NBA's John Amaechi Comes Out

I am happy for Amaechi for being open and honest. what I do not understand is, why do all athletes wait until after their career to come out? I know they are afraid of losing their job or even worse, but we all are. We need an athlete to come out while they are still playing. Rats off to ya Amaechi! wish you would have done it 3 years earlier.

In a groundbreaking revelation that began to reverberate around the NBA on Wednesday, former player John Amaechi has become the first professional basketball player to openly identify himself as gay.

Amaechi, who played at Penn State and spent five seasons in the NBA with Orlando, Utah and Cleveland, comes out in an upcoming book entitled "Man in the Middle" to be released later this month by ESPN Books (owned by the Walt Disney Company, parent company of ESPN).


Martina Navratilova, perhaps the most famous openly gay athlete in the world, praised Amaechi's decision and said it's imperative for athletes to come out because of what she called an epidemic of suicides among young lesbians and gays.

"It's hugely important for the kids so they don't feel alone in the world. We're role models. We're adults, and we know we're not alone but kids don't know that," she said. "He will definitely help a lot of kids growing up to feel better about themselves."

Three years after his playing career ended, Amaechi become the sixth professional male athlete from one of the four major American sports (NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL) to publicly discuss his homosexuality.

"What John did is amazing," said Tuaolo, who came out in 2002. "He does not know how many lives he's saved by speaking the truth."

Tuaolo said coming out would be a relief to Amaechi.

"Living with all that stress and that depression, all you deal with as a closeted person, when you come out you really truly free yourself,'' Tuaolo said. "When I came out, it felt like I was getting out of prison."

I dont mean to make this less than what it is. I feel, though, if he would have came out when he was still with the NBA he could have saved many more lives. I am proud that he came out, but it is like a 35 year old man with 2 kids coming out, its to late.

Via ESPN