Sexual Orientation In Baseball

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Introduction

Sexual orientation in the current society can be a great source of discrimination. Despite efforts to legalize the various sexual orientations, victimization and stigma resulting especially to gay persons cannot be ignored. Many people know of professionals, celebrities, and athletes featuring in various screens and print media acknowledging their sex status. However, behind them is a wave of intimidation they have fought for long.

Baseball is a bat-and-ball game that has many fans. It is played between two teams with nine players each, battling and fielding in turns. It is reported to be a sport that gay personnel could not come out to express their selves. The latest scenario being of the former Louis Cardinal baseball …show more content…

5 Things You Didn’t Know

Who Was The First Open Gay Major League Player?
Glenn Burke is considered to be the first and only MLB player to come out as gay to his teammates and owners during his professional playing careers. Burke played for the Los Angeles, The Dodgers and Oakland Athletics. He was proud being gay and his accomplishments. He died in 1995 due to AIDS-related causes. This led to a new wave of speculations linking many gay people with this killer disease.

Other players who came out after their MLB career include Billy Bean. Billy Bean came out as gay in the year 1999. He played as an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers since 1987 to 1989 and other teams sequentially, retiring in 1995. He admits that life was hard during his tenure as he was forced to live a double life. Initially, Billy was a married man since he was 24 years old. Their marriage lasted for three years. Billy confessed that he had his first sexual encounter with a man at the age of 28 …show more content…

Following the tribulations he underwent during his career days, Billy wrote a book, Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life in and out of Major League Baseball. He was then appointed the first ambassador for inclusion in the MLB in July 2014. Since his appointment, Billy has helped various players battling what he underwent during his career days.

The First Open Gay Minor League Player?
As mentioned before, the appointment of Billy Bean as the ambassador for inclusion brought some sovereignty to the baseball sport concerning their regard to individuals’ sexual orientation. The first baseball minor league player to confess his sexual orientations was David Denson. This came through Billy’s interventions. Since Glenn and Billy’s era, there had been major changes in the gay marriage law. Seven members of the Congress had made admissions of being gay. However, no baseball professional player had come out as gay!

This is when Billy got a call from a struggling 20-year old minor league player, David Denson. David came out as gay to his teammates by explaining his situation to Billy. With the help of Billy, Denson got public with the idea. To his surprise, nobody critiqued or ridiculed him for his stand. Actually, friends and teammates congratulated

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