While Minnesota United played FC Dallas on Friday night, the club’s celebration of Pride Night was amplified earlier in the day to a new degree. Midfielder Collin Martin came out as a gay man on Twitter on Friday morning, becoming the first openly gay male athlete to be active in any of America’s five major sports leagues.
“I have been out as a gay man for many years to my family and friends, and this includes my teammates,” Martin’s statement said. This simple act, one of untold pressure on any professional athlete, reached far beyond this single game or team.
The groundwork for openly gay male professional athletes has been laid in many areas. Robbie Rogers came out while away from soccer in February 2013, and went on to play 78 games for the Los Angeles Galaxy after returning to the game.
Michael Sam came out before the 2014 NFL Draft, and went on to play in the Canadian Football League.
Jason Collins came out while a free agent in 2013, and played in 22 games for the Brooklyn Nets in the 2013-14 season.
Rogers, Sam and Collins all had moments, but after Rogers’ retirement after the 2017 MLS season, there were no active gay male athletes in any of the American major leagues, with Sam and Collins gone from their games.
Martin’s decision comes at a different point than any of the previous three. Martin is fighting for his place in the Minnesota United team of this season, and is a six-year MLS veteran while also only being 23 years old, with plenty of career in front of him. He has played in six games this season, starting three, and was on the bench for Friday night’s game.
“It was crazy. It was overwhelming, but in a good way,” Martin said when he spoke to media after the game. “I felt loved and appreciated and supported, and it was a special day for me.”
“Honestly, when you’re coming out, there really isn’t much of a thought process in terms of ‘Okay, I’m really ready now because of this, this and that.’ It just clicks sometimes. When I finally was able to tell my parents, the hardest people I told were my parents. The day before it popped into my head and I figured it out. This week I thought it was right, and I hit up a friend and we started hashing out a statement. From there, I told the guys on the team and it came from there. It kind of just was quick.”
Martin’s statement made waves across the league and world. His statement on Twitter had more than 61,000 likes and 13,000 retweets as of this writing, and words of support came from many teams and athletes across MLS and beyond, including Collins and Rogers.
“I didn’t know that it was going to be that big,” Martin said. “I knew it was going to change some things in terms of just for my social media account. But no, I don’t think I was necessarily completely prepared. My phone was going crazy, I had to figure out how to turn off the notifications.
“I really just texted the people that texted me today, and hopefully I’ll be able to go through in the next couple of days and try to be cognizant of people that reached out on social media and just thank them.”
While Martin’s news exploded across the world, his teammates and coach had nothing but support for him, as did FC Dallas players during Friday’s game.
“This team is awesome, this Pride night is awesome,” Martin said. “My teammates have supported me and loved me for the past year and a half, and that’s what’s important. People need to hear that.”
“I had a bunch of guys on the other team come up to me in the game and just say how brave I was, and just being happy for my decision. I knew I was going to get a nice response, and I’m glad it was a positive one.”
“I think it’s a brave decision,” Minnesota United head coach Adrian Heath said. “We all knew, but it wasn’t common knowledge elsewhere. It’s something this club has always talked about, being inclusive to everybody. It’ll make no difference to us. Hopefully, if there’s one or two people out there thinking about it, this might give them the impetus to join him.”
“I’m just so happy for him,” defender Brent Kallman said. “Like, he made it very clear to everybody around the team, teammates all knew. I can’t even imagine the courage that it would take to do something about that.
“Man, if that just helps one person, especially a younger person that’s coming up and having a rough time, which I’m sure it will, it’s going to help a lot of people, I bet, that’s so cool. We’re all really proud of him, and it’s going to be crazy. It already has been today, so we’ll see how it is going forward. It’ll be fun.”
The hope is that Martin’s openness can inspire the same courage within others, not just on the day he came out but the next day, and the first time he appears on an MLS field after this, and every time he scores, assists, passes or does anything.
“I think there’s definitely some more professionals out there that have probably been in my situation, and I’m not here to tell them what to do,” Martin said. “Everyone works on their own timeline. But, I think we still have some improvement to make. It’s still kind of crazy to think I’m the only out gay man — man — in the five major league sports in America.
“There’s more of us out there, and I think that’s what Robbie Rogers was alluding to earlier in the month or two months ago. It’s just like ‘hey, where you guys at?’ It’s been four years since Michael Sam, and so I think it’s time, more so than professionally but for other people in general.”
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