Coming Out Stories

Todd Searcy played for Illinois in the Eighties.

James Nutter Last week we brought you the story of James Nutter, a former college baseball player in Maine who was driven toward a suicide attempt by casual homophobia. How the story came about has an equally powerful message about the impact of coming out. Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley came out in 2011. I've […]

Locker room language drove closeted baseball player James Nutter to embark on a suicide attempt. Now he wants to help gay athletes find their way out of the closet.

John Dillinger (Photo by: Robbie Quinn) John Dillinger did a double-take as he walked through the lobby of the Seaport Marina Hotel in Long Beach, Calif., one night in 2005 after a baseball game. He saw a flier with a “really good-looking, furry, muscular guy on it.” It advertised Bear Night once a month at […]

Wade Davis talks about looking past yourself in the coming out process

Thursday is National Coming Out Day, a day for LGBT people to stand up and be counted. It’s a perfect time to remind everyone that gay and lesbian athletes are part of the community of people making their voices heard and being proud. The perception is that few athletes are out and this owes to […]

Friday night was restless for Kevin McClatchy. His identity since his early 20s had been in part defined by the closet he hid in. With Saturday’s approaching dawn, that closet door would be flung open with a New York Times column by Frank Bruni in which the former Pittsburgh Pirates owner declared publicly for the […]

Aussie Rules football player Jason Ball has come out of the closet publicly. He’s using the opportunity to launch a change.org campaign to encourage the AFL to show an anti-homophobia ad at their Grand Final, which is the AFL’s equivalent of the Super Bowl. The game is at the end of September. Ball's story reflects […]

“I hated myself, I hated myself for what I was,” Thomas “Bozzy” Boswell says at the beginning of his wonderfully moving 12-minute YouTube video (see below) detailing his experience as a closeted gay teenager and his triumphant coming out story. As the captain of his rugby team in Quaker Yards, Wales, Boswell was trying to […]

It’s still dark in his small Upper East Side apartment when the alarm clock introduces Wade Davis to this Thursday morning in late May. His partner, Steven, sleeps while Davis slips into his regalia: A checkered shirt, slick pants and a bright tie. He kisses Steven and says good-bye. He’ll be back in a few […]

The United States has never had a publicly out male gymnast participate in the Olympics. Josh Dixon hopes to be the first. The Stanford grad took a big step toward that goal at the U.S. Men’s Qualifier on Saturday in Colorado Springs, finishing second overall out of the 72 competitors. He also tied for wins […]

Derick White By Derick White I’ll get right to the point. My name is Derick White and I am a former collegiate head coach. I am also gay. I remained in the closet for my entire coaching career because of one simple factor – fear. I will explain this in more detail in a bit, […]

Professional poker player Jason Somerville came out of the closet on his blog on Valentine’s Day. Somerville won the $1,000 No Limit Hold ‘Em event at the World Series of Poker last year, winning almost a half-million dollars (the $10k No Limit Hold ‘Em is the “main event” that gets so much pub on ESPN). […]

Brian Healey is captain of the men’s tennis team at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont. By Brian Healey I came out to two of my best friends on one of Saint Michael’s most storied days of revelry. P-Day at Saint Mike’s is our answer to the traditional “Spring Weekend” before finals. It feels like […]

Moments after professional soccer player David Testo publicly came out of the closet in an interview with Radio-Canada’s Marie Malchelosse, the reporter warned Testo that his revelation would have far-reaching implications. Testo felt bad for Malchelosse: She seemed like a nice woman, and he was afraid she was too excited about a story that wouldn’t […]

Editor’s note: At 15, Los Angeles volleyball player Galen Dodd is likely the youngest athlete who has ever told his coming out story for Outsports. He contacted us and had the full backing of his parents, who helped him edit the story. By Galen Dodd Three dates will forever be ingrained in my mind: July […]

By Ben Baldus-Strauss and Evan Heiter, with Cyd Zeigler Evan Heiter (left) and Ben Baldus-Strauss Editor’s Note: Ben and Evan were teammates on the 2010 men’s gymnastics national championship team at the University of Michigan. At the time, Evan was out on the team and had been for a while; Ben was in the closet […]

Today is National Coming Out Day. The MLB season is just ending, the NHL is just starting, the NBA is canceling games and the NFL sees the Lions and Bills atop their divisions. What better time for a pro male athlete to come out? And with so many people coming out today, I’m sure your […]

High school football captain Corey Johnson comes out in Massachusetts.

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 […]