On Saturday night, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis will premiere Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer’s Champion, the story of gay welterweight champion Emile Griffith’s bout with Benny “The Kid” Paret in 1962 that left Paret comatose for ten days before he died. Prompted by an anti-gay slur, Griffith bashed Paret in the head 17 times in…
Add Jallen Messersmith to the small but growing number of athletes that are taking their first steps out of the sexual closet and into the world of professional sports. Last month, Jason Collins, a center for the Washington Wizards, announced to the world that, yes, he is gay (and black and male) in an eloquent…
April 29, Jason Collins, a center for the Washington Wizards, became the first male athlete to come out while playing on a professional North American sports team. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Kobe Bryant, who had his own anti-gay kerfuffle with the NBA two years ago when he uttered ‘faggot’ at a referee, spoke out…
By Cyd Zeigler Editor’s note: Cyd Zeigler is co-founder of SB Nation’s Outsports.com. He has reported on LGBT sports issues for more than a decade and told the coming-out stories of many athletes including Wade Davis, John Amaechi and Alan Gendreau. (CNN) — When Jason Collins announced that he is gay, it made headlines. But…
(CNN) — Jason Collins is a big, end-of-bench bruiser who can harangue opposing centers. And he’s gay. Only one of those things matters — at least publicly — to NBA teams that might be considering his services for the 2013-14 season after his highly publicized coming out on Monday. “He’s a weird player in a…
(CNN) — As the NBA’s Jason Collins made history by coming out as gay, he sought advice from someone who’d walked this road before: Lance Bass. In case you don’t recall, the singer soared to fame in the late ’90s as part of the popular boy band ‘N Sync, but he didn’t open up about…
(CNN) — Count the country’s most powerful basketball fan as a supporter of Jason Collins. President Barack Obama told reporters Tuesday that he was “very proud” of Collins, the 34-year-old NBA player who revealed that he was gay in a Sports Illustrated column this week. Obama talked to him on the phone Monday, the day…
http://youtu.be/MmhaVm7NDkA NBA player Jason Collins talks to Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos about his announcement that he is gay.
(CNN) — NBA center Jason Collins’ Monday essay in Sports Illustrated revealing he’s gay was met with quick praise from his classmate at Stanford, Chelsea Clinton. “Very proud of my friend Jason Collins for having the strength & courage to be the first openly gay player in the NBA,” Clinton wrote on Twitter. Her father,…
(CNN) — It’s the biggest move of his career and it’s off the court. Jason Collins, who played with the NBA’s Washington Wizards this season, has disclosed that he is gay, making him the first active openly homosexual athlete in the four major American pro team sports. Collins, who is now a free agent, made…
