Baseball players who support gay rights

Pro baseball, including Major League Baseball, has been played for about years in the U.S. and during that time there have been only three gay or bi players in MLB who have come out. Former MLB player Billy Bean, who came out as gay after his playing career, has become a significant figure in promoting LGBTQ+ rights within baseball.

Gay baseball league

As MLB’s first Ambassador for Inclusion, Bean has used his personal experiences to advocate for change and support LGBTQ+ players and individuals throughout the league. As the MLB continues embracing the LGBTQ community, the baseballs players who support gay rights have also taken steps towards inclusiveness with Chicago White Sox pitcher, Anderson Comás, coming out as openly gay.

Almost 80 years after Jackie Robinson broke the majors’ color barrier in a landmark moment for the American civil rights movement, the dueling expressions of LGBTQ+ support and seeming rejection recalled the question of when the big leagues might welcome their first active openly gay player. List of gay baseball players in Major League Baseball (MLB) and the minor league.

Updated: TJ House, Billy Bean, Jason Burch, Glenn Burke, John Dillinger. And some of that is, you know, I think there's this inculcated virtue, that it's not masculine to be gay, which is not even close to true, but then also, people who end up talking about gay people in professional sports, like it's just particularly in the NFL. It was a lifetime of disguise, Ryan O'Callaghan. How should one look at that? I lived a quarter century having to hide because I was afraid.

He came out as gay publicly in and after his playing days were over, he'd go on to become one of the most important figures in the history of the sport as a fighter for LGBTQ rights.

Billy Bean made MLB better as a longtime LGBTQ advocate

It actually ended up being okay because 1: I hit a home run, which made me happy afterwards, it was a big moment, and 2: the teammate immediately apologized after the game, so the problem corrected itself. The aftermath to Ruby's coming out has been a whirlwind that's completely changed his life. I got to go back to my old high school and speak to a small group of students and then gave a speech for the entire school assembly, which was a real full circle moment for me.

I try to ask, what would have helped me most if I had seen it as a kid when I was struggling. Bean did something simple but powerful: He changed lives. There was a huge weight off my chest and it became a mission to show that we can play too. Christina, talk about that. It was just the heat of the moment and just happened to be said. I'm Tiziana Dearing, and this is On Point. And, I trusted him, I respected him, and he recognized that things weren't going well for me.

The day I came out was nuts, I got 6, notifications on my phone. The fact that you can have somebody like Layshia Clarendon and come out as non-binary, they can be embraced as well. As a musical artist, he won Season 7 of the talent-search competition Nashville Rising Song, and is preparing for the release of his debut EP in He'd provide support and advice and kindness. Ryan, I want to talk about the NFL now.

I think many people might relate better to that, than to the kid who comes out, flags flying, at And we only found out that he was gay when he came out a couple of years after leaving the baseball players who support gay rights, when he opened up a restaurant with his then partner and did a profile. Things that happen alongside Pride Nights, that in the course of Major League Baseball, to bring it back to baseball for a second, all 29 teams that hosted Pride Nights previously, hosted another one this year.

Scott was my boss; he was a general manager. Somewhere there's somebody listening, whether it's a kid or an adult who is afraid to talk to their family, or they are afraid to be out in the world. I do also want to add to that, there are small glimmers of, I don't wanna say quite hope. It's not often I get to call into public radio to talk baseball, so this will be great.

We met while I was in NY, but our first real date was here in Philly. It's possible he also saved them. I know, and it pains me to think about our rights being rolled back and the things that my Uncle David and Uncle Jamie fought for now being taken away.