August 2011

May 2011

On May 16, Rick Welts, President/CEO of the NBA Basketball team, the Phoenix Suns, announced he was gay.  Welts is believed to be the first major American professional-sports-team executive to make such a declaration.  No male athlete in major American pro team sports has come out during his playing career.  Several, like former Utah Jazz basketball player John Amaechi, went public with their sexual orientation after retiring.

Welts said he has found the response to his story to be overwhelming — and overwhelmingly positive.  “It was incredibly gratifying and pretty emotional,” Welts told the Associated Press on Monday. “People who had read the story when it went up online wanted to just reach out and give me a hug.”

Welts, 58, said one goal was to “engender conversation about the topic, which is not discussed in our industry. The other was if there was a chance to do some good for people, young people, who are struggling with their own issues and wondering whether or not they could pursue their passions and have a chance to have a successful career, whether that was team sports or something else.”

Welts is an NBA lifer, helping create among other things, the NBA All-Star Weekend and the WNBA. He is widely respected and well-known throughout the league.

Will Sheridan, former college basketball player at Villanova, as a response to Welts' announcement, also acknowledged that he was gay.

LINKS:

Time Mag: Why Rick welts Came Out
Report from Phoenix Business Journal
Washington Post: Rick Welt's Admission not Earth Shaking
Seattle Times: Rick Welts Stunned at Support
Sports Illustrated: Commentary on Rick Welts' Coming Out

CBS Sports: Every Athlete Has Played with Gay Guys
Autostraddle: Will Sheridan Tells His Story
ESPN: Will Sheridan is Gay and Proud

December 2010

CNN reports that a women’s soccer coach at Belmont University, a Christian School in Nashville, Tenn, may have been fired from her post for being a lesbian. According to the report, the coach was relieved of her job after she announced that her lesbian partner was pregnant.

Howe told her team that she would be leaving late last week, shortly after announcing that she and her partner were expecting a baby in May. Howe had been denied permission to share this information with her team.

The university, which is treading hot water over the decision, according to Sports Illustrated, denies the accusation, saying that the coach – Lisa Howe – was planning to leave after six successful seasons and that it was a “mutual” decision. But her team’s players aren’t so sure they agree and staged a sit-in.

Members of the soccer team believe that it was Howe's decision to tell them of her impending motherhood that led to her termination. Junior Ashley Hudak told the Tennessean that, "[Howe] said she needed to resign or she was going to be fired because of the choices she had made with her life."

LINKS:

Huffington Post: Soccer Coach Fired for Being Gay
Click Click Expose: Was a Belmont Coach Fired for Being Gay?
Gay Rights: Belmont Faculty Stand Up for Fired Coach
News Portal: Was Soccer Coach Fired for Being Gay?

September 2, 2010

Tennis legend and LGBT icon Martina Navratilova was honored in September 2010 during the opening ceremonies of the U.S. Open in New York.  The honor, for “those who dream, succeed and inspire” according to organizers, is fitting for Navratilova who has battled "nasty curveballs" in her personal and professional life but always come out a winner.

“It’s the positive attitude that gets you through life and it is a choice,” she said. “I’ve always been too much of an optimist where I sort of ignore bad stuff until it sits right there in front of me. I’m saying nothing is going to go wrong and, when it does, that’s when I deal with it. That’s how I’ve gotten through life. I think it’s done me pretty well.”

The 53-year-old Czech native knows something about grit as well as attitude. Earlier this year, she was diagnosed with noninvasive breast cancer and underwent surgery and radiation only to win the Wimbledon ladies' invitation doubles in June.

Martina also spoke to the crowd about publicly coming out of the closet as a lesbian the year she made it to her first U.S. Open final. “In 1981, I came out as a gay woman," she said to loud applause. "That was not a good thing to do back then. There were a lot of doors that were shut in my face because of that, but you know what, I could still play tennis, no matter what.”