Kudos, Jason Collins

This week, the world witnessed as the first active NBA player outed himself and proudly proclaimed, “I’m gay.” Jason Collins wrote in Sports Illustrated saying, “I’m a 34-year old NBA center. I’m black and I’m gay.”

Kudos, Jason Collins, for giving gay men like me a glimmer of hope that someday, people like us will truly be treated as normal and as equals in every sense of the word.

The public announcement came as a surprise to most of his colleagues, but was received with positive reactions from more popular basketball players such as Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Steve Nash and Tony Parker. Even President Obama called Collins “to express his support and said he was impressed by his courage.”

Having been an athlete all my life, I’ve always been very careful not to tread on dangerous waters at the risk of outing myself to my coach and my teammates. Way back when I was in high school and at the university, I was a member of different varsity teams, some of which were contact sports, and I know how the “boys locker room” mentality can get. Luckily, I was never put in a situation where I was looked down on because of my sexuality, but oh, do I know the pressures and tortures endured by openly gay men.

Currently, the profession I am in right now is not exactly accepting of gay men. The legal world is a cut-throat profession, and in order to survive, you have to show strength and firmness, and sadly, yes – masculinity. It is a field which is not exactly for gay men. Or at least not for what society perceives a gay man to be.

But thank you for people like Jason Collins who are bold enough to show the world that gay men are not the typical stereotypes who wear drag and make-up. All gay men are unique in their own ways, with different sets of skill and interests. So, once again, kudos, Jason Collins! I certainly hope you pave the way for other renowned gay men to be brave enough to proclaim their homosexuality so that normal people like me would one day follow suit.