Sports
A timeline of progress in U.S. sports
Looking back on influential coming out stories since 1975
This timeline reflects the highlights of professional U.S. athletes who have come out in the most popular AmericanĀ sports based on reports in various news media outlets, including OutSports. It is not a definitive list of all athletes that have come out, but experts consider those identified here to have had an important impact in paving the way for more LGBT athletes to come out.
1975: David Kopay, an NFL player with the Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers and other teams, comes out as gay shortly after retiring from football. He becomes the first known NFL player, active or retired, to openly discuss his sexual orientation ā first with the news media and later in his 1977 bestselling book, āThe David Kopay Story: An Extraordinary Self-Revelation.ā
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1976: Ophthalmologist and tennis player Dr. Renee Richards is outed as a transgender woman when the U.S. Tennis Association refused to allow her to play in the U.S. Open on grounds that she was born as a male and could not compete against women. She challenged the denial in court and won her case the following year, enabling her to become the first known transgender person to play in a professional sport.
1981: Billie Jean King, the nationally acclaimed tennis star, was outed by her ex-partner Marilyn Barnett in a palimony lawsuit. King said later that the disclosure that she was a lesbian resulted in her losing about $2 million in commercial endorsements from companies that dropped her immediately after learning she was gay.
1981: Martina Navratilova, the internationally acclaimed tennis star, willingly disclosed that she is a lesbian just months after the outing of Billie Jean King.Ā Navratilova became the first big name professional athlete to come out of the closet during the height of her playing career. Although the tennis establishment for the most part supported her she later told the LGBT blog OutSports she lost as much as $10 million in endorsements from companies that spurned her because of her sexual orientation.
1988: Major League Baseball umpire Dave Pallone is fired by then Commissioner of Baseball Bart Giamatti, who cites unsubstantiated allegations that Pallone had sex with a minor. Although authorities in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., dropped an investigation into the allegations and in Palloneās view exonerated him of any wrongdoing, the umpire said Giamatti and other baseball officials didnāt want him in baseball because heās gay. In his 1990 book āBehind the Mask: My Double Life in Baseball,ā Pallone says his firing reinforced the perception that Major League Baseball would not allow gay players or umpires.
1992: Roy Simmons of the NFL, who played for the New York Giants and Washington Redskins in the 1980s, came out as gay in a TV interview on the āPhil Donahue Show,ā several years after his football career ended.
1993: Then former Major League Baseball player Glen Burke came out publicly in 1993 in interviews in Sport magazine and NBCās āTodayā show. According to subsequent reports in the media, Burke came out to his fellow players and manager Tommy Lasorda when he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1970s. The Dodgers traded him to the Oakland Aās reportedly because top management feared news of Burkeās sexual orientation would become public, leading to negative publicity for the team. He is credited with being the first Major League Baseball player to come out to an entire team. Burke died of AIDS in 1995.
1996: Muffin Spencer-Devlin, a three-time tournament winner on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour in the 1980s, came out as a lesbian in a March 1996 article in Sports Illustrated, becoming the first female or male professional golfer to come out while still playing.
1999: Major League Baseball player Billy Bean publicly disclosed heās gay in 1999, four years after his baseball career ended. He began his Major League Baseball career in 1987 and played for the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Diego Padres. He wrote about his life as a closeted gay ball player in his 2003 book āGoing the Other Way: Lessons from a Life In and Out of Major League Baseball.ā
2002: Esera Tuaolo, a defensive lineman for nine years in the NFL before retiring in 1999, came out as gay in a 2002 interview on ESPN. He became the third widely known NFL player to come out shortly after retiring. Like the other two ā David Kopay (1975) and Roy Simmons (1992) ā Tuaoloās post-career coming out reinforced the longstanding belief that no NFL player could come out while still playing without facing dire consequences.
2005: Sheryl Swoopes, a seven-time Womenās National Basketball Association (WNBA) All-Star who was chosen three times as the leagueās most valuable player, came out as a lesbian in 2005 at the height of her career. After being hailed as a role model for lesbians in sports, Swoopes startled LGBT basketball fans in 2010 when news surfaced that she ended her relationship with her female partner and announced she was engaged to marry a man. She has since retired from basketball and is head coach for the womenās basketball team at Loyola University in Chicago.
2007: John Amaechi, a professional basketball player who retired in 2003, came out as gay four years later, becoming the first player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) to come out, either during or after his playing days. His coming out was timed to coincide with the publication of his autobiography, āMan in the Middle.ā
2011: Rick Welts, president of the Golden State Warriors, an NBA team, came out as gay in a New York Times interview in May 2011, becoming the first openly gay executive of the NBA and any of the other top U.S. professional sports. LGBT sports enthusiasts say Weltsā status as an out gay person in a high-level executive post in the professional sports world set a precedent for encouraging more pro sports executives as well as players to come out.
2012: Megan Rapinoe, a womenās U.S. professional soccer player with the Seattle Reign team and who is credited with helping the U.S. womenās national soccer team win a Gold Medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in England, came out as a lesbian in an interview with āOutā magazine. The sports blog SB Nation reported earlier this month Reign team officials will allow the internationally acclaimed soccer star to play for the French soccer team Lyon for the remainder of this year and next year, with the expectation that she will return to Seattle in June 2014.
2012: Seimone Augustus, considered a WNBA superstar with the Minnesota Lynx team, surfaced as an out lesbian and strong advocate for same-sex marriage when she backed the campaign to oppose a 2012 ballot measure in Minnesota to ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution. After the defeat of the ballot measure, Augustus announced plans to marry her partner Lataya Varner in a Minnesota ceremony.
2013: Robbie Rogers, an American professional soccer player, startled the soccer establishment in February of this year by announcing he is gay and was retiring from soccer at age 25, ending his tenure as a member of Englandās championship team Leads United. In May, Rogers changed his mind and was quickly snatched up by the Los Angeles Galaxy, making him the first openly gay professional menās soccer player in the U.S. having the status of an active player.
2013: Brittney Griner, a star rookie on the WNBA team Phoenix Mercury, publicly disclosed she is gay in April of this year. She became the first womanās professional basketball player to do so at the start of her professional career.
2013: Jason Collins, a professional basketball player who has played on six NBA teams since 2002, including the Washington Wizards, came out as gay in April of this year, becoming the first active athlete associated with one of the four major male team sports (basketball, football, baseball or hockey) to do so. His decision to come out drew widespread support from fellow athletes and fans, including from President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton. However, last month Collins became a free agent and is awaiting a contract with a team to continue playing in the NBA.
Sports
Bisexual former umpire sues Major League Baseball for sexual harassment
Brandon Cooper claims female colleague sexually harassed him
A fired former umpire is suing Major League Baseball, claiming he was sexually harassed by a female umpire and discriminated against because of his gender and his sexual orientation.
Brandon Cooper worked in the minor league Arizona Complex League last year, and according to the lawsuit he filed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan, he identifies as bisexual.
āI wanted my umpiring and ability to speak for itself and not to be labeled as āBrandon Cooper the bisexual umpire,āā he told Outsports. āI didnāt want to be labeled as something. It has been a passion of mine to simply make it to the Major Leagues.ā
But that didnāt happen. Instead of being promoted, he was fired. His suit names MLB and an affiliated entity, PDL Blue, Inc., and alleges he had endured a hostile work environment and wrongful termination and/or retaliation because of gender and sexual orientation under New York State and New York City law.
āHistorically the MLB has had a homogenous roster of umpires working in both the minor and major leagues,ā Cooper claims in his suit. āSpecifically, to date there has never been a woman who has worked in a (regular) season game played in the majors, and most umpires are still Caucasian men. To try to fix its gender and racial diversity issue, defendants have implemented an illegal diversity quota requiring that women be promoted regardless of merit.ā
Cooper claims former umpire Ed Rapuano, now an umpire evaluator, and Darren Spagnardi, an umpire development supervisor, told him in January 2023 that MLB had a hiring quota, requiring that at least two women be among 10 new hires.
According to the suit, Cooper was assigned to spring training last year and was notified by the senior manager of umpire administration, Dusty Dellinger, that even though he received a high rating in June from former big league umpire Jim Reynolds, now an umpire supervisor, that women and minority candidates had to be hired first.Ā
Cooper claims that upon learning Cooper was bisexual, fellow umpire Gina Quartararo insulted him and fellow umpire Kevin Bruno by using homophobic slurs and crude remarks. At that time, Quartararo and Cooper worked on the same umpiring crew and being evaluated for possible promotion to the big leagues.
This season, Quartararo is working as an umpire in the Florida State League, one of nine women who are working as minor league umpires.
Cooper said he notified Dellinger, but instead of taking action against Quartararo, he said MLB ordered Cooper to undergo sensitivity training. According to his lawsuit, he was also accused of violating the minor league anti-discrimination and harassment policy.
Cooperās suit says he met with MLB Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Billy Bean ā who the Los Angeles BladeĀ reported in DecemberĀ is battling cancer.Ā
The lawsuit says at that meeting, Bean told the umpire that Quartararo claimed she was the victim, as the only female umpire in the ACL. Cooper said he told Bean Quartararo regularly used homophobic slurs and at one point physically shoved him. He also claims that he has video evidence, texts and emails to prove his claim.
But he said his complaints to Major League Baseball officials were ignored. His lawsuit said MLB passed him over for the playoffs and fired him in October. He said of the 26 umpires hired with Cooper, he was the only one let go.
Through a spokesperson, MLB declined to comment on pending litigation. Quartararo has also not publicly commented on the lawsuit.
Sports
Brittney Griner, wife expecting first child
WNBA star released from Russian gulag in December 2022
One year after returning to the WNBA after her release from a Russian gulag and declaring, āIām never playing overseas again,ā Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and her wife announced they have something even bigger coming up this summer.
Cherelle, 31, and Brittney, 33, are expecting their first child in July. The couple shared the news with their 715,000 followers on Instagram.
āCanāt believe weāre less than three months away from meeting our favorite human being,ā the caption read, with the hashtag, #BabyGrinerComingSoon and #July2024.
Griner returned to the U.S. in December 2022 in a prisoner swap, more than nine months after being arrested in Moscow for possession of vape cartridges containing prescription cannabis.
In April 2023, at her first news conference following her release, the two-time Olympic gold medalist made only one exception to her vow to never play overseas again: To return to the Summer Olympic Games, which will be played in Paris starting in July, the same month āBaby Grinerā is due. āThe only time I would want to would be to represent the USA,ā she said last year.
Given that the unrestricted free agent is on the roster of both Team USA and her WNBA team, itās not immediately clear where Griner will be when their first child arrives.
The Griners purchased their āforever homeā in Phoenix just last year.
āPhoenix is home,ā Griner said at the Mercuryās end-of-season media day, according toĀ ESPN. āMe and my wife literally just got a place. This is it.ā
As the Los Angeles Blade reported last December, Griner is working with Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts ā like Griner, a married lesbian ā on an ESPN television documentary as well as a television series for ABC about her life story. Cherelle is executive producer of these projects.
Next month, Grinerās tell-all memoir of her Russian incarceration will be published by Penguin Random House. Itās titled “Coming Home” and the hardcover hits bookstores on May 7.
Sports
Applause and criticism for Staley’s trans-inclusive stance
South Carolina Gamecocks womenās coach made comments on Sunday
If not for a conservative transphobic blogger, this moment should be a celebration of NCAA womenās basketball coach Dawn Staley and the women of the South Carolina Gamecocks.
On Sunday, they concluded their undefeated season with a decisive win and a championship title. But when Staley faced reporters before that big game, Outkickās Dan Zakheske asked her an irrelevant, clickbait question about transgender women in sports, referring to them as ābiological males.ā
Staley could have ignored the question, or stated she had no opinion, but instead the legendary coach offered a crystal clear endorsement of trans women competing in womenās sports, something outlawed in her home state of South Carolina for girls in kindergarten through college.
āIām of the opinion,ā said Staley, āIf youāre a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. Thatās my opinion.ā
Zakheske clearly wasnāt satisfied with that declaration of allyship and Staley swiftly cut him off.
āYou want me to go deeper?ā she asked.
āDo you think transgender women should be able to participate,ā he started to say, when the coach stole the ball and took it downtown on a fastbreak. āThatās the question you want to ask? Iāll give you that. Yes. Yes. So, now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and Iām okay with that. I really am.ā
Staley is herself a Hall of Fame player a leading voice for diversity.
Reaction to her comments were swift, from LGBTQ rights organizations, athletes and inclusion opponents.Ā
āCoach Staley simply spoke the truth that trans women are women and should play if they want,ā said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, in a post on Instagram. āAll of us can take a page from Coach Staleyās playbook as a sports leader and as a person of high integrity guided by faith, compassion and common sense.ā
A White House pool reporter revealed President Joe Biden called Staley Sunday evening to congratulate her and the Gamecocks on their championship win. But itās not clear if she and the president, an outspoken supporter of trans rights, discussed her remarks on trans athletes.Ā
A number of Black leaders in the LGBTQ movement applauded Staley for taking a stand.Ā
āCoach Staley has always been a trailblazer, but sheās also shown that true leadership is about advancing justice and equality for everyone,ā said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. āBy expressing her full-throated support for transgender athletesā inclusion in sports, sheās sending an important message ā our shared humanity matters.
āCoach Staley showed courage and vulnerability, in choosing to answer the question and make a powerful statement of support for trans people on one of the biggest days and biggest stages in sports history,ā said Kierra Johnson, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, in a statement. āNot only does that make her a leader we can all aspire to like, it makes her a class act. She has etched her legacy in the history books with her play, her coaching, her heart and her smarts.ā
In congratulating Staley on her championship title victory, Dr. David J. Johns, the CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, also commended her for āher unwavering advocacy and support for transgender people in sports.ā
āIn a time when transgender athetes face unjust scrutiny, discrimination and exclusion from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, her courage to speak truth to power and in support of inclusion and fairness sets a powerful example for us all, and is a testament to her integrity and compassion.ā
The NBJC leader was referring to Mondayās announcement by the NAIA, the governing body of athletic programs at small colleges nationwide, voting 20-0 to essentially ban trans women from competing with other women beginning Aug. 1, as ESPN reported.
āIt is a shocking and devastating development that the NAIA, an organization that has done so much to open doors, is now slamming those doors shut on transgender athletes,ā said Sasha Buchert, Lambda Legalās senior attorney and director of the organizationās nonbinary and trans rights project.Ā
āInstead of standing up in support of transgender young people, the NAIA has simply turned its back on them ā permanently depriving them of the benefits of competition. Would that they had the courage of victorious University of South Carolina womenās basketball coach Dawn Staley, who didnāt miss a beat in clarifying that transgender women should be able to play.ā
However, praise for Staleyās stance was not universal.
Riley Gaines, failed former college swimmer and paid shill for the anti-inclusion organization, Independent Womenās Forum, called Staley āentirely incompetent or a sell-outā on Fox News. āPersonally, I donāt think she believes what she said.ā
Gaines has turned her fifth-place tie with out trans NCAA champion Lia Thomas into a career as a crusader against inclusion and a former advisor to the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Val Whiting, a former Stanford University and professional womenās basketball player, tweeted her strong disagreement with Staley. āA lot of my basketball sisters feel differently but trans women do not belong in womenās sports. Itās not fair nor safe for biological women. There has to be another solution for trans women to be able to compete athletically besides having them compete against biological women.ā
A lot of my basketball sisters feel differently but trans women do not belong in womenās sports. Itās not fair nor safe for biological women. There has to be another solution for trans women to be able to compete athletically besides having them compete against biological women.
— Val Whiting (@iamcoachval) April 7, 2024
Zaksheskeās Outkick colleague, anti-trans pundit David Hookstead, also went all-in with a transphobic post.
āDawn Staley says she supports men who identify as women competing against real women in sports. Her view could literally destroy womenās basketball forever. Why wonāt more people stand up for women?ā
Dawn Staley says she supports men who identify as women competing against real women in sports.
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) April 6, 2024
Her view could literally destroy womenās basketball forever.
Why wonāt more people stand up for women? pic.twitter.com/2A59KTqvHb
Hookstead then boasted that Staley blocked his account.
Republican South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace retweeted Zaksheskeās account of his interaction with Staley, calling her support of trans athletes āabsolute lunacy.ā That in turn won praise from Caitlyn Jenner, who retweeted Whiting and posted her thanks to Mace, along with this comment: āThere is nothing complicated about this issue!āĀ
What is complicated is that Jenner has never explained why she has competed with cisgender women in golf ever since her transition almost a decade ago.
Youāre a hypocrite. pic.twitter.com/42DKwA9jmF
— Art Candee šæš„¤ (@ArtCandee) April 7, 2024
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