Jason Collins first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport

[Wifestein]

"I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay," says Jason Collins.

 

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/news/20130429/jason-collins-gay-nba-player/

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRi_BGyc3b4

 

Hope more will come out :] Hopefully that also helps in making gay marriage legal in more states in USA

 

This news really makes me happy hehe, so no hate comments if you no likey.. I will eat you like a dinosaur if you do!

[NoGooD]

Can someone please explain why this story is relevant? He's gotten 2 points in the the last 5 games. Not a big b-ball fan myself, but of friends that are..noone has heard anything about him since he and his brother played at Stanford. Just curious if you had ever heard of this guy prior to him announcing this Alex?

 

Just honestly want to know why people are so giddy about an aging player making a brilliant career move.

[Antichrist]

Can someone please explain why this story is relevant? He's gotten 2 points in the the last 5 games. Not a big b-ball fan myself, but of friends that are..noone has heard anything about him since he and his brother played at Stanford. Just curious if you had ever heard of this guy prior to him announcing this Alex?

 

Just honestly want to know why people are so giddy about an aging player making a brilliant career move.

 

Why post negative comments when Alex asked for those with negative comments to refrain from posting? Try to be a little respectful.

 

As for the basketball player, +1 for having the balls to tell the world. That has to take a lot of guts to do in this homophobic society.

[WeetBix KiD]

Good on him
Sadly here in Australia we have the "dont ask, dont say" crap going around our sports. Not long ago it was made public and some sportsmen said they didnt care if they had a gay team mate, others were idiots.
We had one olympic diver "come out" a couple of years ago and none of the public gave a crap... Most Aussie would like it made legal here, its just our crappy politicans saying no

[Levi]

One of those topics that are even worth posting, but nonetheless who really cares?

[Gubbi]

Actually it's quite sad that things like that have to be reported, but there are probably quite a few that are afraid of coming out in professional sports and the more coming out publicly, the easier it will get for them to come out too.

It can very well be that this guy came out to push his career a little but in the end, I already forgot his name while replying here in this topic haha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. If that guy manages to tell it the world, people should be at least capable of telling their family and friends..

[NoGooD]

Why post negative comments when Alex asked for those with negative comments to refrain from posting? Try to be a little respectful.

 

As for the basketball player, +1 for having the balls to tell the world. That has to take a lot of guts to do in this homophobic society.

I wasn't trying to throw negativity into this thread Anti. I'm acutally curious as to why some people view this as a big story. I could care less if the guy is gay. His job is to put a ball through a hoop and/or prevent an opposing team from doing it. He hasn't done that very well in awhile. Yet for 48 hrs his name has been front page all over the world.

 

If anything, a story about Magic Johnson's reaction to his son coming out would be much cooler.

[daredevil]

I'm acutally curious as to why some people view this as a big story. I could care less if the guy is gay. His job is to put a ball through a hoop and/or prevent an opposing team from doing it. He hasn't done that very well in awhile. Yet for 48 hrs his name has been front page all over the world.

 

 

My thoughts... who gives shit if he impotent, gay, transgender, white or black...  People just need something for news now a days... and that's what this news channel do especially Fox news.. lol

[Antichrist]

I wasn't trying to throw negativity into this thread Anti. I'm acutally curious as to why some people view this as a big story. I could care less if the guy is gay. His job is to put a ball through a hoop and/or prevent an opposing team from doing it. He hasn't done that very well in awhile. Yet for 48 hrs his name has been front page all over the world.

 

If anything, a story about Magic Johnson's reaction to his son coming out would be much cooler.

 

Mostly I think it's because a celebrity saying something makes others in a similar circumstance feel better. It's no different from a basketball player saying "OMG WEAR THESE BASKETBALL SHOES!" 

 

It's an endorsement, is the bottom line. BUT at the same time, I'd imagine it takes a lot of courage to 'come out' and tell the world you're gay. The latter is what people normally focus on.

[rolf]

^^ it is especially a lot of courage in a world where it is not (yet) really accepted. Why? I guess not everyone is really happy when you're all in the shower together and if someone lollygags, they may be interested in that lolly. Or at least it might feel like that.

 

 

Personally I couldn't care less anymore for people coming out, celebrities or not. I've never really cared, but I had two huge turning points in my life for caring less. The first is when a very good friend came out (~8 years ago, we were both around 18). And more recently, about half a year ago, I had a very nice talk with a nice lesbian lady, who apparently wasn't born a lady  (and my skills are apparently so good that I thought "weird voice", but only a week later heard the reason for that ).