Ex-Baltimore Ravens and gay rights activist Brendon Ayanbadejo has been stoking media interest in recent weeks with his efforts to have four closeted NFL players come out at the same time.
Well, one NBA player, Jason Collins, just stole their thunder by becoming the first male professional athlete (in one of the four major sports) to come out, while still playing … technically.
I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m Black. And I’m gay.
This is the seemingly matter-of-fact way Collins came out in the current issue of Sports Illustrated. Incidentally, he may not have intended this, but I think it’s a challenge to the acute strain of homophobia among far too many Blacks that Collins proclaimed his gayness on par with his Blackness … and properly so!
But, in this age of political correctness, it’s hardly surprising that he’s receiving near-unanimous praise for “raising [his] hand.”
Everyone from former President Bill Clinton to NBA superstar Kobe Bryant has already chimed in on Twitter to express unconditional support. And, not to be outdone, Obama rang from the White House to offer his presidential seal of approval.
I support him too.
I am mindful, though, that Collins is a 12-year journeyman who has played for six NBA teams, and is currently looking for his seventh. Therefore, his courageous stand is undermined by the fact that he waited to take it on his way out of the league.
Still, I’m cynical enough to believe that, given the way he’s being hailed as the Jackie Robinson of gay athletes, an NBA team would sign him as much for his pioneering PR value as for what little contribution he could make at this point as a glorified bench warmer.
Which clearly begs an apology to Robinson who took his courageous stand in the prime of his career. Not to mention that Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova blazed this gay trail for female professional athletes decades ago; or, for an even greater profile in courage, that Britney Griner, the top pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft, came out in her own Sports Illustrated feature just weeks ago.
This is why, with all due respect to Jason Collins, I’m reserving my unqualified praise for the male professional athlete who has the courage to come out when he still has skin in the game.
* This commentary was originally published yesterday, Monday, at 4:50 pm