SPORTS Complex

Gay athletes have long been invisible in pro basketball. So when an out gay African-American player is approached by semi-pro scouts at a gay sports event, the hope for change grows—for a while.

At Gay Games VI, held in Sydney in 2002, professional scouts visited the basketball competitions for the first time. One player was scouted for a possible position with a Sydney team. "Sean" (not his real name), a talented player, found himself offered a job, but later denied it because he’s gay.

A few years back, Sean played basketball on scholarship at a prominent California university. Although he was out to only a few friends, rumors of his sexual orientation suddenly began circulating on campus, hampering his chances for success.

"Having to worry about being gay in the locker room because you think that other people are talking about you or discussing your habits...destroys your confidence. You’re not able to perform as well as you should," Sean says. "It made life very uncomfortable. People started reacting differently. It seemed like I had no friends anymore, all within two weeks. This was leading up to the last few games of the season."

Suffering from anxiety attacks, Sean found his performance on court suffered, and he did not play his senior year.

After graduation, Sean played for mid-level teams in Brazil and Argentina and coached at youth camps. Returning to California and settling in the Bay Area, he was encouraged to play for a local basketball team slated to compete in Gay Games VI in Sydney. At the Games, his team did well, and he became a news item.

"I was approached by a man who said four teams in Sydney would be interested in me," says Sean. "The next day, a scout and a few coaches introduced themselves." An assistant coach contacted him a few days later, asking Sean to stay in Sydney after the Gay Games and play for his team.

"I had to make a decision," he says. "I had nowhere to live, not too much money, and just the clothes I’d brought." Still, Sean jumped at the opportunity to play in the comparatively relaxed semi-pro Australian leagues.

Any hint of homosexuality in U.S. pro basketball has ended in controversy or strong denials. For example, when Dennis Rodman’s outlandish drag outfits sparked rumors, the Chicago Bulls star dispelled them with carefully publicized woman chasing. No NBA player, even retired, has ever come out—even though Orlando Magic guard Tracy McGrady estimated last year in Stuff magazine that five percent of the NBA’s players are gay.

Out of Bounds, a novel by Fred Shank and Chris Fisher, envisions a media frenzy surrounding the outing of a New York Knicks player. Shank puts it bluntly. "People in the sports industry treat homosexuality as a plague," he says. "Whoever is going to be the first person to come out [in basketball] has to be good, arrogant, and thick-skinned."

In Australia, things went well for Sean at first. Although he had to find his own apartment, the Sydney team came up with a work visa for him, and "the coach was really good to me," Sean says. "He never told anyone I was gay, or had played in the Games. He didn’t have a problem with it."

But slowly, other players on his team began learning that Sean had been scouted from the Gay Games, and a wall of silence grew. "After they’d hear my name, they’d make a gay joke, or cut [their conversations] off fast," Sean says. "Then I started being played differently."

Even his work coaching kids at Sydney basketball camps didn’t help. Although he received glowing responses from parents, Sean says the team postponed offers of a full contract.

"Everything was supposed to be set," Sean says. But by February 2003, he learned that he was not being signed to the team. In addition, the other teams that had been interested in him all eventually turned him down.

Now back in California, Sean’s dream of playing as a discreetly out player has been deferred—for the moment. He remains hopeful, though. He trains and plans to start a basketball camp with his cousin, who also played at the Gay Games.

As for an openly gay player surviving in basketball, Sean says, "It’s going to happen, whether it’s me or someone else. As much as you’d like to speak out, it does affect you. Part of you is accepted, but not the whole. Gay is a part of who I am, but basketball is what I do."