I put it on me. I don’t really think there were ever any incidents outwardly that I can remember where I felt particularly offended by something that had happened or something that someone had said. I had just made the decision…that I just didn’t know what would happen. That was really my problem. No one in a position like mine had ever taken this step. I couldn’t watch anybody go through it and say, ‘You know, that can work out okay.’ So maybe I’m just not going to risk it.

And I had great family, great friends that were supportive. But I just put a barrier around that part of my life in my work environment…. “

With every person in sports like Welts who comes out, the fear of the unknown shrinks. With all of the coming-out stories in sports we’ve heard since 2000, not a single one in male sports has been negative. Last year was a bellwether year, with so many people coming out across the spectrum of sports…and all of them being met with open arms.

Some of those open arms were from Welts’ new team, the Golden State Warriors:

The next day I got a call from the new owners of the Golden State Warriors, who just paid the highest price ever paid for an NBA team. It was so great. They knew my story before we sat down. And we spoke for probably six hours the first time we got together, and it wasn’t until about four hours into the conversation there was one question: ‘Hey, how did that ownership in Phoenix react to that announcement of yours.’

As we all know, Welts got the job.

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Rick Welts is the first openly gay executive of a professional sports team. He publicly came out in an interview with the New York Times in 2011. “Mr. Welts showed incredible courage by coming out in the world of professional sports,” said Selisse Berry, Founding Executive Director of Out & Equal. “He was at the top of his game, decided to take a gamble, and won.” …

This year, the Out & Equal Advocacy Award recognizes leaders who are making a difference because they are out at work. In the past, the Advocacy Award has honored allies who have contributed to equality and companies which supported same-sex marriage in California.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker will also receive the award.

Hat tip to Witeck-Combs.

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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 on Jan. 5, so get your vote in now. And thanks to everyone who offered their nominees!

Anton Hysen. While we’ve had a number of athletes come out of the closet after their retirement, Hysen was one of only two professional team-sport athletes we know of anywhere in the world to come out publicly in 2011. Having just turned 21, he did it without the shelter of a long, storied career. Instead, just embarking on his professional tour of duty in Sweden he took the leap and has benefited from it personally and professionally.

Helen Carroll & Pat Griffin. While other gay-sports activists get the headlines and Facebook fan pages, these two women continue to be the gold standard in the movement. This year was just another year of extraordinary accomplishments. Griffin launched a new initiative with GLSEN, Changing the Game, that is helping end homophobia in K-12 sports. The women together published a groundbreaking report that lead to an official NCAA policy on trans athletes. When we published our list of the 100 most important moments in gay-sports history, these two were a part of making at least nine of them happen. And while others simply preach to the choir, these two women consistently reach out to those who are not on the side of fairness and equality. They are pioneers in the deepest sense, and 2011 was another incredible year for their work.

From left: Ben, Brad, Robert

High school bloggers. A couple years ago, LGBT high school athletes had a terrible time finding other people like them, even in the vast wilderness that is the Internet. This year put some of those voices on a hill for others to find as various gay high school athletes started blogs. Collectively they are a resource like no other, telling the stories of gay youth in sports in a way adults simply cannot. While multimillionaires in the prime of their careers are still too afraid and selfish to come out, these kids have found the strength to do so.

‘It Gets Better’ sports teams. When the ‘It Gets Better’ campaign started in late 2010, no one could have envisioned the participation from the sports world that ensued. A half dozen Major League Baseball teams created videos to convince LGBT youth to not kill themselves. College sports teams, athletic departments, and Major League Soccer teams quickly got in on the act. Unfortunately, every NHL, NBA and NFL team has either refused to make a video or has ignored requests, which makes the MLB teams’ videos that much more special.

Rick Welts & the Golden State Warriors. Former Phoenix Suns President Rick Welts had been struggling with the decision to come out publicly for years. When he finally did so in May, he brought along the support of the likes of David Stern, Steve Nash and Bill Russell. Welts left the Suns over the summer to move closer to his partner…which opened the door for him to be hired by the Golden State Warriors. A couple years ago, Welts feared coming out would hurt his career; Now he is the first person to be hired as president of a pro-sports team while being openly gay.

Sean Avery. The year saw various professional athletes show their support for gay people and gay equality. But only one that we know of, then-New York Ranger Sean Avery, lobbied legislators at a state capital to vote for marriage equality. It’s one thing to talk to a reporter and record a video message, but Avery went above and beyond the call of duty (have you lobbied at your state capital?).

Honorable mention: Straight former athletes Hudson Taylor & Ben Cohen, for creating anti-homophobia organizations; Australian rugger David Pocock for saying he would not marry a woman until gay people had equal marriage rights in his country; cricketer Steven Davies, who also came out this year.

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Maybe this is old news to you poor saps who watch Kardashian-related programming on a regular basis, but my overall impression of Hump is that he’s a clueless, homophobic d-bag—moreso than your average pro athlete. It’s a miracle anyone bought into their sham marriage in the first place.

Someone on YouTube compiled a montage of the lowlights of the show. Either Humphries is interested in the publicist or is trying to deflect a tabloid’s rumor that he himself is gay.

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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, basketball, hockey and soccer; Nigeria, Canada and the U.S.; athletes, coaches, and sportscaster. Our ‘Jerk of the Year’ will be announced Jan. 4 so get your vote in now! And thanks to everyone who offered their nominees!

Damian Goddard. When sports agent Todd Reynolds Tweeted his opposition to same-sex marriage last spring, Goddard Tweeted his support for Reynolds’ bigoted position. Goddard was later fired. He’s found recent employment with anti-gay Maggie Gallagher’s new anti-gay organization, the Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance, whose sole purpose is to fight against marriage equality. While others have made their anti-gay voices heard, Goddard is the rare (former) sports figure whose job it is now to fight against equality.

David Tyree. The former New York Giants wideout, best known for his miracle catch in the Super Bowl, used his 15 minutes of fame this year to fight against marriage equality in New York. Tyree, who just 40 years ago would not have been able to marry the woman of his choice in many states, recorded a PSA for the National Organization for Marriage (which is actually against marriage), an anti-gay-rights organization. In the PSA he said gay marriage leads to anarchy.

Eucharia Uche. While other sportspeople talked about their homophobia, Nigerian national soccer coach Uche did something about it. Last summer she said lesbians livea “dirty life” and she wouldn’t tolerate it. She also said there were lesbians on her Super Falcons team when she took over in 2009, but she kicked them all off the team. With so much homophobia literally and figuratively strangling gay people in Africa, Uche was sports’ symbol of the terrible struggle there.

Jerry Sandusky. The former defensive coordinator for the Penn State football team was charged with various counts of sexual assault against young boys. To make matters worse, many of them were allegedly part of Sandusky’s football camps and other football programs. The entire Penn State athletic program was shamed by the allegations, which ended the historic tenure of head football coach Joe Paterno.

Jocks who blow off their ‘fag’ comment. We make a distinction here for the athletes who uttered anti-gay slurs this year and tried to defend it. The most prominent was Kobe Bryant, who essentially told everyone to take a chill pill after he was caught calling a referee a “faggot” on national TV. He justified his actions for 48 hours before apologizing. Others included two of Joe In Philly’s favorites: DeSean Jackson and Wayne Simmonds.

Tim Tebow. Because.

Honorable mentions: Sports agent Todd Reynolds, who created the Tweet that Goddard replied to; USC quarterback Matt Barkley, who Tweeted his opposition to same-sex marriage rights; Croatian soccer president Vlatko Markovic said gays are not allowed on the country’s national team.

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When asked about the perception of the league as homophobic, Cuban said that perception doesn’t exist.

I don’t think there’s really the perspective that we are intolerant. I think the only issues we’ve had is with some fallback and some old-school-type language that’s derogatory to gays. So there are certain words that were accepted five to 10 years ago that guys are starting to recognize you can’t use any longer. And that hasn’t been a problem. I think it will be more of a media sensation when somebody comes out than it will be a player issue.

It’s comical to me to hear these predictions that someone will “absolutely” or “definitely” come out in the next year, three years, five years, etc…. When we started Outsports in 2000, I remember being asked for the first time when someone would come out. I didn’t know when, but at the time it was “inconceivable to think that it won’t happen by 2010.” Well, it’s now almost 2012 and nobody’s done it.

It’s already been five years since John Amaechi came out. At the time, Cuban said the first out player in major pro sports would make a windfall of money. That was five years ago and no one has done it. What makes Cuban think that in just three to five more years someone will?

Last year when Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley came out, he said that there would definitely be someone out in pro sports by 2015. I chatted with him recently, and a year after coming out he now sees the fallacy of that statement. Certainly it could happen, but there’s no telling when someone will personally be ready to make that leap. David Testo says it won’t be for a long, long, long time.

The reality is, these predictions are based on the wrong facts. Just because we can get married in a couple states and it’s obvious a vast majority of fans and reporters would be okay with it doesn’t mean someone will “absolutely” come out soon. I hope they do. And someone may. But to say it will “definitely” happen is completely misleading.

Hat tip to The Advocate.

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Non-discrimination language was added into the agreement that protects players from discrimination, including based on sexual orientation.

The NBA joins the NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer in having such policies. This is important since its protects any player from being discriminated against (such as being cut) because he is gay. Major props to Rafael McDonnell of the gay advocacy group Resource Center Dallas for keeping me abreast of this. McDonnell has been a tireless advocate in pushing these policies in pro sports by writing letters to both union and league representatives.

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i cant believe u did that forreal bro come on man i am not gay and i dont have anything against gay people. … very very very very sick joke that i dont find 1 bit funny once again im sorry

Here is the tweet that caused Wafer the trouble:

Wafer has played in five NBA seasons and is not a household name, yet had he really been gay this would have been a huge sports story. It shows the power this issue exerts in sports.

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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 nails done…and he shaves guys’ armpits! Isn’t that what all gay men do? I mean, those three things alone…if you add in “wants to spend time with a Kardashian” it’s just a recipe for gay! gay! GAY!

For more “Kris is gay” gossip from star, head over the BoyCulture or Star magazine.

Hat tip to Towleroad.

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It’s a theme David Testo mentioned to me when I spoke to him. He said the homophobia in sports isn’t as much outward hatred as it is a lack of support. More people saying “I’m okay with gay people” in sports would go a long way, Testo said. In his speech, Amaechi told a story about the impact he had on underprivileged youth by simply remembering their names. That positive reinforcement is, as Amaechi said, deeply powerful.

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