Month: May 2011

Athlete Ally gets about 500 pledges on their visit to the school

The teaching moment of Kobe Bryant being fined $100,000 for calling a ref a “faggot” lasted a month since it happened again. This time the culprit is Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls, who said this to a Miami Heat fan during Sunday’s Game 3 on TNT: “F**k you, faggot.” Noah had just been called […]

Tennis player Novak Djokovic is having an amazing year, starting 2011 with a 37-0 record, winning all seven events he’s entered. His sights are set on the upcoming French Open, dominated in recent years by Rafael Nadal. Vogue has taken notice with a story and photos (including one in a swimsuit) documenting his rise. One […]

When it rains it pours. ESPN 1050 in New York radio host Jared Max came out as gay in the final seven minutes of his radio this this morning. He talked about how the coming out of Rick Welts and Will Sheridan, along with the supportive words of Charles Barkley this week, made him take […]

Openly gay Phoenix Suns president Rick Welts sat down with CNN’s Eliot Spitzer for a few minutes and opened up about his decision to come out. He talked about his fear that being openly gay would limit his ability to have a career in sports, Kobe Bryant, and how the reaction from across the NBA […]

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Donte Stallworth has joined his teammate Brendon Ayanbadejo in openly supporting gay equality. In addition to giving a positive shout out to CNN's Don Lemon, who came out this week, Stallworth took to Twitter to share his welcoming perspective: Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Donte Stallworth has joined his teammate Brendon Ayanbadejo […]

Will Sheridan / Photo by Josh Maready I had a chance to talk today with Will Sheridan, the former Villanova basketball player who came out publicly this week in an ESPN.com article. We spoke for more than an hour and he was engaging, articulate, funny and passionate. I have written a Q&A where he touches […]

What was Jared Max’s coming-out day like for the ESPN radio host? It started at 1am without knowing whether he’d come out on the air or not. We talked with Jared about the first day of the rest of his life, and how he now wishes he’d come out long ago. The coolest thing about […]

ESPN 1050 host Jared Max says he feels liberated after coming out, was a “schmuck” for not doing it sooner By Cyd Zeigler Max in his new ESPN studio Max at the 2010 AFC Championship in Pittsburgh When Jared Max woke up at 1am Thursday morning, nothing was out of the ordinary. It was raining […]

Updated: May 19, 2011 When Ross Forman of the Windy City Times asked me to come up with a list of all the people in sports who have come out publicly this year, I had no idea the number would eclipse two dozen. And still counting. From the two men who kicked off this year, […]

In the gayest month in sports history, we have yet another athlete coming out of the closet. Professional Bowlers Association rookie of the year Scott Norton wrote on the PBA Web site that he’s coming out publicly because it’s “important to show people that being gay has nothing to do with one’s ability to do […]

The past month has been amazing in terms of the number of stories the mainstream media have devoted to gays in sports. Outsports was profiled in the New York Times on April 8 and it seemed like foreshadowing. We had Kobe Bryant saying "faggot"; Sean Avery defending gay marriage; Peter Vidmar losing his Olympics gig […]

While at Villanova, Will Sheridan was openly gay to his teammates and now has come out publicly. He talks about wanting to make a difference; the chord his story struck; the homophobic taunts he received from fans and his big plans as a recording artist. By Jim BuzinskiOutsports.com Will Sheridan was a forward on the […]

Kye Allums, the first transgender Div. 1 college athlete whose story Outsports broke last November, has decided to not play on the women’s basketball team his senior season. While we can’t discuss specifics, we know this decision has been coming for a while. Having known Kye now for over a year, I know there were […]

Tonight Bryant Gumbel will offer a closing commentary on his HBO Real Sports show about gays in sports. He talks very positively about the issue, but he says he feels like he shouldn’t have to talk about it because it shouldn’t be a big deal. It’s the veil sports reporters have hidden behind for years; […]

Charles Barkley gives an awesome interview to Mike Wise of the Washington Post, reacting to the news that Phoenix Suns President Rick Welts is gay. Barkley said he has played with gay players while he was in the NBA and their presence had zero negative impact. All he cared about was whether a guy could […]

GLSEN and the NBA have released their Think B4 You Speak PSA featuring Phoenix Suns Grant Hill and Jared Dudley. It’s fun, hip, light and seems to strike the perfect tone for reaching teenagers. Plus, instead of couching the issue inside the broader issue of bullying or name-calling, it speaks directly about homophobia. Very cool […]

Former Villanova basketball player Will Sheridan, who graduated four years ago, is only the second former Div. 1 male basketball player to publicly come out of the closet as gay.

GForce, which has organized an all-star gay hockey team for several years, has announced the start of an all-star gay lacrosse team. The team, headed by Andrew McIntosh (right), will start play this autumn. Anyone interested in playing on the team should contact GForce. We have the full press release from GForce after the jump. […]

Hats off to Sean Chapin, an openly gay man and fan of the San Francisco Giants, who convinced the World Series champs to film a video for the “It Gets Better” project. The team responded to Chapin’s video (view below) and a petition by Change.org signed by 6,500 people and announced the move. From the […]