NBA center Jason Collins has become a pioneer. The free agent centre has become the first major professional American male team sport athlete to come out of the closet as being gay. Collins makes the admissions in this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated.
“I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.” is Collins quote in the article.
Collins, 34, is a 13-year NBA veteran who played on both the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards this season. Recently, Collins was released by the Wizards.
Collins stated that he did not come out sooner, out of loyalty to his teams. He felt that the media attention would distract from the team’s locker room and make it more difficult to win. However, now a free agent, he felt that it was time to come out, and his new team will have the opportunity to choose to stand behind him.
“I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport,” Collins says a first-person article. “But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation. 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.”
Collins goes on to describe how he has struggled with this decision for many years, and was even once engaged to a woman to take attention away from his lifestyle.
We at LWOS praise Collins for his courage in baring his soul for all to see and highly recommend that you read the Sports Illustrated article which you can by clicking the link. We hope that this can be the catalyst to more gay athletes coming forward. No one should judge them for their lifestyle off the court, but only for their actions on the court, and players should be able to be free to live their lives as they see fit. It is time to stop the humiliation and shame, and let them know that we support their decisions.
And thats the last word.
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