Derrick Gordon on coming out as gay 10 years ago
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It was a huge deal at the time, “a bombshell,” as Derrick Gordon recalls it. In April 2014, as a junior on the University of Massachusetts basketball team, the Plainfield native told the world he’s gay.
In doing so, Gordon became the first openly gay Division 1 men’s basketball player.
Ten years later, there hasn’t been another.
“I will say I’m shocked, looking back on it now, that I’m the only one,” Gordon said last week from his Los Angeles home. “I guess people don’t want to be in that position – they look at it like it’s a risk, but it’s not. It’s not a risk at all. Even though it wasn’t the NBA, I proved you can still go on to play professional basketball.”
Quite a journey
Gordon went on to achieve a good deal on the court. As a postgrad he transferred to Seton Hall and – as the sixth man and undisputed locker-room leader – helped the Pirates win the 2016 Big East Tournament title.
“That was a special time,” he said.
Then he played pro ball in Cyprus and Germany.
“I had a blast – playing in Europe is amazing,” he said. “You get your own apartment, you get your own car, you’re not paying for anything while you’re over there. And the fans really care. Every single game is intense like a March Madness game.”
He was hesitant to move to Europe at first.
“Don’t get me wrong: When I went to Cyprus (an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea) it was a culture shock,” he said. “I had to get used to the food and lifestyle over there. But it was an incredible opportunity.”
He discovered that over there, “It doesn’t matter what your sexual orientation is. If you can play, you can play. That’s one of the things I love about Europe: They don’t care. Don’t get me wrong, I would never go play in Russia; I would never go play in Serbia. That’s just because of my safety.”
Meanwhile, back in the states, no one followed Gordon’s lead. In retrospect that’s hard to fathom, considering the momentum that was gathering. Two months before Gordon, Missouri football star Michael Sam came out. The year before, NBA player Jason Collins did so.
“We’re getting there, but we still have a long ways to go,” Gordon said. “In my world, in my eyes, it’s the norm. I’ve been out for a while now, and I’m always going to be my true authentic self no matter where I’m at. But to me, a lot of work still has to be done especially in NCAA men’s sports – college basketball, college football, college baseball.”
In the view of a leading expert on the subject, it’s complicated.
A study’s eye-opening finding
Sociologist Eric Anderson might be the world’s foremost scholar on gay men in sports. The 56-year-old California native and professor at the University of Winchester in England has written numerous books on sexuality and gender, including his autobiography “Trailblazing: American’s First Openly Gay High School Coach.”
As Anderson’s sees it, “American society has made big…
Read More: Derrick Gordon on coming out as gay 10 years ago 2024-04-22 09:16:44