N.B.A. Center Jason Collins Comes Out as Gay; New York Times, 4/29/13

Howard Beck and John Branch, New York Times; N.B.A. Center Jason Collins Comes Out as Gay: "Jason Collins, a 12-year N.B.A. veteran, has come out as the first openly gay male athlete still active in a major American team sport. “I’m a 34-year-old N.B.A. center. I’m black. And I’m gay,” Collins writes in the May 6 edition of Sports Illustrated. The magazine published the article online Monday morning. The announcement makes Collins a pioneer of sorts: the first player in the N.B.A., the N.F.L., the N.H.L. or Major League Baseball to come out while still pursuing his career."

Alan Gendreau, Gay Middle Tennessee State Kicker, Wants A Shot At The NFL (VIDEO); HuffingtonPost.com, 4/23/13

Cavan Sieczkowski, HuffingtonPost.com; Alan Gendreau, Gay Middle Tennessee State Kicker, Wants A Shot At The NFL (VIDEO) : ""We have seen time and time again that diversity is a benefit," Hudson Taylor, founder and executive director of pro-tolerance nonprofit Athlete Ally, previously told The Huffington Post. "It's a benefit in corporate America; it's a benefit in schools; and it's a benefit in sports. An athletic culture that welcomes and includes LGBT athletes will ultimately draw improved talent and create more unified and respectful team cultures.""

Major Sports Leagues Prepare for the ‘I’m Gay’ Disclosure; New York Times, 4/11/13

Jeff Z. Klein and Judy Battista, New York Times; Major Sports Leagues Prepare for the ‘I’m Gay’ Disclosure: "With growing expectations in recent weeks that a gay male athlete in one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States will soon come out publicly for the first time, the leagues have begun exploring ways to accommodate and respond to such a landmark announcement."

An openly gay player in the NFL is not a distraction; CNN.com, 4/1/13

Chris Kluwe, CNN.com; An openly gay player in the NFL is not a distraction: "It's not right that professional sports, and especially the professional sports media, have created an environment where gay players are willing to hide essential components of themselves as human beings in order to pursue their dreams, in order to not be a distraction. It's not right that our insatiable lust for sports coverage creates an atmosphere where someone would willingly subordinate his life to a backward and bigoted worldview in order to stay employed. It's not right that we can't just accept someone for who he is."