10 Years Later, Looking Back at Jason Collins' Coming Out Journey

The history of LGBTQ+ athletes is full of courageous freedom fighters and brave sportspeople who have used their platforms to inspire and encourage others to live with authenticity. It's been an arduous process to integrate queer athletes into professional sports, especially when it comes to men's sports. Toxic masculinity, negative stereotyping, and fear of losing out on further career opportunities and endorsement deals all factor into the reasoning behind staying closeted rather than coming out. There are a select few players in North American sports who have thrown caution to the wind and in the process helped millions of young, gay athletes cope with being different.

When it comes to the sport of men's basketball, it's hard to argue against Jason Collins being the most vital star in the movement towards queer hoopers gaining acceptance in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Collins played 13 seasons for teams such as the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, and Atlanta Hawks. When he came out after the 2013 NBA season, he was the first active player to ever reveal he was gay. We have now reached 10 years since this moment of courage, and there are still no other active gay players in the NBA. How can there be such a lack of progress in the world of men's basketball in an entire decade? Does this mean Collins is any less important in the annals of history? Certainly not, but we also have to examine how society can continue to become more welcoming towards queer athletes.

Does the skill level of the athlete matter?

There are a lot of factors that go into whether an athlete feels comfortable coming out, and often the ones who feel they have nothing to lose are the most ready to reveal their sexuality. Jason Collins was a solid player and he was also at the end of his career when he came out. Collins only played one more season after coming out before retiring, which unfortunately made his prominence in the media fade out much quicker than perhaps it would have if he came out during his prime. Even under this scenario, Collins was never an NBA All-Star, and he wasn't someone who was going to light up the scoreboard and inspire children back at home. It's just the way of the world that superstars are going to attract more attention and create more tolerance for queer people in sports.

Think about the types of out athletes in women's tennis history. Both Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King are multi-time Grand Slam champions. When they came out, they were both two of the most famous and skilled tennis players to have ever lived. Imagine the type of fervor it creates to let the world see that you can be one of the absolute best athletes in the world, and you can be in a same-sex relationship. These qualities no longer have to be mutually exclusive when instances like these exist.

Shifting back to the NBA, there is no way of knowing whether an All-Star level player is closeted right now. There are only 24 players who make the list each year, and considering that approximately only seven percent of adults claim to be LGBTQ+ in the United States right now, there's a good chance there are no gay players in the upper echelon of the league. That doesn't mean there hasn't ever been a player of this quality who hid in the closet. Hopefully we'll get to a point where these individuals can come forward if they are ready.

Other Gay Athletes Since Jason Collins

Even though no other NBA players have come out since Collins, there have been plenty of other athletes in college and professional sports who have since 2013. Byron Perkins became the first college football player at a historically Black college to come out in 2022; Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out when he announced he was gay in 2021. These are both massive wins for the LGBTQ+ community, especially during a time when lawmakers and politicians have been advancing anti-queer rhetoric and trying to pass bigoted bills.

What has Jason Collins been up to since 2013?

Collins retired about a year after coming out, but he's still been a vibrant activist for the LGBTQ+ community since his initial fame. He's been dating film producer Brunson Green throughout most of his retirement, and the couple enjoy openly sharing their relationship online for fans.

Collins has attended Pride parades during the month of June on a float sponsored by the NBA. He's made public appearances for events like the GLSEN Day of Silence, and he even cameoed on the hit Hulu series "Love, Victor" starring Michael Cimino. Collins' bravery and continued efforts to show responsibility towards advancing the rights of others like him has been outstanding to watch. It surely has helped some of the other athletes we've mentioned above to come out and show their true colors to the world.

Collins is once again appearing on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his original coming out post with the publication. Kudos to the magazine and Collins for making sure this landmark moment gets remembered once again and put back into the public eye right before Pride in June. Being out and proud is a continuous process that doesn't just go away after the first time you reveal your sexuality. Collins has been a great example of the ways someone's story never goes away, and how it can be renewed and used to inspire future generations to come.