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 [...]
Posts under ‘NBA’
Rick Welts to receive Out & Equal advocacy award
Golden State Warriors president Rick Welts, who came out of the closet last May, will receive Out & Equal’s advocacy award for coming out in the front office of his former team, the Phoenix Suns. Rick Welts is the first openly gay executive of a professional sports team. He publicly came out in an interview [...]
Vote: Who is Outsports’ Person of the Year?
Last day to vote! Every year we ask our readers to crown the Outsports ‘Person of the Year.’ Last year’s honorees were Brian & Patrick Burke, who garnered over 60% of the vote! This year we have many incredibly deserving people, and we have narrowed it down to these final six. We’ll announce the winner [...]
Kris Humphries, Kim Kardashian’s ex, obsesses whether another guy is gay
Kris Humphries, the NBA player whose claim to fame is that he was married to Kim Kardashian for 72 days, was on the latest episode of the reality series “Kourtney & Kim Take New York,” where he obsesses over whether Kim’s publicist is gay. The publicist says he’s not, but Humphries won’t take no for [...]
Vote: Who is Outsports’ Jerk of the Year?
Last day to vote! Every year we crown our annual ‘Jerk of the Year,’ honoring those in sports who were, well, jerks. Last year’s ‘Jerk of the Year’ was the Belmont University administration, who fired soccer coach Lisa Howe after she came out of the closet. This year we have many worthy candidates from football, [...]
Mark Cuban says an NBA player will come out in the next ‘three to five years’
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban joined TMZ Live recently to talk about the prospects of a female coach in the NBA. Cuban said the NBA will eventually embrace a female coach, just as they will soon embrace an openly gay player. “I think within the next three to five years, absolutely,” Cuban said. When asked [...]
NBA, players add sexual orientation protection to new labor deal
The NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement adds sexual orientation protection to its non-discrimination, the league has said. According to Michael Bass, NBA Senior Vice President, Marketing Communications: Non-discrimination language was added into the agreement that protects players from discrimination, including based on sexual orientation. Share on Facebook
NBA player Von Wafer says he’s not gay, blames hack of Twitter account
Von Wafer, a career journeyman in the NBA who played with the Boston Celtics last year and currently plays in Italy, says he’s not gay and blames a hacker on Twitter for sending out a tweet that says he was. Wafer wrote this on Twitter after his agent said his account was hacked: i cant [...]
Star magazine: Kim Kardashian says Kris Humphries is gay
I guess we should have seen this coming. Take a celebrity break-up, toss in a big-mouth bitchy diva, mix in a hot, metrosexual 20-something and voila! We have a Star magazine gay rumor. This time they have Kim Kardashian labeling her soon-to-be-ex-husband, NBA player Kris Humphries, gay. The tell-tale signs? He dresses well…he gets his [...]
John Amaechi gives fantastic speech about words of love to DiversityInc
John Amaechi gave a fantastic speech at the DiversityInc 2011 Special Awards earlier this month. His speech was about the power of words. But instead of focusing on the negative words like “faggot,” Amaechi spoke about the power of positive words. Video of the full speech is below. It’s a theme David Testo mentioned to [...]
Advocate’s list of 2011′s top news lacks major sports stories
First let me say that we love our friends at The Advocate. The iconic gay-news publication has done great work for decades. But I remember when we were presented with our first NLGJA Award years ago the presenter said it was in part because we were not afraid to criticize the media’s handling of gay-sports [...]
Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries divorcing after 72 days of marriage bliss
I’m assuming the “sanctity of marriage” folks will be up in arms about this. The National Organization for Marriage should be putting out a statement today, right? After a $10 million wedding, TV personality Kim Kardashian and New Jersey Net Kris Humphries are ending their two-month marriage. The starlet apparently cites “irreconcilable differences.” Wow. She [...]
John Amaechi receives Officer of the British Empire Medal
John Amaechi received his Officer of the British Empire Medal from the Prince of Wales on Wednesday, a high honor for the only openly gay former NBA player. While I sometimes personally think Amaechi slightly overstates the current environment of homophobia in sports, his target on Wednesday — British soccer — was spot-on: If you [...]
Shaq voices support for gay youth
Former NBA superstar (and sure-to-be Hall of Famer) Shaquille O’Neal has recoreded a short video (watch after the jump) against bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. Shaq looks like he’s put on a couple pounds since retirement, but he also speaks with more inflection than usual; Somebody’s doing good work with him on [...]
Rick Welts’ hiring by the Warriors is the most important gay sports moment of 2011
My latest piece picked up by the Huffington Post is a column about why Rick Welts’ hiring by the Golden State Warriors is the most important gay sports moment this year: While people focus on the travails of athletes, the real power brokers in sports are the guys Welts works with every day. And they’ve [...]