The 12-year NBA veteran, Jason Collins, has come out as the first openly gay male athlete who is still active in a major American team sport. We the people are finally making great strides by accepting people for who they are no matter what career they’ve chosen. Your chosen sexuality does not make you less equal and he is a prime example of this belief.
“I’m a 34-year-old N.B.A. center. I’m black and I’m gay,” Collins wrote in the May 6 edition of Sports Illustrated. The magazine published the article online Monday morning. While it was a huge surprise for this has never occurred before for players still active, times have changed and there are plenty of successful people who are open about their sexuality.
However, the announcement still makes Collins a pioneer of sorts. He is the first player in the N.B.A., the N.F.L., the N.H.L. or Major League Baseball to come out while still pursuing his career. Other gay athletes, including the former N.B.A. center John Amaechi, have waited until retirement to divulge their sexuality publicly.
But Jason and the League are both very intelligent and this should not hold him back in any way towards continuing on in his career. Keep going Jason. You will and have inspired many already.
