By penning a first-person story for Sports Illustrated, Jason Collins, most recently of the Washington Wizards, became the first openly gay, active male athlete in a major American professional team sport.
Those are a lot of qualifiers — there have been famous gay athletes, athletes who came out in retirement, gay Olympians and openly gay active female athletes. From Billie Jean King to Greg Louganis to John Amaechi, American professional athletes have pushed against the homophobia (whether real, perceived, or both) of professional sports.
And, indeed, in today’s America, where even many prominent conservatives are lining up in support of gay marriage, it hardly seems like a hostile climate in which to come out.
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