# President of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns comes out of the closet **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 16, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044 "2011-05-16T00:43:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/1 "2011-05-16T00:43:28Z")
Yep, that’s right. [Rick Welts is gay.](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/sports/basketball/nba-executive-says-he-is-gay.html?_r=1&hp) So he becomes the only out gay man actively involved in any professional sport in the USA. I guess it doesn’t surprise me he is the first gay man to take this step given the macho attitude that is so prevalent in sports. Attitudes have shifted enough in American culture over the last decade or so that something like this doesn’t seem so unusual. But the world of professional sports has always been very closed to any athlete being openly gay. I mean someone like Kobe Bryant calling a ref a faggot shows how accepted that sort of talk must be in the locker room. So, I guess what I am interested in here is whether this will translate to any actual active athletes coming out anytime soon. Up to this point the only out sports professionals I have been aware of are ones who are no longer active and certainly not any athletes who have been star players. Is there any chance this marks a change in acceptance in this realm of American life? ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/2 "2011-05-16T00:58:44Z")
Sorry, I should have made it clear but I’m talking about team sports. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/3 "2011-05-16T04:15:30Z")
I used to think acts like this could be and should be ground-breaking. But then sometimes it feels like acts like this are another of the drops of water that will eventually wear its way through the stone. Necessary, but not individually significant. Most of the time I’m optimistic, and grateful for people who are braver than I am. I think that once gay people are integrated into the military, sports might well follow. But it will still be a long, tough road for the pioneers. This particular case might make it easier for a coach, or even a player, to follow suit. What I hope to live long enough to see is for a number of young men who are quite open about their sexuality to pass through the fire, by being undeniably the best at what they do, and become accepted as members of their teams. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/4 "2011-05-16T04:24:16Z")
It’s indicative of the broader changes happening in American society. We know which way things are moving on issues like gay rights and gay marriage. I’m not sure Welts coming is the most significant event on its own terms or in relation to jock culture: he was never a player in the NBA, although he’s a basketball lifer. A couple of weeks ago Sean Avery of the NHL (who is straight) appeared in a pro gay-marriage ad campaign and has said he would support any gay teammate or another hockey player who felt unsafe in coming out to his teammates. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/5 "2011-05-16T04:39:56Z")
Owners aren’t athletes, this is an apples/oranges thing. Since a large portion of team in the US have African Americans on them, it becomes even more complex, as homosexuality is more restricted in the black community. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/6 "2011-05-16T04:45:15Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Owners aren’t athletes, this is an apples/oranges thing. He’s not the owner of the team. He’s their top executive. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/7 "2011-05-16T10:25:34Z")
How about sportswriters/radio talk show guys? Steve Buckley in Boston came out last year, to a giant collective Meh. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/8 "2011-05-16T14:34:43Z")
Former pro wrestler Pat Patterson is and has been for years widely known to be gay. Think he still works for WWE in some capacity. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/9 "2011-05-16T14:51:50Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Former pro wrestler Pat Patterson is and has been for years widely known to be gay. Think he still works for WWE in some capacity. Has he actually acknowledged that? Or is he sort of in the Anderson Cooper zone? ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/10 "2011-05-16T15:12:00Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > How about sportswriters/radio talk show guys? Steve Buckley in Boston came out last year, to a giant collective Meh. Not sure if this counts, but there was a male sportswriter for the LA Times a few years back who became a woman (can’t remember his/her name). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/11 "2011-05-16T15:18:00Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Not sure if this counts, but there was a male sportswriter for the LA Times a few years back who became a woman (can’t remember his/her name). Mike Penner, later Christine Daniels, committed suicide in 2009. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/12 "2011-05-16T15:23:54Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Not sure if this counts, but there was a male sportswriter for the LA Times a few years back who became a woman (can’t remember his/her name). Wiki says that he is openly gay and gives some cites. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/13 "2011-05-17T02:51:13Z")
[This](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/16/BA5C1JGU8E.DTL&tsp=1) is the sort of story that I find more heartening than the one in the OP. > [@](#): > > The San Francisco Giants will become the first professional sports team to jump into the burgeoning anti-homophobia campaign with an upbeat “It Gets Better” video designed to bring a ray of hope to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people… > > In an interview today, Chapin, a 35-year-old accountant who lives in San Francisco and works in Oakland, described the team’s decision as a “breaking bubble” that will have profound reverberations. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-of-the-nba-s-phoenix-suns-comes-out-of-the-closet/582044/14 "2011-05-17T02:54:42Z")
Heck, and [this](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/05/16/entertainment/e160939D18.DTL&tsp=1) one: > [@](#): > > CNN anchor Don Lemon has come out as a gay man in his new book, a disclosure he knows comes at a risk. Roddy