NBA Player Jason Collins Comes Out

[gunnar hendershow]

This is a really big deal.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9223657/jason-collins-first-openly-gay-active-player

Jason Collins says he's gay

NBA center Jason Collins on Monday announced that he's gay in a story for Sports Illustrated, becoming the first active player in a major American team sport to announce that he is gay.

"I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation," Collins wrote. "I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, 'I'm different.' If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand."

NBA commissioner David Stern commended Collins for his announcement.

"As Adam Silver and I said to Jason, we have known the Collins family since Jason and Jarron joined the NBA in 2001 and they have been exemplary members of the NBA family. Jason has been a widely respected player and teammate throughout his career and we are proud he has assumed the leadership mantle on this very important issue," Stern said in a statement.

Jason's twin brother, Jarron Collins, played for 10 seasons in the NBA, last with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2010-11.

The reaction of other active players has always been a question when it comes to an athlete in a major sport coming out. Other players don't get any bigger than Kobe Bryant, who tweeted his support Monday.

"Proud of @jasoncollins34," the tweet read. "Don't suffocate who u r because of the ignorance of others #courage #support #mambaarmystandup #BYOU"

Former President Bill Clinton, whose daughter Chelsea attended Stanford with Collins, applauded Collins' announcement.

"Jason's announcement today is an important moment for professional sports and in the history of the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] community," he said in a statement. "It is also the straightforward statement of a good man who wants no more than what so many of us seek: to be able to be who we are; to do our work; to build families and to contribute to our communities.

"For so many members of the LGBT community, these simple goals remain elusive. I hope that everyone, particularly Jason's colleagues in the NBA, the media and his many fans extend to him their support and the respect he has earned."

The 34-year-old Collins, who is a free agent, ended last season with the Washington Wizards after being traded by the Boston Celtics.

"Now I'm a free agent, literally and figuratively. I've reached that enviable state in life in which I can do pretty much what I want. And what I want is to continue to play basketball," he wrote. "I still love the game, and I still have something to offer. My coaches and teammates recognize that. At the same time, I want to be genuine and authentic and truthful."

Collins wrote that he first considered coming out during the 2011 NBA lockout, which interrupted his routine and "forced me to confront who I really am and what I really want."

He said the first relative he told he was gay was his aunt Teri, who is a superior court judge in San Francisco. He said she told him, "I've know you were gay for years," which made him "comfortable in my own skin."

Collins said he realized he needed to make his sexual orientation public when his former roommate at Stanford, Massachusetts congressman Joe Kennedy, who is straight, marched in Boston's Gay Pride Parade last year.

The Boston Marathon bombings earlier this month then reinforced to him "that I shouldn't wait for the circumstances of my coming out to be perfect. Things can change in an instant, so why not live truthfully?

"When I told Joe a few weeks ago that I was gay, he was grateful that I trusted him. He asked me to join him in 2013. We'll be marching on June 8," Collins wrote.

Collins said that he told his brother during a breakfast meeting last summer.

"He never suspected. So much for twin telepathy," Collins wrote. "But by dinner that night, he was full of brotherly love. For the first time in our lives, he wanted to step in and protect me."

In 713 career games with the New Jersey Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Celtics and Wizards, Collins has averaged 3.6 points and 3.8 rebounds.

So, yeah, the next major moment in the movement for gay rights has just happened. I'm very happy that he had the courage to open up about this, and now I'm hoping he has opened the floodgates for other active athletes to come out across American sports. This is really a big moment though, it was always discussed as one of the major things that needed to happen across the entire gay rights movement.

[andPartwayBack]

I just saw this all over Facebook and Tumblr. It is a huge deal, first active player to come out as a homosexual. I keep hoping that with all this progress in recognition of gays, that we'll (America) finally make some legit progress on gay rights.

[Mofoticon]

He deserves a lot of credit for being the first active athlete to do this in the big 4 sports. Hopefully it leads to more people being open and not feeling like they have to hide who they are. Then again, when you have idiots like Mike Wallace...

http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2013/04/29/mike-wallace-big-free-agent-signing-for-the-dolphins-is-the-first-athlete-to-say-something-dumb-after-jason-collins-comes-out/

It's no wonder it's taken this long for it to happen

[Szumi]

I'm just waiting for the bigotry to start from some in the world, I.e. him not getting picked up by a new team or people trying to say that his twin must be homosexual too. Good for him. Should be no shame or fear in expressing who you are... unless your Canadian. I'd hide that shit for ever.

[gunnar hendershow]

The thing with him not getting picked up by another team is that he is a veteran bench player already. For example his twin brother was a similar player and hasn't played in over a year I think. Basically if he hadn't come out and didn't get a job next year there would be no eyebrows raised Now that he has come out there is the chance for a lot of controversy to what frankly could very well be a basketball-related decision. It will be tough to say definitively if the situation arises where he doesn't get an NBA job next year.

Also, apparently he's been wearing 98 the past few years as a tribute to Matthew Shepherd.

And Mike Wallace is an idiot, he'll be the first of many athletes to make fools of themselves on Twitter in the next couple of days.

[Gazz]

I give it five games before an announcer untentionally talks about him 'being dangerous around the ring', going 'deep into the hole' etc.

[Pizza]

The thing with him not getting picked up by another team is that he is a veteran bench player already. For example his twin brother was a similar player and hasn't played in over a year I think. Basically if he hadn't come out and didn't get a job next year there would be no eyebrows raised Now that he has come out there is the chance for a lot of controversy to what frankly could very well be a basketball-related decision. It will be tough to say definitively if the situation arises where he doesn't get an NBA job next year.

This will definitely effect his chances of getting a job too. There are a lot of options for veteran depth, and a contending team probably doesn't want the media storm that will accompany him wherever he goes. At the same time, a team that's struggling to sell tickets might be more likely to pick him up for that same attention.

Hopefully he's not the only player who comes out this summer so that when the season starts its not a big deal what happens with Collins either way.

[Lineker]

On the one hand, it's great that this has finally happened and hopefully it'll be a great step towards gay equality in major sports. But on the other hand it's sad that in 2013, the fact that a player feels that he needs to disclose his sexual preference publicly is sad. It should be his own personal business and nobody elses. Hopefully this will change, one day.

[Numbahs]

Good for him, but I don't take it as a big deal. There's a chance he doesn't even have a contract next season and it has nothing to do with this announcement.

Griner doing this as the #1 overall draft pick before she goes into the WNBA and becomes one of the greatest female players of all-time was slept on.

[RPS]

Great move for him. Both personally and financially. Nike and other sport brands know there is a huge GLBT market out there and a guy like Collins could get sponsorship as a result. Ayanbadejo has basically spelled it out that most major sponsors are craving for something like this to happen.

[Blaze09]

Griner doing this as the #1 overall draft pick before she goes into the WNBA and becomes one of the greatest female players of all-time was slept on.

Not really because everyone and their mother would have been surprised if she came out and said she was married to a man.

This is weird seeing at this is a distant cousin, proud for him though.

[TCO]

Delighted to see this happen, gay athletes need to be themselves too and the more it happens the more the more normal it'll become. Very brave man to do it, kudos.

Mike Wallace is such a fucking tool though. What he said wasn't the most homophobic thing he could've said, but it was almost the stupidest thing.

[GhostMachine]

Good for him, but I don't take it as a big deal. There's a chance he doesn't even have a contract next season and it has nothing to do with this announcement.

Griner doing this as the #1 overall draft pick before she goes into the WNBA and becomes one of the greatest female players of all-time was slept on.

Probably because most people don't give a shit about the WNBA. And if you look up `overrated' in the dictionary, it will have Griner's picture next to it.

[Numbahs]

...and people give a shit about the 12th player on the 29-53, 2012-13 Washington Wizards' depth chart?

[naiwf]

The issue with Griner is that it's expected that most of the players in the WNBA are gay for one reason or another. If you'd told me she was straight, that would have shocked me. I was almost waiting to see someone joke that now we're just waiting for the first "good" gay player to come out of one of the Big 4 leagues. Jason Collins was a little bit underwhelming of a choice, but props to him for having the guts to do so.

[HC]

I give it five games before an announcer untentionally talks about him 'being dangerous around the ring', going 'deep into the hole' etc.

'

It couldn't possibly be worse than all the "Chink in the Armor" references when Jeremy Lin blew up.

[PatDaMan]

Yeah, pretty much what everyone else said. Good for him, but when a starter or regular contributor on a team comes out, it'll be a bigger deal.

But really, it's so normal for people to be gay these days that it was only a matter of time. Glad to see someone finally had the courage to come out. Hopefully it works out well for him, whether his career continues or not.

[gunnar hendershow]

There's a major disparity between perceptions of female athletes and male athletes in terms of sexuality. Griner isn't the first female athlete to come out, and she isn't even the first well-known female athlete to come out. For many reasons, society doesn't make a major point of the sexual orientations of female athletes. However, the sexual orientations of males have always been accepted as being straight, strong, masculine. And only recently has there been any possible crack in this facade. Collins come out is a huge break away from that standard.

This is important because it's the first time a male has done it, and regardless of how good he is this is a bigger moment than sports given the coverage of it. Within the sports world it's possible that a star player coming out will be a bigger event, but in the eyes of others they don't know nor care about how he is on the court. He's an athlete, a Stanford grad who is a friend of the Clinton's, who just became the first male athlete to come out. To people such as my mom, Jason Collins will always be a household name now.

[PatDaMan]

There's a major disparity between perceptions of female athletes and male athletes in terms of sexuality. Griner isn't the first female athlete to come out, and she isn't even the first well-known female athlete to come out. For many reasons, society doesn't make a major point of the sexual orientations of female athletes. However, the sexual orientations of males have always been accepted as being straight, strong, masculine. And only recently has there been any possible crack in this facade. Collins come out is a huge break away from that standard.

This is important because it's the first time a male has done it, and regardless of how good he is this is a bigger moment than sports given the coverage of it. Within the sports world it's possible that a star player coming out will be a bigger event, but in the eyes of others they don't know nor care about how he is on the court. He's an athlete, a Stanford grad who is a friend of the Clinton's, who just became the first male athlete to come out. To people such as my mom, Jason Collins will always be a household name now.

I think you hit it spot on. I think another part of the reason is because, for lack of better phrasing, people don't watch women's sports nearly as much as men's sports, and a lot of that just gets lost in the shuffle.

[livid]

There's a major disparity between perceptions of female athletes and male athletes in terms of sexuality. Griner isn't the first female athlete to come out, and she isn't even the first well-known female athlete to come out. For many reasons, society doesn't make a major point of the sexual orientations of female athletes. However, the sexual orientations of males have always been accepted as being straight, strong, masculine. And only recently has there been any possible crack in this facade. Collins come out is a huge break away from that standard.

This is important because it's the first time a male has done it, and regardless of how good he is this is a bigger moment than sports given the coverage of it. Within the sports world it's possible that a star player coming out will be a bigger event, but in the eyes of others they don't know nor care about how he is on the court. He's an athlete, a Stanford grad who is a friend of the Clinton's, who just became the first male athlete to come out. To people such as my mom, Jason Collins will always be a household name now.

I was going to come in and say something similar but this post sums it up better than I probably would've been able to.