Glenn Burke, Not Jason Collins, Was The First Openly Gay Athlete in Major Sports

 

This pass Sunday, Jason Collins, became the first actively openly gay athlete in the four major sports in the United States when he played for the Brooklyn Nets against the Lakers. However, our limited view of history may have us all wrong about what the historical moment we thought was occurring. In 1976, a black major league baseball player, Glenn Burke, made history. The thing is, the media was too scared to talk about it. Allen Barra talked about this fact in The Nation last year, but it seems not everyone has heard the truth. This doesn’t take away from anything that Jason Collins has done. It takes guts to do what he has and is doing. Its just nice to get a good history lesson and to also learn from the mistakes of the past.