After weeks of discussions about the possibility of a male athlete in one of the four major sports in the United States coming out as openly gay, NBA free agent center Jason Collins has decided to carry that gauntlet. In a joint article with Franz Lidz from last Monday's edition of Sports Illustrated, Collins stated this:
I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm 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. 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.Mind you, this announcement comes nearly two weeks after former Baylor University women's basketball star and Phoenix Mercury No. 1 overall draft pick Brittney Griner admitted that she was a lesbian. However, that neither received the same amount of fanfare nor--and I say this with the utmost respect--wasn't as much of a surprise on a couple of different levels--though equally encouraging for other female athletes who may have trepidations. Ironically after the whole debate about whether Griner could be successful playing in the NBA, homosexuality may be the only arena where female athletes aren't susceptible to as much scrutiny as male athletes. Thus, I believe that's one of the many reasons why Collins' willingness to be the first has been heralded as such a "landmark" event in American professional sports--even drawing strong comparisons to Jackie Robinson becoming the first Black player in Major League Baseball in 1947. (I personally wouldn't go that far because racism was much more prevalent during Robinson's era whereas homosexuality is significantly more tolerated, accepted and/or celebrated in this day and age, but it's still an important event nonetheless.)
