By Jeremy Conlin and Joe Parello
Studs and Duds is a weekly feature on Suite Sports. Who had a good week? Who had a bad week?
Studs
Jason Collins
The journeyman NBA center made headlines last week when he announced he was gay in a Sports Illustrated feature. Collins (as you surely have heard by now) is the first openly gay male athlete in major North American professional sports.
For me, the amount of qualifiers in that last sentence is my favorite part of the story. That's how much progress we (as a society) have made over the last few years - we can't just say he's the first openly gay male athlete in pro sports, boxer Orlando Cruz came out last October. We've had female stars like Brittney Griner and Megan Rapinoe talk openly about their sexual orientation. Collins represents the final (and biggest) hurdle - male major team sports - the highest-publicity and arguably where the stigma surrounding homosexuality is the greatest. Hopefully this spurs other gay athletes (of which there are certainly more) to come forward.
As great as this story is, I look forward to the day when an athlete discussing his sexual orientation is no longer news.
-JC
