Category Archives: Sports

Many American children grow up idolizing athletes who play professional sports.  Recently, there has been a lot of conversation about homophobia in American sports so I was intrigued when I saw Conor Gaughan’s article on HuffPost Gay, Out of the closet and into the locker room: The business of coming out in the pros.

The growing acceptance of our small minority in the US means that it is not a question of “if” someone comes out but “when” and all signs seem to point to a time sooner rather than later – in spite of some senseless comments by professional athletes who are “uncomfortable” about having a homosexual in their locker room – to which my only response is “you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Would there be a financial incentive to cash out because of their status as an out professional athlete who is playing in a major sport in the US? Perhaps but earlier this month I wrote about Ben Cohen (a retired professional rugby star) who commented that a fellow competitor, Gareth Thomas, was rumored to have been dropped by Reebok because he is gay.  It is hard to say exactly what the response would be for that first athlete to come out but it seems like for the first time advertisers and media are ready and you know what, I think America is too.

Ben Cohen, a rugby world cup champion and founder of The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, made news this past weekend speaking at a debate at Britain’s National Student Pride when he said Reebok dropped rugby star Gareth Thomas for being gay.

Whether this is true or not is hard to say, but I have a feeling it won’t be the last time we hear these type of allegations.  Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about why there are not any homosexual athletes in America’s major sports leagues.  I chalk up the fact that the only reason we find out about gay athletes after they retire is due to homophobia.  If there is truth to Ben Cohen’s comments about Reebok’s decision to drop a prominent and popular rugby athlete because he came out, I find that troubling.  You may read more about Ben Cohen’s comments about Reebok and Gareth Thomas here.