...Coming Out

It seems like there was coming out day and a lot of people missed the bandwagon. Cnn's Don Lemon announced that he was gay in The New York Times and so far all is good. He wrote about it in his memoir that is coming out next month. The staff and crew at CNN are behind him 100%, though he never hid it form them, so he has nothing to worry about. Working at CNN, I always had a feeling that he was gay, though I never thought it was important enough to ask him. Growing up a black guy in Louisiana Lemon said he feared the backlash from the industry and the African American community and that he almost did not write about his sexuality in his book but decided to keep it in after all. Good for you Don.

On the other end of this stick there is the President of the Phoenix Suns Rick Welts who announced that he was gay in The New York Times as well. Are these two dating? Jokes! This makes for the 1st time an active member of an American professional sports team has come out as being gay while still apart of tan organization. Many athletes say they would support a fellow teammate if they came out as being gay, but for a top level management member to come out is good as well. Rick came out to several high-profile friends including David Stern (NBA Commissioner), Bill Russell and Steve Nash(Star Player for the Suns). He also tells how Welts went from a Seattle ball boy as a teenager in the '70s to the No. 3 employee in the entire NBA by the late-'90s. He worked as public relations director for the Sonics during their championship season of 1979, created All-Star Weekend, and played a major role into turning the NBA into a global force. Despite that success, he was unable to discuss his personal life, including the death of his long-time partner, not just in public, but with friends and colleagues, as well. Could this possibly lead to a gay athlete coming out while in the prime of his career? Maybe later this decade or next. It is still a highly charged homophobic arena, sports in general, and this is America not Europe. We may be liberal in the streets, but our values are conservative.

I am going to give both of these men a Digit Up for possibly risking their careers to come out. Good for you guys and now we all know.