Kobe Bryant Proud of Jason Collin’s Coming Out and Being Himself
It took only 10 minutes from the time Sports Illustrated posted Jason Collins’s essay, in which he came out as gay, for one of his N.B.A. brethren to offer him encouragement and support on Twitter.
Jim Young/Reuters
Jason Collins, left, 98, during a game against the Chicago Bulls this month.
Baron Davis, a retired guard who last played for the Knicks in 2012, posted, “I am so proud of my bro @jasoncollins34 for being real.”
Davis’s sentiment was echoed by many current and former players on the social media site Monday afternoon. While there has been much debate about the kind of reception an active player in the N.B.A., the N.F.L., the N.H.L. or Major League Baseball would receive after announcing his homosexuality, things went smoothly for Collins on Day 1.
Davis’s Twitter post was followed by ones from Jay Williams, a former Chicago Bulls point guard, and John Amaechi, who in 2007, after his playing days with Cleveland, Orlando and Utah, became the first N.B.A. player to acknowledge that he is gay.
“Congratulations to Jason – society couldn’t hope for a more eloquent & positive role model,” Amaechi’s message read.
Others posted in support of Collins, including Tony Parker, Steve Nash and Jason Kidd, his Nets teammate from 2001 to 2008.
The Lakers star Kobe Bryant weighed in, saying: “Proud of @jasoncollins34. Don’t suffocate who u r because of the ignorance of others. #courage #support”.
Bryant’s Twitter message was retweeted more than 20,000 times in the first hour after his post, with some reminding Bryant that he once sparked a controversy, and received a $100,000 fine, for directing an antigay slur at a referee who had called him for a technical foul. Since that incident Bryant has voiced his support of the gay community on a number of occasions.
From outside the N.B.A. world, encouragement was posted to Twitter by Bill Clinton, Martina Navratilova, Spike Lee, Michael Strahan and others. The Boston Red Sox invited Collins to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park.
One of the few negative messages from professional athletes came from Mike Wallace, a Miami Dolphins wide receiver, who said, “All these beautiful women in the world and guys wanna mess with other guys.”
Wallace has since deleted the message.
One of the strongest messages of support among active N.B.A. players came from Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets, who wrote, “Wow this is amazing all smiles. So so happy Jason Collins came out & announce he was openly gay all support over here.”
The reaction was the opposite of what was anticipated for years as players in all major American sports repeatedly said a gay player would struggle to be accepted. A recent example was Chris Culliver of the San Francisco 49ers, who in January, during the lead-up to the Super Bowl, said that he would not be O.K. with a gay teammate and that players should wait until they were retired to come out.
But unlike what Culliver predicted for the N.F.L., some of Collins’s teammates immediately voiced their support. As Collins is an unrestricted free agent, teams are likely to monitor how his teammates react to the announcement before he steps on the court as the league’s first openly gay player.
Thus far, Bradley Beal, Garrett Temple and Martell Webster of the Wizards voiced their support, with Beal saying: “Proud of @jasoncollins34 for expressing his feelings! Great teammate, mentor and better person!! #liveyourlife
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