affects their athletic ability, or should have any bearing on whether people think they are good or bad at anything. I'm just being realistic and pointing out that it does.ShiningAmber said:
Being around this particular forum can, I think, insulate us from what parts of the outside world is like. This place is extremely and overwhelmingly accepting of things like this, and this is the way that we know the world should work. But it doesn't. There is still a lot of ignorance and hostility and stupidity associated with a person's sexual preference. It's baffling that this is the case, but it is.
So, for someone in Jason Collins' position to come forward and speak candidly about this is a big thing. For him, I'm sure he'd like it if people would just say, "Okay, you're gay. That's nice. How do you think the playoffs are going to go this year?" But he has to know that when he went public, people were going to swarm on it from all sides of the issue. Because it is still an issue, like it or not.
This is another step towards the time when we actually can, as a society, just say "Why is this news?" That will happen, maybe sooner rather than later, but only because people like Collins are able to show us that it shouldn't matter whether you're gay or straight. This is part of the reconciliation process. For that, I can say it's a big deal.
So, he must like balls, like... Richie Marcus![footnote]Fallour: New Vegas - Old World Blues reference, by the way.[/footnote]
OT: Seriously though, good on him. It's pretty shitty that you'd have to hide something like that, and it's depressing that some people are acting like it's "courageous" to announce that you have a problem with homsexuality.
OT: Seriously though, good on him. It's pretty shitty that you'd have to hide something like that, and it's depressing that some people are acting like it's "courageous" to announce that you have a problem with homsexuality.
If I was another team theres no way in hell i'd sign him just cause the media circus that will ensue as every media outlet turns your franchise into stories about one player, same reason I'd never sign tebow. Sure they can do the job but the garbage that comes along isn't worth it. Especially since Collins is apparently a resounding meh.
I'm looking at the comments now(for the feature story and also ended up on the Bill Simmons interview[footnote]Though I don't know if this counts. ESPN advertises it and links to it like a regular feature, but for some reason it's under a different .com.[/footnote])[/quote]LetalisK said:
Is that different .com Grantland? Because that's Bill Simmons' new site, that he's editor of, backed up by ESPN
Gotta disagree with you mate. If we don't make a big deal out of these first ones, then nothing will ever change. Because there's still a large section of the populace, that believes that if you're gay, then there's something wrong with you.ShiningAmber said:
Think about this, right now there's some teenaged gay basketball player. He wants to try out for his high school team, but like Patrick Burke, he's worried that he get's older, the lockerroom will be more intense and unwelcome for a gay guy. But now, he has someone to look up to. Someone who not only played basketball, but was an All-Conference performer in College, and played in the NCAA Tournament and Final Four. And someone who also carved out a 10 year career in the best basketball league in the world, all while playing hard-nosed defense including in the NBA finals.
Yes, in the future, I hope saying "I'm Gay" just leads to a bunch of cool story bro looks from people, but right now we need to make a big deal out of this. Show all the morons that being gay has no affect on how you perform in life
Hey that's being a professional athlete. Sometimes you get traded away from where you live. And if he was a better QB, then maybe he wouldn't have been released. Somehow I don't think his millionaire self is too worried about finding a new jobMarsAtlas said:
Nah, he's a "journeyman". Regardless of how good he is, this is still pretty big for sports. It may not be Jackie Robinson big, but it's still a big deal.LetalisK said: