The wait for an American professional athlete to come out as homosexual -- to become the "gay Jackie Robinson" -- may be over sooner than we think.
Several comments in recent days, by a former NFL player and a current one, suggest that although there are no openly gay professional athletes, it'd be wrong to conclude the actual count is zero.
Vikings punter Chris Kluwe appeared on The Colbert Report this week to discuss his support of marriage equality. During the interview, host Stephen Colbert jokingly chides Kluwe for supporting gay marriage because Kluwe plays the "most hyper-masculine sport in the world. Football players are a thousand miles from gay."
Kluwe cuts Colbert off to say, "You'd be surprised."
Then on Wednesday an interview with Wade Davis, an openly gay former defensive back, was published in the Daily Beast. In the interview Davis says he knows of three gay players in the NFL, and several more in the NBA, including one who is a starter and a "significant contributor."
Davis said that these players' teammates know that they're gay, and for the most part it's not a big deal.
"Openly gay is a bit strong cuz when we think of openly gay we think of walking down the street with your boyfriend," Davis said. "But there are players who know that this player may have a boyfriend or may not date women and that's just it. It's not talked about. He's there to do a job, I'm here to do a job, it's not talked about, he's my brother, he doesn't treat me any different than anyone else does."
To read the entire interview with Davis, see here.
