OT - NBA Player Jason Collins - "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay." [Locked]
Here's the SI article where NBA Center Jason Collins comes out.
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/news/20130429/jason-collins-gay-nba-player/#ixzz2Rrq92saZ
EDIT: Mods feel free to delete if this is too political. If you've come to discuss the merits of gay rights and such, please just stop here. There are plenty of other message boards where that can be done.
Mod edit: The relevant sports related stuff seemed to get hashed out earlier, but the latest comments are starting to sound more political, so I'm shutting it down before it gets too far out of hand. After 200+ comments there probably isn't much more to say anyway, at least not enough to make any potential headaches worthwhile. JGB.
as the date Matthew Shephard was killed shows he has a finely tuned sense of the symbolic. It was a deeply personal, genuine and articulate article and I hope more people read his comments. Thank you EM as well for your comments.
If we ever stop discriminating against mintority groups, maybe we won't have identity politics. These groups are more often than not are attempting to be treated like normal citizens and not second class citizens.
April 29th, 2013 at 12:39 PM ^
where one' sexual orientation does not preclude them from being the baddest ass mo-fo on the block and is not even in the top 10 things that make up or define him.
April 29th, 2013 at 12:42 PM ^
Holy fucking shit. Jason Collins is a brave, brave man. Until others come forward, he is going to be a symbol, and an object of derision for the "old guard." I hope his teammates have his back if he becomes the target of dirty play.
Most of all, I hope the present treats him as well as history one day will. And make no mistake about it; this is a historic day.
April 29th, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^
April 29th, 2013 at 12:44 PM ^
Don't sell this short. This is the first active player in a major sport to come out. It's a major benchmark in the gay rights community. Just because it will happen without a serious amount of blowback doesn't make it any less important.
April 29th, 2013 at 12:57 PM ^
95 percent? I'd be interested to see where you got that number from. Here's a recent poll that puts support of gay marriage around 53 percent.
Just because 95% of people may shrug their shoulders at someone being gay doesn't necessarily mean that 95% will support gay marriage.
I think the implicit point was that if something is so unoffensive to you that you shrug your shoulders over it, it's an insufficient basis for denying people equal rights under the law.
I understand his point, sure. Then it comes down to whether you believe the failure of a government to expand a right is the same as the affirmative denial of that right.
Ever heard of DOMA? The thing runs amock of the full faith and credit clause. Or how about the countless laws on state books?
April 29th, 2013 at 12:51 PM ^
I did not see that coming.
April 29th, 2013 at 12:55 PM ^
That is awesome. Very well written article as well by Mr. Collins.
April 29th, 2013 at 12:57 PM ^
I don't want to give the wrong impression that I am against this or something because that's far from the truth.....but isn't the better reaction to NOT make a big deal out of this? He's very courageous for coming out but isn't it better to go oh, that's cool, and move on?
It was the same sort of situation with actors coming out. People used to make a huge deal about it, which I think actually made it harder for others to come out.
Cannot. Upvote. Enough.
Tremendous and Momentous = Trementous.
I applaud the courage that it took for him to be the first. I look forward to the day when orientation is irrelevant except with regard to the person sitting next to me at the bar.
Truly a momentous moment in sports history, but I wonder how much impact it will have in general. Collins is a pretty low-profile guy in the NBA. I doubt he has many endorsement deals to protect that would be jeopardized by making his sexuality a matter of public record. Maybe that makes him the perfect candidate for being the first to come out. Still, I don't know if this will enbolden other players to follow suit, especially those who might have more to lose if their public image was so radically altered.
I compare this to PR salvage job waged back in January when all the Manti Teo stuff came out. Remember all the speculation about how Teo was probably gay and the whole Lennay Kekua thing was a put up job to cover it up in the public eye? Whether or not Teo is gay, it was clear that his PR team were very invested in convincing the public that he was straight, which tells volumes in itself.
Still, it will be very refreshing when the day comes that professional athlete X publicly comes out as gay and it garners no more attention than a team drafting a person of color does these days.
If I were a GM i'd rather deal with that then a player with drug issues or a trail of baby mommas. Really, if he can play and works hard and shows up sober who cares?
Good for him. Happy that this isn't nearly that big of an issue to most people. Shows the growth in society, if even on a miniscule level.
it's an issue, but if that's how he rolls then whatever. don't expect everyone to conform to your social views.
You know...I'm not even going to ask about the "social views" tag. To each his own.
Good for Jason and for professional sports. Interesting that no one really commented on how this was possibly started by Britney Griner's similar announcement last week.
who cares
Agreed. What does it matter?
Are you good at your sport? Yes? Okay cool.
I could care less what they do in their own privacy. Same thing goes for color or religion.
I honestly don't think this is (nor should be) considered political, nor do I give a rat's ass if this offends anyone either or sends me to Bolivia: I think this a tremendous first step in the right direction towards tearing down a irrational sports barrier. It's now up to the athletes that play with and against him to be real men too and show the rest of the country that Jason is just another person, teammate and opponent like anyone else.
Congrats to Jason for being himself. He will be a role moldel for many young men for years to come. As someone who grew up with 2 kids that ended up coming out i hope that some day we can live in a world where gays dont have to "come out".
I hope this is looked back on as a great day for sports. It should be...I wish him the best.
All the other implications of this aside, I am just happy for him. It must be a huge weight off his shoulders. I can't imagine keeping such a huge part about who you are a secret for so long.
Other people do, which is why this matters. If you're so tolerant that this is not an issue to you, then that is great and I look forward to the day where that is true for most everyone. But there is a lot of homophobia in the locker room, and attitudes are due for a change there. There are also other athletes out there that aren't as yet "out," who, perhaps after this, will be a little more emboldened. Same goes for our youth, many of whom look up to these guys, for better or worse.
Who cares? Well, maybe once everyone that is gay is comfortably out, no one will care anymore. In the meantime, this is still a big deal.
My thing is why do they need to be "out"? Why should it matter? Why should a private thing like one's sexual preferences need to be made public?
There's no such thing as "normal" when it comes to sexuality. Everyone's unique. So should we really all broadcast what's unique about our individual sexualities?
I just find the whole thing tiresome at this point. I don't understand why people in our culture are so obsessed with what other people do in bed and who they do it with. Maybe *they* should come out of the closet for their quasi-voyeuristic tendencies.
People need to grow up already.
You say it doesn't matter. There's no such thing as normal anyway. You're actually right, in my opinion. I AGREE with you on that. However, not everyone agrees with us. This announcement is important for them. Furthermore, not everyone that sees themselves as gay, bi, otherwise varied (as we all are, after all,) realizes that there are people like you and me out there, who don't see sexual orientation as a big deal. If it doesn't bother you and me that there are gay people in pro sports, struggling kids ought to know that. It could potentially help them in their own lives.
So you're right, on one hand.... But not everyone thinks like you. So maybe this kind of announcement isn't for you. This is for them.
As a gay man who is addicted to all things sports, this is very, extremely, immensely huge and important to me. What an awesome day.
As historic as Jason Collins' statements in today's SI are, it will be even more historic when he actually plays in an NBA game next season. As a free agent, there's no certainty he'll be signed for next year.
Just as a sidenote, it's awesome that the person to break this barrier is apparently, a very good writer as well. His article does a great job conveying the pressures pulling him in different directions as well as the process that led him to decide to come out.
The short article by his twin brother is really sweet as well.
As a gay sports fan myself, I am extremely happy to hear this news.
I know Jason Collins is considered to be at the end of his career in the NBA but I am hoping this can be used as a stepping stone. And there needed to be one because the fact that in 2013, there were zero out athletes currently playing in the four major sports, that spoke volumes. And it still does.
Alas, listening to the callers phone in on Doug Karsch/Scott "the Gator" Anderson show on 97.1, about half of them remind me that we still have a loooooooonnnnnng way to go towards more tolerance but I feel that Collins coming out can be the start towards that direction.
You're a "sports fan"?!?
Was I that obvious?
Yeah....I guess I was.
You were either a sports fan, or into gay sports. Could have gone either way.
Brittney Griner is, by far, more well known than who ever this guy is. If someone created a board post in regards to her coming out, I missed it. Everyone is entitled to thier opinions and believes, I personally disagree with quite a few people's believes on here. But, respect that in our country we have the right to have a diffrence of opinion, just like Jason Collins has the right to be with whoever he wants. Regardless if I agree with it or not. Even though I personally don't agree with it, I also don't care if someones gay, they are still a person and should be treated no diffrently than any other person.
I dunno who Brittney Griner is either... Apparently I just don't pay that much attention to things that aren't in my immediate reality.
Meh, who cares?
Also, who's Jason Collins?
Someone on facebook posted something commending his bravery for outing himself as a member of the Washington Wizards, a fact he'd been attempting to keep hidden from friends and family alike
...Jason Collins for taking this momentous step.