Jessica Aguilar made her professional MMA debut in 2006, but it’s just now that she’s talking about her sexual orientation publicly. The fighter told Sports Illustrated‘s Loretta Hunt that she is bisexual and lives with her girlfriend. Unfortunately, she faces less-than-perfect acceptance from her mother. She’s also reached some comfort in sharing her bisexual orientation, [...]
Posts under ‘Coming out’
Gay gymnast Josh Dixon gets lots of attention, but he’s focused on the Olympics
Our story earlier this week about Olympic gymnastics hopeful Josh Dixon got lots of attention, but he told the San Jose Mercury News that’s not why he came out publicly. Headed into the national championships in a few weeks, he is focused on being a great athlete first and foremost. Dixon, of San Jose, has [...]
U.S. women’s soccer star and Olympian Megan Rapinoe appears to come out as lesbian
U.S. star women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe, who will be on the Olympic team, answered “we’re out there” when asked when a high-profile player would come out. It was a rather novel way to answer the question. Here is the appropriate part from a video interview with Rapinoe on KickTV (video below): Q: Do you [...]
Josh Dixon comes out as gay, aims for spot on Olympic gymnastics team
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 [...]
Former college volleyball coach says fear kept him from coming out as gay
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, but that [...]
Gareth Thomas nervous about playing genie in ‘Aladdin’ musical
Former rugby star Gareth Thomas is nervous about performing later this year before schoolchildren in his native Wales dressed as the genie that comes out of the bottle in “Aladdin.” “Standing in front of 400 children and their parents in a genie outfit is a lot more nerve-wracking than running out against the [New Zealand] [...]
A year after coming out as gay, Warriors president Rick Welts at peace
A year ago, Rick Welts was known only in the NBA world as an executive with the Phoenix Suns. Then came a front-page story in the New York Times in May, where he came out as a gay man and his world changed. He suddenly was seen as a positive force for change in a [...]
Slate readers: Pro athlete will come out October 2014, will be in baseball
Slate.com asked its readers to predict when a professional male athlete in the United States will come out of the closet. The average: October 2014. The most common guess was June 2013, with the majority of voters saying it will be by the spring of 2014. Either way, their readers think it’ll be in the [...]
Friday media watch: Nepal, Scott Heggart, lesbians on ice
The story of Nepal’s first “gay Olympics” got a lot of attention from the mainstream press this week: The Wall Street Journal: “Welcome to South Asia’s Most LGBT-Friendly Country” – this may well become the new motto for Nepal, which is set to host the region’s first sports competition for the lesbian, gay, bisexuals and transgender [...]
Bryan Fautley of Queen’s University volleyball comes out, returns to team
From Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario comes a fantastic story about a gay athlete and his redeemed college volleyball team. Bryan Fautley had quit the team in 2010 because he was closeted and could not handle the casual homophobia on his team. When the coach found out the reason for his resignation, she changed the [...]
Tim Tebow traded to Soddom and Gomora, i.e. New York
Men of Chelsea get ready — Tim Tebow is coming to town. The Denver Broncos traded the quarterback to the New York Jets today for some draft picks. Talk about a culture clash — a home-schooled virgin who talks God in every other sentence going to a city where gay marriage is legal. Tebow will [...]
Gay teen Canadian hockey player chronicled coming out in 365 YouTube videos
Canadian Scott Heggart, a 21-year-old from Ottawa, is getting a lot of attention for the Ottawa Citizen story about his coming out process as a gay hockey player. It’s a nicely detailed piece that delves into Scott’s journey from being totally in the closet, to coming out to his parents and siblings and eventually his [...]
New Zealand gay referee discusses his love of American football
American football is far from a popular sport in New Zealand, where rugby is king. But that hasn’t stopped Stephen Bowness, 46, from his love of the game as a referee there for 17 years. He is also openly gay and recently made history by being the first Kiwi to be head referee at an [...]
Official says 5% of Aussie Rules Football players are gay
Jeff Kennett, former Australian political official and also past president of an Australian Rules Football club, says 5% of AFL players are gay but afraid to come out. “Not only am I not surprised at the number of players in the AFL who are suffering from stress, anxiety and depression – many of whom haven’t [...]
Professional poker player Jason Somerville comes out
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). [...]
Gay high school swimmer gives advice to his younger, scared self on acceptance
Andrew is a 17-year-old high school senior in Minnesota and captain of his swim team. I have written before about his terrific blog the Transpiration of Andrew. He has an awesome post up now that has him writing to his 11-year-old self, a scared boy coming to terms with his sexual orientation. It is moving [...]
Top French handballer Alexandra Lacrabère comes out, will play in Summer Olympics
We now know that at least one out lesbian will be participating in the Summer Olympics in London. Alexandra Lacrabère came out to little fanfare in the French magazine Hand Action last November. Yagg.com caught up with her recently and she talked more about being an out lesbian in the popular French sport. Via a rough translation: [...]
Brian Burke: There is a lot of support for gay players in the NHL
There was an awesome interview yesterday with Brian Burke, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, about whether the NHL is ready for an openly gay player. Burke’s son, Brendan, was gay and died two years ago in a car accident. Brian Burke has become a strong public advocate for gays in sports. Here is [...]
English Premier player Joey Barton says soccer needs to embrace a gay player
Joey Barton plays for the Queens Park Rangers in the English Premier League, one of the top soccer leagues in the world. In a BBC documentary on gays in soccer, Barton reveals that he has a gay uncle and implores his sport to embrace a gay player. There is no doubt in my mind that [...]
Rick Welts talks about ‘fear of the unknown,’ says he never experienced homophobia
Rick Welts gave an interview to LZ Granderson at a forum for the 2011 Out & Equal Workplace Summit in which he talked about coming out at work. When asked about what made Welts think he couldn’t come out of the closet in the NBA for so many years, he reiterated what we’ve been saying [...]