Gay basketball player

A teammate, Chaz Williams, found an Instagram post Gordon liked of himself and his boyfriend. A fter redshirting a year, he assumed a vital role on the team that brought the Minutemen back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the season. Eventually, Gordon said, he was left without a choice.

Though he recognized it c ould affect his chances of making it to the NBA, Gordon chose to be happy and true to him self. Gordon tried to play it off, but rumors spread and his team began to treat him differently. Derrick Gordon is the only gay Division I men's college basketball player to come out publicly while playing.

List of Famous Gay : The road to LGBTQIA+ visibility in sports has been a long and bumpy one, especially in professional basketball

On Friday afternoon, the former player returned to UMass to discuss his journey toward peace, confidence and self-love. H e discussed his basketball journey and his parallel course towards acceptance from his community, teammates and loved ones. Your email address will not be published.

At UMass, after coming out, the student body was largely behind him, but the player team was not as supportive. Before the program airedhe told various people about it beforehand. He returned to UMass. This standout season garnered great interest from the Minutemen as Gordon transferred to UMass a year later.

He saidwith the exception of his former roommate, Tyler Bergantino, he never talks to former Minutemen teammates anymore. 15 basketball players you didn’t know were gay Originally published by Ian S in March and Updated by Ian S in May Lately, the LGBTQ community is widely present in sports all over the world, with the majority of athletes coming out in the open to declare their orientation, unlike in the old days.

Cole Smith-Rakoff can be reached at [email protected]. W hile the team thrivedGordon underwent inner turmoil. Here’s a complete list of all out gay players in the league, broken down by team. More to Discover. In addition to his parents and gay, Gordon told close friends, including high school teammate and NBA superstar Kyrie Irving.

UMass basketball hunts for first win against Kent State. More in I miss Taylor Swift. He felt trapped, unable to come out to anyone, due in large part to his lifelong dream of making the NBA, something he felt would be compromised by being publicly gay.

Either I had to come out or stop playing basketball. Gordon said he never spent time with the team outside of practice and games. Cancel reply. Gordon ended the conversation on an optimistic note, noting how many more resources and support LGBTQ students have today, and giving advice to students who may be in the same situation he was 11 years ago.

UMass field hockey looks to bounce back against Longwood. Maria Uminski. For my purposes, “Out” means confirmed by the player either in an interview or on their social media.