The homosexual sports community in the United States has one of the highest levels of acceptance and support in the world [1] [2] [3] and is rapidly growing as of 2020. [4] [5] General public opinion and jurisprudence regarding homosexuality in the United States has become significantly more accepting since the late 1980s; [6] [7] for example, by the early 2020s, an overwhelming majority of Americans approved of the legality of same-sex marriages. [6]
In regard to sports in the United States, in 2002 researcher Eric Anderson found "more openly gay runners and swimmers than football and baseball players." [8] He then hypothesized that this occurred because gay men likely abandoned some sports in favor of sports that were more accepting of homosexuality. [8] In 2006, a Sports Illustrated poll of roughly 1,400 professional athletes found that a majority would be willing to accept a gay teammate. As well, professional ice hockey (NHL) athletes seemed to be the most accepting of such teammates as 80% of its players approved of having a gay teammate. [8]
In 1996, Muffin Spencer-Devlin became the first LPGA player to come out as gay. [9]
In 2018, Tadd Fujikawa came out as gay, becoming the first male professional golfer to do so. [10] [11]
In 2018, Todd Harrity came out as gay, thus becoming the first openly gay professional male squash player in the world. At the time he was ranked No. 1 in the United States out of all male squash players. [12] [13]
American tennis player Billie Jean King acknowledged her relationship with Marilyn Barnett when it became public in a May 1981 palimony lawsuit filed by Barnett, making Billie Jean the first prominent female professional athlete in the world to come out. [14]
Glenn Burke was the first Major League Baseball player to come out as gay, announcing it in 1982 after he retired. [15]
In 2002, Sue Wicks came out as gay, making her the first openly gay person playing in the WNBA. [16] Many female players have since come out as gay; for example, Sheryl Swoopes came out in 2005, Brittney Griner came out in 2013, and Elena Delle Donne came out in 2016. [17] However, Swoopes later married a man. [18]
In 2013, Jason Collins publicly came out as gay. [19] President Barack Obama contacted him offering his support. [20] In 2014, Jason Collins played for the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA, making him the first openly gay athlete to play in any of the four major North American professional sports leagues. [21] [22] [23]
In 2002, the National Gay Flag Football League was founded. [24]
In 1975, former football player David Kopay became the first professional athlete from a major team to come out. [25]
Football player Alissa Wykes of the Philadelphia Liberty Belles became one of the first active American athletes to publicly come out as gay when she announced that she was a lesbian in an article in the December 2001/January 2002 edition of Sports Illustrated for Women . [26] [27] [28]
In the 2014 NFL draft, the St. Louis Rams drafted Michael Sam in the seventh round, the 249th of 256 players selected, [29] which made him the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL. [30] [31] However, on August 30, St. Louis released Sam as part of a final round of cuts to reduce their roster to the league-mandated 53 players before the start of the regular season. [32] [33]
In June 2021, Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out as gay via Instagram, making him the first openly gay active player in the NFL. [34] [35] He later became the first openly gay player in an NFL playoff game on January 15, 2022. [36] [37]
In 1985, the Los Angeles Blades was organized as the first gay hockey team in the United States. [38]
In 2021, Canadian Luke Prokop, who was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, became the first active player signed to a National Hockey League contract to come out as gay. [39] [40] [41] On November 17, 2023, Prokop became the first openly gay player in the American Hockey League's history, by making his first appearance in a game as a player for the Milwaukee Admirals. [42]
In 1998, the Washington Renegades RFC was formed as the first gay rugby team in the United States. [43]
In 2013, Robbie Rogers publicly came out as gay. [19] President Barack Obama contacted him offering his support. [20] Thierry Henry, at the time playing in Major League Soccer, was quoted in a column for New York Daily News as saying "he (Rogers) is a human being, first of all. And that’s good enough." [20] Later in 2013, Robbie Rogers became the first openly gay man to compete in a top North American professional sports league when he played his first match for the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer. [44] [45] [46]
Many female soccer players have been openly gay while actively playing for American teams, such as Joanna Lohman [47] [48] and Megan Rapinoe. [49] [50] [51] Megan Rapinoe came out in 2012, while a midfielder for the Seattle Sounders and while on the United States women's national soccer team. [52] [53]
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
David Marquette Kopay is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) who in 1975 became one of the first professional athletes to come out as gay.
Jason Paul Collins is an American former professional basketball player who was a center for 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Stanford Cardinal, where he was an All-American in 2000–01. Collins was selected by the Houston Rockets as the 18th overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft. He went on to play for the New Jersey Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets.
Ryan Thomas O'Callaghan is a former American football offensive tackle. He played college football for the California Golden Bears and was selected by the New England Patriots in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL draft. He also played for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Robert Hampton Rogers III is an American former professional soccer player. He played as a winger and as a left back. Rogers has also represented the United States men's national soccer team. In February 2013, Rogers came out as gay, becoming the second male soccer player in Britain to do so after Justin Fashanu in 1990. After a brief retirement, he became the first openly gay man to compete in a top North American professional sports league when he played his first match for the LA Galaxy in May 2013.
Megan Anna Rapinoe is an American former professional soccer player who played as a winger. She spent most of her career playing for OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. Winner of the Ballon d'Or Féminin and named The Best FIFA Women's Player in 2019, Rapinoe won gold with the national team at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and played at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, where the U.S. finished second. Rapinoe co-captained the national team alongside Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan from 2018 to 2020. She previously played for the Chicago Red Stars, Philadelphia Independence, and MagicJack in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), as well as Lyon Women in France's Division 1 Féminine.
Homophobia has been widespread in men's association football, also known as soccer, throughout the world.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other non-heterosexual or non-cisgender (LGBTQ+) community is prevalent within sports across the world.
Wade Alan Davis II is an American speaker, activist, writer, educator and former American football player.
There has been only one player who has publicly come out as gay or bisexual while being an active player in the National Football League (NFL): Carl Nassib, who revealed himself as gay on June 21, 2021, while with the Las Vegas Raiders. He became the first openly gay player to play in an NFL game on September 13, 2021. He later became the first openly gay player in an NFL playoff game on January 15, 2022. Six former NFL players have come out publicly after they retired. In the 2014 NFL draft, the St. Louis Rams drafted Michael Sam in the seventh round, the 249th of 256 players selected, which made him the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL. However, on August 30, St. Louis released Sam as part of a final round of cuts to reduce their roster to the league-mandated 53 players before the start of the regular season.
The National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame was a hall of fame established in 2013 to honor LGBT and allied personalities, as well as organizations "whose achievements and efforts have enhanced sports and athletics for the gay and lesbian community". It was established shortly after Jason Collins became the first openly gay NBA player. It is located on the grounds of Center on Halsted in Chicago, Illinois.
Michael Alan Sam Jr. is an American former professional football defensive lineman who is a coach for the Panthers Wrocław in the European League of Football (ELF). Sam played college football for the Missouri Tigers and was selected by the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League (NFL) in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL draft. He played one game for the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
The Principle Six campaign, also Principle 6, or P6, was launched in January 2014 as an Olympic protests of Russian anti-gay laws in conjunction with the 2014 Winter Olympics being held in Sochi, Russia. Principle 6 refers to the sixth principle of the Olympic Charter that says any form of discrimination "is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement."
Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.
Carl Paul Nassib is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end and linebacker for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions, earning unanimous All-American honors as a senior in 2015. Nassib was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Las Vegas Raiders. In 2021 Nassib became the first active NFL player to publicly come out as gay and to play in a game.
The following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) history in the 21st century.
Phuti Lekoloane, also known as Phuti Minaj, is a South African footballer and LGBTQ activist, from Moletjie, Ga-kolopo, a rural township near Polokwane in the Limpopo province. He played for JDR Stars, a Pretoria-based organization, on their second division team as goalkeeper, and now does so for Tornado F.C., also in the SAFA Second Division. He is Africa’s first openly gay male footballer, having come out publicly in July 2015. His nickname Phuti Minaj came from his mentor John Moshoeu, who caught him twerking while watching a video from Nicki Minaj.
Coming Out Colton is an American reality television series created by Jeff Jenkins that follows Colton Underwood as he comes out of the closet. The unscripted series of six episodes premiered December 3, 2021, on Netflix. Underwood, a former professional football player, starred in the 23rd season of The Bachelor in 2019, before publicly coming out as gay in April 2021.
...(the United States and [Western] Europe) as "already in crisis" for their permissive attitudes toward nonnormative sexualities...
13.) United States
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a dramatic wave began to form in the waters of public opinion: American attitudes involving homosexuality began to change... The transformation of America's response to homosexuality has been — and continues to be — one of the most rapid and sustained shifts in mass attitudes since the start of public polling.
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