Longtime NBA player Jason Collins has come out as gay in an editorial column for Sports Illustrated, becoming the first openly gay athlete in any US team sport.
Collins, who has played for 12 seasons and played for six different teams in his career, says he’s “always” known that he is gay, but only started to face and question his closeted status during the 2012 NBA player lockout.
Several NFL players had told the media the past few months that football players, possibly as many as four, were considering coming out. Collins has beaten them to it, saying he wishes he wasn’t the first active player in a US team sport to come out, but that he feels it should be done.
See Collins’ column at Sports Illustrated.
