Coming Out Stories

Growing up, Vincent Pryor fought for years the fact that he was gay. It was especially hard since he was a starter on TCU's football team. But after being true to himself, he felt liberated and set a school record. After 17 years, he shares his story.By Jim BuzinskiOutsports.comVincent Pryor lined up as a pass […]

Oregon State softball coach Kirk Walker was no stranger to Outsports. He was one of our first readers and we kept in touch with him regularly via email. Walker was comfortably out to those who mattered in his life and not yet ready to take the step of going public.

Brendan Burke’s family has a long history in hockey and the NHL. He added to it.

Brenner Green’s always liked to run, but dropped out before high school. After coming out, he gave it another try and now thrives on his college’s cross-country team. He’s even had a movie made about him. By Brenner GreenOutsports.com I was out before I was a runner. My mom knew I would be both gay […]

Former Villanova star Will Sheridan came out in May. Have we reached a tipping point in the gays in sports debate? Will we be seeing an openly gay pro athlete soon? Will it be that big a deal? I have been thinking about this a lot in the aftermath of a wild eight weeks that […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

Nick Clark denied for years that he was gay and threw himself into sports, especially volleyball. He then found religion but finally came to the realization that there was nothing wrong and is now out and proud.

Colin Joyner and Ben Chadwick are tearing down walls of homophobia at rural liberal arts school in Maine

Mari Burningham was raised as a Mormon and wound up coaching at BYU. She long wrestled with her sexual attraction to women, married a man and tried to fit in. She writes about how she finally accepted who she was, left the church and found happiness.

Travon Free, now a comedian, shared his true self with the world in 2011.

Boston Herald sports columnist Steve Buckley comes out as gay.

Akil Patterson felt he never fit in as a college football player, where he spent a lot of time partying and coping with his sexual identity. He is now blossoming as a gay man and competitive wrestler.

New Zealand Olympic short-track speedskater Blake Skjellerup came out this May. It was a decision that has left him with no regrets. “[I] just [wanted] to share my story with other people,” Skjellerup told the Otago Daily Times. And since I’ve come out I’ve had a lot of encouraging support from other gay athletes and […]

Collegiate track and field athlete went from being a closeted and scared freshman to a tireless advocate for LGBT athletes on his Bucknell campus.

Troy Smith broke down barriers and built acceptance at St. Vincent College

Lion sprinter faced racial stereotypes, but found strong support on his team

We’ve gotten a couple of e-mails recently from openly gay college athletes wanting to tell their story on Outsports. Over the years, we’ve told the stories of dozens of out college and high school athletes. What makes these young men different from the other stories we’ve read is that they don’t want to use their […]

A few days after telling a reporter that he doesn’t recommend gay athletes come out, openly gay former NBA player John Amaechi says he does not necessarily recommend staying in the closet either. First is an interview with Queerty: Under what circumstances would you recommend gay athletes stay in the closet?I’m not recommending it. … […]