Has there ever been a gay nba player

She joined the Sky for , but opted out in to focus on the Belgian national team — she was the only out lesbian on their Olympics squad. For years, the NBA and other major leagues were slow to embrace openly gay players, but things are changing. In , she was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks, but was injured shortly thereafter.

Carl Nassib is one of only two openly gay active players in the history of the four biggest North American sports leagues – the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL. Experts say homophobia in sports begins at. One sport that has made significant strides towards LGBTQ+ acceptance is the NBA.

However, has there ever truly been an openly gay player in the NBA? In this blog post, we will explore the answer to this question. She comes to the Fever this year from the Aces. Read on for a list of 6 professional basketball players—both NBA and college—who have come out as gay.

I also realized, it is not so important to me. Well, when Autostraddle published our very first list of out gay WNBA players several years back, it held merely 15 names. Today, more athletes are stepping up, living their truth, and making basketball a. The legendary Brittney Griner and her wife, Cherelle, welcomed a baby boy just before the Olympics last year.

They welcomed a baby girl to their family this April. Chelsea and her wife, Tipsea Gray , had a baby in February of Bell has been with the Aces since the , when she was drafted by them 11th overall. Unfortunately she underwent a left knee arthroscopy last week that has sidelined her for the first weeks of the season.

Belgian baller Julie Allemand was picked up by the Indiana Fever in the draft, but she spent the next three years playing in Europe before returning to the Fever in , but sat out the subsequent year for her mental health. Which WNBA players are gay and how many of them are gay?

In , John Amaechi became the first former NBA player to publicly come out as gay. Smith previously played for the Fever and now is playing alongside her girlfriend, Dijonai Carrington. So, that was my little adventure for today. The Italian player spent a season with the Minnesota Lynx in and again in , but was picked up by the Lynx in the expansion draft.

Mack was drafted to the Sky in , played in Poland for two years, and then joined the Mercury in Her girlfriend, Leecy , is a middle school teacher! There have been a few openly gay players in the NBA’s history. Griner became the first out gay college player drafted to the WNBA when she went first to the Phoenix Mercury in , and was traded to the Dream ahead of the season.

Dijonai Carrington, traded to the Wings from the Sun prior to this season, is dating her now-teammate, Nalyssa Smith. Kate, who was drafted to the Aces out of college and traded to the Valkyries this year, came out by going public with her relationship to Claire Gransee , with whom Martin attended college.

Harris was drafted by the Wings in , but played a season at the Sun and one in China before returning to the Wings this year. She has a hot Italian girlfriend, Sara Barbieri. They have two children together. Two WNBA couples traded their way into playing on the same team literally and figuratively this season, one of them is Harrison and girlfriend Tasha Cloud.

There’s a lot of speculation and rumors out there, but very little confirmed info. Jason Collins, a towering presence both on and off the court, etched his name in sports history as the first openly gay active player in the NBA. He was born on December 2, in Northridge, California.

He played five seasons in the NBA for teams like the Utah Jazz, Orlando Magic, and Cleveland Cavaliers, retiring in At the time, no active male player in major U.S. team sports had come out as gay, so his announcement was a big deal. She and her wife, Tia Cannon, had their first child in , and welcomed twins , a boy and a girl, to their family in April.

Top WNBA Hottie Courtney Williams, who began her WNBA career in and was a key player for the Lynx as they battled for a championship last year, got engaged to her girlfriend, real estate agent Shya, last November, and we were all pretty excited about it — but it does seem they have since broken up.

John Amaechi is the first former NBA player to publicly come out as gay, in in his memoir, Man in the Middle. After not getting drafted in , Sherrod signed a training camp contract with the New York Liberty —her standout performance, then bounced around on tiny contracts with the Sky and the LIberty before signing an end-of-season contract with the Liberty in August of Natasha Cloud is, as aforementioned, dating Izzy Harrison, who she says radically transformed her life at a time when she was in need of refocusing.

Ogunbowale got engaged to her fiance, influencer Lala Ronay , last May. Follow aziaha james on instagram. She became an Azerbaijani citizen in and has competed as a member of their national basketball team and in the Olympics.