Actor and former NBA player for the Lakers tells Larry King that he believes gay players have always been in pro sports, and he believes Michael Sam and Jason Collins are brave to coming out:
KING: Gays in sports. We have them now in the NFL, NBA, think that’s coming and think that’ll be accepted?
FOX: I think it’s been here, the acceptance of it will grow with time. Jason Collins, and Michael Sam recently in football; brave men for stepping out and being a voice and standing for their own. First standing for themselves, and being role models for other gay men and women who are in the workplace and want to be expressed, so the acceptance now and the growth comes from their teammates and the league.
KING: You say it’s always been here, did you know gay players?
FOX: I didn’t know gay players, I just know as I’ve evolved as an actor and being around Hollywood and working with gay men and women, the understanding of just the community itself, gave me insight into how difficult its been for gay men and women to live and how covered they’ve lived for so many years. So I just look at them and think its been, there has to have been gay men and women who haven’t felt safe enough to express themselves.
KING: When more come open, do you think it’s going to be accepted readily in NBA locker rooms?
FOX: I think you have to demand it. I think you have to just demand equality in general.
Larry King Now, now in it’s second season, is a daily show available online Monday through Friday on Ora.tv and Hulu.
At a lunch time gay pride celebration event at Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., principal Pete Cahall made a surprising announcement.
“I am a proud gay man that just happens to be the principal of Wilson High School.”
Students and staff attending the rally broke out in cheer and applause of support.
Asked why he made the announcement now, the 50 year old principal said “What I kept thinking was, how can I be the principal of Wilson and oversee a pride day and tell kids to be themselves and be who you are and then not do that? It’s hypocritical.”
Cahall said he was inspired to come out by Jason Collins of the Brooklyn Nets and Michael Sam of the St. Louis Rams.
Watch Cahall’s emotional coming out in the report below from ABC affiliate WJLA:
NCAA basketball player Derrick Gordon recently spoke with Michelangelo Signorile about coming out:
“Don’t wait. Take advantage of everything that you have in front of you.
“Don’t wait because you’re scared. Don’t wait until you’re 35 or 40-years-old and done playing the sport that you love. Because it’s stressful to live that way.
“I cried most of the nights when I was in the closet just because it starts to take a toll on you just because you’re worried about how people are going to think about you and what they’re going to say about you.
“Take advantage of it now. It’s going to make your life so much easier.”
Gordon goes on to say what an inspiration it was to have Jason Collins come out, and what it feels like to finally be out – “ecstatic!”
Good Morning America host Robin Roberts in an interview with Good Housekeeping on coming out:
“Shortly after I posted about my relationship with Amber on Facebook last year, I showed a picture of us with my niece — who’d gotten married in Baton Rouge, LA — on GMA. It was like a beautiful family picture. I was so moved that people got it and said, ‘You’re happy.’ Others, though, were asking, ‘Why didn’t you say something about her before? Why are you only recognizing her now?’
“News flash: Some people like their anonymity. This is what’s right for me. Love is love, and I’m grateful to have that.
“Sometimes there’s a stigma attached to how people view you if you’re living a certain way. But I don’t care — you gotta live your life. You gotta find what happiness is and what it means for you, and you can’t get caught up in what someone is saying about you on Twitter. You don’t go through a year like I did to not be happy and not make your own choices.”
University of Massachusetts sophomore Derrick Gordon came out today, making him the first openly gay player in Division I men’s college basketball.
Seeing the positive reaction to out NBA-er Jason Collins’ coming out inspired Gordon to come out.
“That was so important to me,” he said of the first time Jason Collins entered the court, receiving a standing ovation, “knowing that sexuality didn’t matter, that the NBA was OK with it.”
“I just didn’t want to hide anymore, in any way,” Gordon told ESPN. “I didn’t want to have to lie or sneak. I’ve been waiting and watching for the last few months, wondering when a Division I player would come out, and finally I just said, ‘Why not me?’”
Gordon says the reaction from his team has been very positive. Immediately after coming out, one team mate said, “We got you, you’re one of us.”
Out NFL hopeful Michael Sam also offered his congratulations on Twitter:
Mitch Eby, junior defensive end for the Chapman University football team, recently came out to his team after years of carrying what he considered “the stigma” of being gay in his head.
Playing football and baseball in high school, Eby refused to admit to himself he was gay. Years of locker room banter plus what he saw in the media in how gays were portrayed fed his fear of coming out.
And then he saw a story regarding Conner Mertens, freshman kicker at Willamette University who came out publicly as bisexual in January. Eby reached out to Mertens several weeks ago and the two hit it off.
“As soon as I got an email from him, it was exactly what I wanted, to see athletes like Mitch reaching out to me for help,” Mertens said. “The first thing I asked him was, ‘Are you ready to start living your life?’ He said he was very ready for it. Being out of the closet is so different from living life in it.”
After weeks of talking with Conner, he addressed his team with a prepared speech.
“I came up here today to talk to you guys about something that I’ve been dealing with for quite a while. It’s something personal that I’ve always thought I could just bury away, but I can’t. We live life so worried about how other people view us that we forget about ourselves. I can no longer go on living in fear, repressing myself because of how society may view me. I can no longer lie to my friends, family and teammates. It’s time I lived life for myself for a change.
“With that being said, I am ready to share with you all that I am gay.
“It has taken me years to accept myself for who I truly am, so it’s irrational to expect everybody to unconditionally accept me right away. However, the one thing that I hope that I can count on from each of you, my teammates, is your respect. Your respect as a friend, your respect as a teammate, and your respect as a man.
“Being gay may be something that defines me, but it does not limit me. It is such a small part of who I am. I am the same person you all know, no different than before. I’m still the kid that is obsessed with pretty much anything having to do with sports, I’m still the kid that some of you love to call stupid nicknames like ‘mom’ and ‘hot dog,’ and I’m still someone who will continue to go out there every day and push myself and push my teammates to be the best football team around. I am your teammate, I am your classmate and I am your brother. And I know that my brothers will continue to stand by my side, no matter what.”
When he had finished speaking, the team erupted in applause. Eby smiled, taken aback by the overwhelming response. As the clapping ceased, Eby broke the silence with the most profound words he would share all night:
“So how about some pizza?”
As the team gathered for dinner, various teammates hugged Eby, thanking him for sharing himself and trusting them. One teammate even called Eby his “hero.”
Read more about Mitch’s coming out and how the pieces came together for him to live his life openly at OutSports.
Congrats Mitch on honoring who you are, and for sharing your story with the world. Like Conner before you, you are helping other young athletes fully own who they are with pride.
In an interview with WinterIsComing.net, a “Game of Thrones” fan site, Kristian Nairn casually came out to his interviewer when asked about his apparently gay fan base of “bears.”
“Well, in all honesty, when you talk about ‘the gay community,’ you are talking about MY community, haha,” he said. “I AM aware of it yeah, and I think it’s really lovely. There’s not a day that I don’t get a few messages, but 99 percent or more are super sweet and nothing smutty at all! Again, it’s a privilege, and I really mean that.”
“I’ve never hidden my sexuality from anyone, my whole life in fact, and I’ve been waiting for someone to ask about it in an interview, ’cause it’s not something you just blurt out,” he added. “I’ve tried to lead the questions a few times, to no avail!”
Nairn has played the role of “Hodor” since the beginning of the series.
Openly gay multimedia artist Grant Rehnberg’s grandfather came out to him at age 90, five months before he died.
From Rehnberg:
We buried my Grandpa Jim one month ago.
Baptist pastor, World War II veteran (218th Counter Intelligence Corps), preceded in death by Grandma Doris, his wife of sixty-five years.
Five months ago, Grandpa Jim told me he is gay.
Sitting over photos of my husband Bradford and I at our wedding, my ninety-year-old grandfather proudly celebrated “the balls it takes” to live openly. He told me about the love of his life, Warren Johnson, a boy he played music with at church. He told me God loves every part of us. He told me he would trade places with me if he could. He told me he loved me.
I put picture of Bradford and me in his suit coat pocket and a red rose on his coffin.
Rehnberg is creating a multimedia art installation titled “The Family Connection” to honor his grandfather and explore the gay connection they shared.
He is looking to fund the project through Indiegogo. You can watch his video pitch below:
Former Senator of Puerto Rico and Grindr fan Roberto Arango
I was just thinking about this douchebag yesterday.
Longtime readers will remember the scandal back in August of 2011 when Puerto Rico’s Sen. Roberto Arango, who chaired the local 2004 campaign to reelect George W. Bush, has been found showing his anus (NSFW) on the gay hook-up site Grindr.
Arango acknowledged that the photos were of him, but says he was merely posting images to show off his recent weight loss. IN HIS ANUS.
Well, now Arango – who in 2009 voted in favor of an amendment to Puerto Rico’s constitution to ban the recognition of same-sex marriages and opposed to civil union bills – has come out.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, now we know why he was sending selfies of his anus. And it wasn’t to show off his “weight loss.”
