Sports: Major League Soccer Player Comes Out
Image credit: Collin Martin’s Twitter (@martcw12)
The sports world generally isn’t considered as welcoming of gay individuals, but every year sees strides being made. Just recently, Major League Soccer player Collin Martin publicly came out as gay, making him only the second player to do so.
The Minnesota United midfielder came out via tweet, hours before a Pride night game scheduled against FC Dallas.
Part of Martin’s statement on Twitter reads: “Tonight my team Minnesota United, is having their Pride night. It’s an important night for me — I’ll be announcing for the first time publicly that I am an openly gay player in major League Soccer. I have been out as a gay man for many years to my family and friends, and this includes my teammates…. I’m proud that my entire team and the management of Minnesota United know that I am gay.”
Martin also assured other gay individuals in sport that a community exists that will welcome them should decide to come out, saying: “I want to take this moment to encourage others who play sports professionally or otherwise to have confidence that sport will welcome them wholeheartedly.’
Read Martin’s full statement in the tweet below:
Tonight my team, @MNUFC , is having their Pride night. It’s an important night for me — I’ll be announcing that I am an openly gay player in Major League Soccer. #soccerforall pic.twitter.com/cOJQXfrBiv
— Collin Martin (@martcw12) June 29, 2018
The only other Major League Soccer player to publicly come out was Robbie Rogers in 2013. Rogers retired from Major League Soccer last year due to injuries, making Martin the only openly gay male athlete in a major American sports organization.
Rogers has also recognized Martin’s coming out on Twitter, saying: “Love this! So so inspiring thank you Colin! Good luck this season, except against the @LAGalaxy”.
Check out the tweet below:
Love this! So so inspiring thank you Colin! Good luck this season, except against the @LAGalaxy https://t.co/trkAO9YI2i
— Robbie Rogers (@robbierogers) June 29, 2018
Other male sporting figures that are openly gay include Simon Dunn, a member of the Australian Olympic bobsledding team, and college track stars Justin Rabon and Brad Neumann.
Tell us what you think about Martin’s coming out in the comments section below!
This is obviously fake news. Everyone knows gay men don’t play sports, or if they do they’re bad at them. He is probably some crisis actor hired by left wing gay agitators to wave (or, in this case, wear) the gay flag. And he can’t even spell his first name right. He no doubt goes home to his wife and kids at night.
Make America Straight Again!!!
#CompletelySarcastic.
(I await the day when this is no longer news. Good on you, Collin.)
I thought all the guys in soccer were gay. This really won’t get any coverage because American’s really don’t care about soccer.
And for some reason, the ‘Community” doesn’t get fired up when American college football players or NFL players (mostly former ones for the NFL) announce they’re gay.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot more pro soccer players are gay/bi. When I was in college at Kent State, I sucked off so many guys on the rugby, soccer and swim teams there. I’ll never forget how when my roommate from my freshman and sophomore years was on the soccer team and he brought back like 4 guys from the soccer team and sucked them all off in our dorm
Agree. That flag means nothing. It is the stupidest ever created. If I see one hanging outside a restaurant or business, I avoid it like the plague.
ditto me
He’s good-looking, good ole’, typical, Midwestern stock; being a native of Minnesota who fled there, I’m just the slightest bit shocked, although, there is a very strong LGBT community there. for that reason, I’m kinda’ proud too, thought, “its a feather in their cap.”
He was connected with “the Community” in the sport ahead of time.
The team had a PRIDE night.
He came out in a very low-risk environment.
Hardly a big “COMING OUT!”
Michael Sam came out to American Football not too long ago. No one seemed to care except President Obama who somehow felt it was his job during a speech to welcome Michael Sam to “The Community”. Several former NFL players have announced their sexuality as well. No one has seemed to care that they did. Many college sports players and American baseball players have as well.
The sports world is generally on par with society. In most countries, being gay isn’t the big controversy it was in the past. It’s no longer the ‘big scoop” it once was for the media.
People just don’t seem to care if someone is gay. And this is a good thing.
The only people making being gay an issue, it seems, are gays. And this is not a got thing.