Anderson Comas, a Minor League Baseball player who has played in the Chicago White Sox system for a few years, came out publicly as gay on Sunday in a message on Instagram that has receive widespread attention. The club said they have seen support for their out gay player across the organization, since learning he was gay last year.
In his public message, Comas, who is from the Dominican Republic, shared a disclaimer that homophobic people may not be happy with his post. Then he talked about his pride in being gay, as well as being a professional athlete:
I’m proudly and happily part of the LGTBQ+ community. I’m also a human with a great soul, I’m respectful, I’m a lover, I love my family and friends and that’s what really matters, I enjoy my work a lot, being a professional baseball player is the best thing that happened to me so I just wanna say something to those people that says that gay people can not be someone in this life, well look at me I’m Gay and I’m a professional athlete.
You can see his full post here:
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Comas joins other Minor League baseball players Solomon Bates and David Denson, who have come out publicly. Other professional baseball players like Bryan Ruby and Sean Conroy have come out in other minor league systems.
“Anderson’s choice to live life authentically opens the door for other Latin American-born players to do the same-a hugely important step for LGBTQ progress in our sport,” Ruby, co-founder of Proud To Be In Baseball, told Outsports. “Each subsequent player who comes out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community helps to further break down the outdated belief that queer people can’t play baseball.”
An active Major League Baseball player has never come out publicly.
Comas has for years been an outfielder, but he switched to pitcher last year, appearing in 11 games with a 6.35 ERA.
White Sox assistant general manager Chris Getz said Comas came out to the organization last year, and they have seen widespread support across the White Sox system.
“I was very pleased that he was comfortable sharing with us in player development,” Getz said. “I also was happy at the reaction across the organization, which as you would expect was to support, help and congratulate a teammate.”
Other support across sports came from… former MLB umpire Dale Scott:
Congratulations to @comas_anderson
— Dale Scott (@DaleScottMLB5) February 19, 2023
a minor league player with the Chicago White Sox who publicly came out as gay on his Instagram account (andersoncomas10). #MiLB #BeTrueToYourself #pride 🏳️🌈
Strangely, other than MLB retweeting something, both Major League Baseball and out gay former player and current league diversity executive Billy Bean have been silent, sharing no statement Outsports has seen. This is also what MLB and Bean did when gay former player TJ House came out publicly.
Even MLB.com’s own report does not have comment from either.
It’s very strange.
Regardless, we congratulate Comas and wish him huge success this season.