7 Gay Sportsmen Who Are Out and Proud

Progress for the LGBT+ community has been ramping up in recent years, but athletics is still a particularly difficult area to go against deeply ingrained heteronormative ideals. Acceptance in most sports is steadily increasing and that’s thanks to the brave athletes who come out publicly as gay sportsmen, challenging the idea of what being an athlete means. They are showing young, gay athletes that they can be honest and open about who they are and also succeed in the sport of their choice. I have compiled a list of 7 gay athletes who have made a difference in sports simply by coming out and being proud and out to be themselves. And these athletes prove sexuality has nothing to do with athletic ability.

1. Tom Daley – British Diver

Tom is one of the youngest British divers at the Olympics, he specialises in the 10-metre platform event and is a double World champion. He has also won a number of medals in the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and other diving championships. He is also one of the youngest gay sportsmen to have proudly come out. Indeed, at 19, he came out as a gay athlete publicly in a YouTube video in 2013 and has since married his partner, American Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. They both live in London with their first son, Robert Ray Black-Daley. Tom told The Guardian that his relationship with Black was his first ever with a man and although he dated girls before, he’d never been in love. He also hinted that he might be more bisexual than gay, but he doesn’t feel the need to put a label on it.

2. Gareth Thomas – Welsh Rugby Football Player

Nicknamed "Alfie", Gareth Thomas is a former professional rugby footballer, winner of 4 rugby league caps who represented Wales in both rugby union and rugby league. With 100 test match appearances, he is currently ranked 13th among international try scorers, and is the second highest Wales try scorer. In December 2009, Thomas was one of the first rugby gay sportsmen to come out and the following he received the prestigious Stonewall’s Hero of the Year award. In a Twitter video posted on in September, Thomas announced that he is HIV positive. His bravery was honoured by Prince Harry, who shared a message quoting "Gareth, you are an absolute legend! In sharing your story of being HIV+, you are saving lives and shattering stigma, by showing you can be strong and resilient while living with HIV.

3. Thomas Hitzlsperger – German Former Footballer and Current Head of Sport

As a player Thomas spent the early part of his career playing for Aston Villa in England, before returning to Germany to play for Stuttgart, where he won the Bundesliga in 2007. In 2010, he signed for Italian side Lazio, before moving back to England to join West Ham United later that year. Hitzlsperger also represented the German national team, earning 52 caps and being selected for the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008. Following a series of injuries, he retired from football in September 2013. After his retirement, he came out as gay, the highest-profile male footballer to do so. Hitzlsperger, who was engaged to his childhood sweetheart and broke up with her shortly before the scheduled wedding, was not certain of his sexual orientation until his career was almost over, something not completely uncommon in gay sportsmen. 

4. Orlando Cruz – Puerto Rican Boxer

Cruz made his professional debut in 2000 against Alfredo Valdez in Puerto Rico. He was undefeated until 2009 when he lost to Cornelius Lock by TKO. Currently ranked at No. 4 among featherweights by the World Boxing Organization. In 2012, he became the first professionally active boxer to come out as gay saying ”I want to try to be the best role model I can be for kids who might look into boxing as a sport and a professional career. I have and will always be a proud Puerto Rican. I have always been and always will be a proud gay man”. 4 years after coming out, Cruz dedicated a fight to the victims murdered at the Pulse night club shooting in Orlando, four of who were his friends. In 2013, Cruz was one of the first gay sportsmen  to the brand new National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame. 

5. Michael Sam - Former Defensive End in American and Canadian Football

When he was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the 2014 NFL draft, Michael Sam became the first publicly gay player to ever be drafted into the NFL. His success generated a lot of media attention and even congratulations from the President at the time Barrack Obama who said Sam, the Rams and The NFL were “taking an important step forward in our nation’s journey.” To date, no other out gay sportsmen has played in a regular season NFL game, but thanks to Sam, it’s more of a possibility now. After retiring, Michael has been engaged in speaking engagements on college campuses and this has been his primary source of income. Recently Arizona State University’s Global Sports Institute invited him to discuss “defining oneself in the 21st century” and he humbly started his speech with “I’ve learned a lot about myself.”

6. Jason Collins -NBA Player

NBA player Jason Collins was drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2001 and played twelve seasons before coming out as gay in a Sports Illustrated cover story. He said that he chose to wear the jersey number “98” in honour of Matthew Shepard who was killed in an antigay hate crime in 1998. When Collins played his last season in the NBA with the Brooklyn Nets he become one of the first publicly gay sportsmen to play in any of the four major North American pro team sports leagues. His decision to come out was praised by everyone from the NBA commissioner and his corporate sponsor Nike to the Obamas. Many people believe pro sports to be one of the last areas where homophobia was still prominent but Collins coming out was a step in the right direction for acceptance of professional gay sportsmen everywhere.

7. Robbie Rogers - Soccer Player

Robbie Rogers is a now-retired American professional soccer player who played for Leeds United as well as Major League Soccer team Columbus Crew. In 2013, Rogers announced his retirement at the age of 25 and also came out as gay in a post on his personal blog. “I’m a soccer player, I’m Christian, and I’m gay. Those are things that people might say wouldn’t go well together. But my family raised me to be an individual and to stand up for what I believe in,” he wrote. Later that year, Rogers came out of retirement and signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy and in 2014 he became the one of the first openly gay sportsmen to win a major team pro sports title in the U.S. when the Galaxy became MLS Cup champs. Rogers is married to TV writer producer, and film director Greg Berlanti and the two have a son together.

Pics courtesy of The Mirror, British GQ, Glaad, Pics courtesy of The Mirror, British GQ, Glaad and Outsports