Sports
A timeline of progress in U.S. sports
Looking back on influential coming out stories since 1975
(From left) Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Billy Bean and Seimone Augustus (King photo by Andrew Coppa Photography, Navratilvoa photo by Michael Key, Bean photo by David Vance, Augustus photo by Danny Karwoski)
This timeline reflects the highlights of professional U.S. athletes who have come out in the most popular American 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 — first with the news media and later in his 1977 bestselling book, “The David Kopay Story: An Extraordinary Self-Revelation.”
FIND MORE OF THE WASHINGTON BLADE SPORTS ISSUE HERE.
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. 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 Pallone’s view exonerated him of any wrongdoing, the umpire said Giamatti and other baseball officials didn’t want him in baseball because he’s gay. In his 1990 book “Behind the Mask: My Double Life in Baseball,” 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 “Phil Donahue Show,” 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 NBC’s “Today” 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 A’s reportedly because top management feared news of Burke’s 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 he’s 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 “Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life In and Out of Major League Baseball.”
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 – David Kopay (1975) and Roy Simmons (1992) – Tuaolo’s 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 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) All-Star who was chosen three times as the league’s 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 women’s 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, “Man in the Middle.”
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 Welts’ 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 women’s U.S. professional soccer player with the Seattle Reign team and who is credited with helping the U.S. women’s national soccer team win a Gold Medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in England, came out as a lesbian in an interview with “Out” 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 England’s 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 men’s 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 woman’s 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
English soccer bans transgender women from women’s teams
British Supreme Court last month ruled legal definition of woman limited to ‘biological women’
The organization that governs English soccer on Thursday announced it will no longer allow transgender women to play on women’s teams.
The British Supreme Court on April 16 ruled the legal definition of a woman is limited to “biological women” and does not include trans women. The Football Association’s announcement, which cites the ruling, notes its new policy will take effect on June 1.
“As the governing body of the national sport, our role is to make football accessible to as many people as possible, operating within the law and international football policy defined by UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) and FIFA,” said the Football Association in a statement that announced the policy change. “Our current policy, which allows transgender women to participate in the women’s game, was based on this principle and supported by expert legal advice.”
“This is a complex subject, and our position has always been that if there was a material change in law, science, or the operation of the policy in grassroots football then we would review it and change it if necessary,” added the Football Association.
The Football Association also acknowledged the new policy “will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify.”
“We are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game,” it said.
The Football Association told the BBC there were “fewer than 30 transgender women registered among millions of amateur players” and there are “no registered transgender women in the professional game” in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The Scottish Football Association, which governs soccer in Scotland, is expected to also ban trans women from women’s teams.
FIFA has announced Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup, despite concerns over its human rights record that includes the death penalty for homosexuality.
The Associated Press reported FIFA confirmed the decision on Dec. 18. The AP noted Saudi Arabia is the only country that bid to host the 2034 World Cup.
“This is a historic moment for Saudi Arabia and a dream come true for all our 32 million people who simply love the game,” said Sport Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al- Faisal, who is also president of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, in a statement the Saudi Press Agency posted to its website.
Saudi Arabia is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death.
A U.S. intelligence report concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “likely approved” the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. A federal judge in 2022 dismissed a lawsuit against Prince Mohammed after the Biden-Harris administration said he was immune to the lawsuit because he is the country’s prime minister.
Human rights activists have also criticized the Saudi government over the treatment of women, migrant workers, and other groups in the country.
“No one should be surprised by this,” Cyd Zeigler, Jr., co-founder of Outsports.com, an LGBTQ sports website, told the Washington Blade in an email after FIFA confirmed Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup. “FIFA, the International Olympic Committee, and many other world governing bodies routinely turn to authoritarian countries with terrible human-rights records to host major sporting events. There are simply few other countries willing to spend the billions of dollars it takes to build the needed infrastructure.”
Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, in a statement described FIFA’s decision as “a betrayal of the values that football should stand for: Inclusivity, fairness, and respect for human rights.”
“This is not about football; it’s about sportswashing,” said Tatchell. “The Saudi regime is using the World Cup to launder its international image and distract from its brutal abuses. By granting them this platform, FIFA is complicit in whitewashing their crimes.”
Qatar, which borders Saudi Arabia, hosted the 2022 World Cup.
Consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in Qatar.
“Saudi Arabia was the only country to bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup,” said Zeigler. “So, until FIFA, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and other governing bodies ban major human-rights violators from hosting, we’ll continue to see events like this in Saudi Arabia, China, Qatar, and other countries with terrible LGBTQ rights issues.”
The Blade has reached out to FIFA and the Saudi government for comment.
Sports
Controversy grows over member of Calif. university’s women’s volleyball team
Coach suspended, NCAA sued, more rivals forfeit
San Jose State University’s women volleyball team has collected yet another W by forfeit — its seventh so far this season — as controversy swirls around one player on its roster. She’s one of the seniors, and she has been dragged in the media by her own co-captain, who outed her as transgender.
The Washington Blade is not naming this student athlete since neither she nor the school have confirmed or even commented on her gender identity.
SJSU visited San Diego last weekend for a match before the Aztecs’ biggest home crowd of the season — including protesters waving “Save Women’s Sports” banners and booing one player on the Spartans team in particular: The woman who is reported to be trans.
Security was tight, with metal detectors and extra guards and police officers present. Video posted to YouTube by a right-wing sports media site — which names the player — shows an angry fan arguing with security about his First Amendment rights.
Video recorded during Nov. 9’s game shows a player for San Diego was injured following a spike by the player rumored to be trans, and had to be helped off the court. However, the video clearly shows that player was injured by landing poorly on one foot, not as a result of the spike.
The Aztecs defeated the Spartans 3-1, but San Jose has still punched its ticket to the conference finals, thanks to its record number of forfeits.
Wyoming was set to visit SJSU Thursday, but for the second time is joining other universities that have forfeited games against the Spartans, all without providing a reason. Boise State announced it will forfeit an upcoming match set for Nov. 21, its second forfeit against SJSU.
In September, the Spartans’ co-captain, senior Brooke Slusser, outed her own teammate, the player at the center of this controversy, in joining a federal lawsuit against the NCAA spearheaded by anti-trans inclusion activist and former college athlete Riley Gaines.
Slusser said in the lawsuit and in subsequent interviews that the player in question shouldn’t be on her team. The suit claims the NCAA’s policy on trans athletes violates Title IX by allowing “men” to compete in women’s sports and use women’s locker rooms where they display “full male genitalia.”
The NCAA policy for trans athletes participating in women’s volleyball aligns with that of USA Volleyball, which requires trans female athletes to suppress their testosterone below 10 nmol/L for a period of one year before competition. That is also how the NCAA determines eligibility. SJSU has stated repeatedly that all its players are eligible.
The lawsuit also asks the NCAA to revoke any titles or records won by trans female athletes in women’s competitions, which seems to be specifically aimed at stripping out trans NCAA champions Lia Thomas and CeCé Telfer of their titles in swimming and track and field, respectively.
Prior to this season, the player rumored to be trans did not attract any attention other than being a successful starter, like Slusser. But now that she is in the media spotlight, Slusser has come forward to tell right wing media, including Megyn Kelly, why she feels another woman two inches taller than she is poses a danger.
“I don’t feel safe,” Slusser said on “The Megyn Kelly Show” last month. “I’ve gone to my coaches and said I refuse to play against [her] … It’s not safe.”
In the video, both Kelly and Slusser refer to the player as “him” and a “man,” and name her.
Now comes another twist: San Jose State University suspended associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose with pay, indefinitely, after she filed a Title IX complaint against SJSU. She claims the player Slusser identified as trans conspired with an opponent to help the team lose a match and injure Slusser. Batie-Smoose named the player in question in her complaint and on Sept. 23, joined the same lawsuit that Slusser is now a part of.
“Safety is being taken away from women,” Batie-Smoose told Fox News. “Fair play is taken away from women. We need more and more people to do this and fight this fight because women’s sports, as we know it right now will be forever changed.”
Media reporting on the suspension, including Fox News, continue to name the athlete in question, with some also reporting what they say is the athlete’s birth name.
San Jose State released a statement following the suspension of Batie-Smoose: “The associate head coach of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter,” the team said.
SJSU Coach Todd Kress told ESPN that reports saying that any member of the Spartans colluded with their opponent are “littered with lies.”
The Spartans are currently among the top six finishers in the Mountain West Conference that will qualify to compete in the conference tournament scheduled for Nov. 27-30.
Adams Morgan queer bar broken into and vandalized
‘Things Like This’ embraces formula and plus-size visibility
Calendar: May 23-29
Comings & Goings
New doc chronicles gay hero’s journey from rape to forgiveness
Looking back at 50 years of Pride in D.C
WorldPride events round-up
Wes Moore signs HIV decriminalization bill
Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections
