Month: September 2011

Phoenix Suns president Rick Welts, who came out of the closet in May, has resigned as president of the Phoenix Suns. Welts told The Arizona Republic he is leaving to pursue a romantic relationship in Sacramento. The most important thing for me is to get my personal and professional lives better aligned. They’ve probably never […]

Mike Piazza’s ‘straight’ announcement was the first of its kind.

Denver’s Eric Decker was not part of the survey There is a fun, but utterly meaningless piece in today's Wall Street Journal that attempts to rate the attractiveness of all 32 NFL teams. The no-duh revelation is that NFL players are overall better looking than the general population. And it found the Buffalo Bills the […]

Lions QB Matthew Stafford I was asked this year to write an NFL preview column for AfterElton and had fun doing it. With the season starting today, I would love to hear how others view the season. As a Colts fan, this season is starting on a down note. Peyton Manning had another neck surgery […]

Why is Green Bay Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers so upset about the photo shoot of New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez in September’s GQ? With his NFL opener against the New Orleans Saints fast approaching, Rodgers had choice words specifically for the tight tanktop and snug jeans Sanchez was wearing in one photo in particular […]

The latest video in Outsports’ partnership with the It Gets Better Project comes from Brenner Green, who is starting his senior year at Connecticut College. Brenner became known to Outsports readers after he wrote about how coming out gave him more confidence as a runner. I like Brenner's use of humor in the video, especially […]

Aaron Rodgers It was strange that in a game that saw 76 points scored, a ton of big offensive plays and two kick returns for scores, that the NFL opener between the Saints and Packers came down to a yard. The Packers stuffed Saints rookie running back Mark Ingram on the last play of the […]

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Track & Field, 1986. For Spanish hurdler María José Martínez-Patiño , the journey to prove her womanhood in the world of sports was costly. In 1983 she competed in the World Track & Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland; It was there […]

Troy Aikman gay rumors again took center stage last week when the Hall of Fame quarterback was asked by Dallas radio host Dan McDowell about Skip Bayless’ 1996 book that discussed rumors that Aikman is gay. Aikman and the radio hosts spent a whopping 60 seconds discussing the rumors in Bayless’ book, and all of […]

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Baseball, 1988: Dave Pallone was never one to back down from a confrontation, good traits for an umpire. He was famously known for an April 1988 for an onfield incident where he went chest-to-chest with Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose. But […]

Mark Bingham was a friend to many in the gay sports world, particularly rugby and football, before he was a hero to the nation on Sept. 11, 2001.

You gotta love the snark of fans in cities where their team can never seem to get on track. Enter the 2011 Detroit Lions. The last time the Lions went undefeated in the preseason, they went winless in the regular season. Now sitting atop a 4-0 preseason, you can understand the jitters of a fan […]

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Basketball, 2005. This is a tough one. On the one hand, Swoopes is one of the most decorated professional athletes to have ever come out. She’s considered one of the greatest female basketball players of all time. She won three Olympic […]

We posted a column by Charley Sullivan, associate head rowing coach at the University of Michigan, where he talks about how being openly gay has helped make him a better coach. It's obvious from the contact I had with Sullivan that the Michigan rowing team is a cohesive and successful group and, being college students, […]

Boston Alley Gators (click image for larger view) Story and photos by Ross Forman Shortly after the champagne stopped spraying, the tears started flowing. Joe Peltier, who plays outfield and catcher and also coaches the Boston Alley Gators in the B-Division, has been playing in the Gay Softball World Series since 1984 – and on […]

Charley Sullivan, right You should check out this powerful essay we posted by Charley Sullivan, the associate head coach of the University of Michigan's rowing team. In it he talks about being unapologetically out his entire career and how it has made him a better coach. While I know it’s fashionable, and even somewhat expected, […]

Two decades of openly queer college coaching, or, how my both being out of the closet and unapologetically gay has helped make my teams winners. By Charley SullivanAssociate Head Coach, Men’s RowingUniversity of MichiganThis is not a coaching coming out story; it’s a coaching while already being out story, which is, perhaps, a different animal […]

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Sports, 2006: Sports Illustrated polled players in the four major North American team and asked if they would welcome an openly gay teammates. In all four sports, a majority said yes. The highest percentage of support was in the NHL, at […]

Throughout the Gay Softball World Series we will have daily updates provided by Krissy Wild, the Athletic Director of the Southern New England Softball League, and her wife, Dawn. For specific game scores, visit the NAGAAA Web site. Saturday, Sept. 3 recap – Division champions crowned! Today was Championship Saturday. As it has been for […]

Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Johan Kenkhuis of the Netherlands Olympics, 2004. There had been the occasional out athlete at the Olympics before, but 2004 was a coming out party for Olympians. All told at least 11 openly gay athletes participated in the Olympics in the […]