Golf

By Jim Buzinski
Outsports.com

Rosie Jones has won 13 events during her 21 years as a professional golfer, but her biggest splash likely occurred Sunday when she came out publicly as a lesbian in a column in the New York Times. 

Jones, 44, wrote in “First, a Word About Me and My Sponsor” that the impetus behind her public declaration was her association with a new sponsor, Olivia, a lesbian travel company.

“Inherent in this sponsorship is my coming out. It's a bit of a curiosity, because I've never been in the closet,” Jones wrote. “For more than 25 years, I've been very comfortable with the fact that I'm gay. I came out to my family when I was 19, and my friends and associates on the Tour are all aware that I am gay. I have never, until now, felt the need to discuss it in the news media. I have reached a point in my life, at age 44, when I have the financial stability and emotional and intellectual wherewithal to make this leap.”

While admitting she is nervous about making the move, Jones told the AP that she is comfortable with the timing. “I got to say it the way I wanted to say it on my terms,” she said.

Her timing couldn’t have been better from a visibility standpoint. The LPGA’s first major is coming up next weekend, the Kraft Nabisco (formerly the Dinah Shore), in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The event is one of the biggest on the lesbian social calendar and there’s no doubt Jones will be a huge fan favorite. Howard Bragman, the publicist who helped ex-NFL player Esera Tuaolo come out, also worked with Jones and he had high praise for the LPGA. "I've worked with a lot of sports organizations the LPGA is the most enlightened I've ever seen," Bragman told Outsports.

Jones’ declaration was applauded by Ron Sirak, executive editor of Golf World Magazine, who wrote a very supportive column, and made an interesting point of the issue of endorsements.

“The fact is, many of the greatest players in the history of the LPGA were and are lesbian,” Sirak wrote. “And the equal fact is that who those players are is no one's right to know unless the player decides she wants to discuss it publicly. I have always felt that players who are lesbian could enhance their endorsement situation by being open about it. It is my feeling that companies don't want to enter into a business relationship and then get hit with a surprise. Times have changed enough that marketing an openly gay athlete should not be a problem -- millions of Americans welcome gay people into their living rooms every week in the form of popular TV shows.” 

Jones becomes one of the tiny handful of pro or elite athletes who have come out while competing. No active athlete in the NFL, NBA, NHL or Major League Baseball has every publicly he is gay.  The distinction Jones makes about her sexuality is crucial. She has never been in the closet, but has finally chosen to go public. This is a phenomena that seems to be much more prevalent among female than male athletes. For example, any knowledgeable WNBA observer can easily rattle off the names of players known to be lesbians. A similarly plugged-in NBA observer would have a much harder time.

Jones ended her New York Times column by putting her decision in the proper context: “I'm sure some people will criticize me for coming out so late. To them, I say simply, I wasn't ready until now. If the gay-rights movement is about anything, it should be about letting people come out on their own timetable and on their own terms.

“I'm sure others will criticize me for coming out at all. I remind them that I'm the same person I was yesterday. This is just about me being myself, publicly. It is only one facet of a very diverse life. If they look around them, they will understand that society has evolved to the point where this is the right decision. For me.

“To the rest of you, I say: ‘Fine, I'm gay. Now let's go play golf.’ "

Related: An open letter to Rosie Jones

 March 21, 2004