NBA's Jason Collins comes out: What does that mean for gay rights?
| Washington
National Basketball Association center Jason Collins on Monday became the first male professional athlete in a major US team sport to reveal that he is gay.
In co-written with Sports Illustrated reporter Frank Lidz, Mr. Collins writes that after years of hiding his sexuality, March鈥檚 Supreme Court oral hearings pushed him to come out of the closet.
鈥淟ess than three miles from my apartment, nine jurists argued about my happiness and my future. Here was my chance to be heard, and I couldn鈥檛 say a thing,鈥� Collins wrote.
Collins, who played for the Washington Wizards this year, waited until the season was over so as to not be a distraction to the team. Then he contacted Sports Illustrated through his agents to make the disclosure, according to .
鈥淚鈥檓 glad I鈥檓 coming out in 2013 rather than 2003. The climate has shifted; public opinion as shifted. And yet we still have so much farther to go,鈥� Collins concluded.
He is now a free agent but has said he wants to keep playing.
Will Collins鈥檚 move affect US public policy? To a certain extent, he is taking advantage of an existing trend toward more tolerance of gay rights in US public opinion. Earlier this month, an NBC/Wall Street Journal survey found 53 percent of respondents approving of gay marriage, up two percentage points from December.
The more personal gay rights appear to Americans, the more support for it seems to grow. That鈥檚 what happened with Sen. Rob Portman (R) of Ohio, who announced in March that he has switched his stance and now supports gay marriage, in part because his son is gay.
Collins鈥檚 disclosure is likely to put wind in the sails of this trend, given the coverage it is likely to receive and the interest major league team sports generate in the United States, indeed the world. He is a tough, veteran center who was an all-American at Stanford聽University and a first-round draft pick of the Houston Rockets. He鈥檚 spent significant time playing for the New Jersey Nets and the Atlanta Hawks, with stops in Memphis, Minnesota, Boston, and now Washington along the way.
Of course, this trend is still partisan, and the Collins story may not change that. In the NBC poll, 73 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents approved of gay marriage, while 66 percent of Republicans opposed it.
Collins was a roommate of Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D) of Massachusetts in college. Kennedy has already issued a statement of support for Collins and invited him to march in the 2013 Gay Pride parade in Boston.
Ex-President Bill Clinton was also quick to weigh in, as Collins was also a classmate and friend of his daughter, Chelsea, at Stanford.
鈥淛ason鈥檚 announcement today is an important moment for professional sports and in the history of the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] community,鈥� said Mr. Clinton鈥檚 statement in part.
Clinton also said he hoped that the larger NBA community would accept Collins for who he is. Notably, Los Angeles Lakers star on Monday that he was 鈥減roud鈥� of Collins.
鈥淒on鈥檛 suffocate who u r because of the ignorance of others,鈥� Mr. Bryant tweeted.
The effect of the Collins announcement would be more pronounced if other male pro athletes follow his example. Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, who is straight but has expressed support for gay rights, has said that there are as many as four National Football League players whom he knows to be gay, and that they have been discussing coming out as a group.
