Jason Collins, the first openly gay athlete to compete in one of the four major sports leagues in North America, has announced that he will retire from the NBA.
The 35-year-old athlete made the announcement in a first-person story for Sports Illustrated. Collins wrote the following in the article:
It has been 18 exhilarating months since I came out in Sports Illustrated as the first openly gay man in one of the four major professional team sports. And it has been nine months since I signed with the Nets and became the first openly gay male athlete to appear in a game in one of those leagues. It feels wonderful to have been part of these milestones for sports and for gay rights, and to have been embraced by the public, the coaches, the players, the league and history.
… There are still no publicly gay players in the NFL, NHL or major league baseball. Believe me: They exist. Every pro sport has them. I know some of them personally. When we get to the point where a gay pro athlete is no longer forced to live in fear that he’ll be shunned by teammates or outed by tabloids, when we get to the point where he plays while his significant other waits in the family room, when we get to the point where he’s not compelled to hide his true self and is able to live an authentic life, then coming out won’t be such a big deal. But we’re not there yet.
Collins played in the NBA for 13 seasons. He began his career with the New Jersey Nets in 2001. Back in February, he joined the Brooklyn Nets and played 22 games for the team. However, he did not appear on the roster this season.
Collins chose to make the announcement Wednesday at Barclays Center since he was going to be in New York on business and would be attending the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks game to see his former teammate and coach, Jason Kidd, coach the Bucks.
Collins plans to continue supporting LGBT organizations and hopes to still be involved with basketball in some way.
