Former Celtic Jason Collins Comes Out, NBA & Sports World Welcomes Him In

Jason Collins, a Wizard now, but who until just this past trade deadline was the first Celtics center off the bench, has just come out and revealed to the world that he is gay.

First, let me say "Congratulations, Jason!" Others have come out after their careers were all said and done, but you took an unprecedented risk by throwing it out there in the midst of a career, leaving yourself completely at the mercy of public opinion and potential controversy in the locker room to champion your cause.

Not to take anything away from other courageous players like John Amachi, who came out after his retirement from the Orlando Magic and others like him in other sports who came out after they stepped away from the glare of the spotlight, but to out yourself in the middle of a career takes a center-sized amount of courage.

Kudos to Britney Grenier as well.
The former Baylor University star came out before ever suiting up for her WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury, just after college.

And as large as her announcement was, however, the stigma that exists in men's professional sports is magnified times 1,000 with respect to being openly gay.

Both are heroes and both deserve all of the positive attention and support that they've been getting from the likes of fellow athletes like Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and others in and out of the professional sports world.

May this be the beginning of the end of any controversy over sexuality in the locker room so folks can be free to just be who they are and play ball.