Greg Louganis

His followers on Facebook say “Give him a chance!” and to that end, they’ve created a page called “We Want Greg Louganis On Dancing With The Stars“.

“I really want to do this for GLBT youth,” Louganis told me this morning. “Being on Dancing With The Stars is more than me being on the show, it sends a positive message — an ‘It Gets Better’ message. And that message is still important- kids are still losing hope. I want to do what I can for them.”

There have been gay men on DWTS before — Lance Bass, Carson Cressley and Louis Amstel — and Chaz Bono broke the transgender barrier last season. But if his bid is successful, Louganis would be the first openly HIV positive contestant. And it’s about time, say HIV activists.

“In a generation that is trying to end AIDS, it’s great to have openly HIV positive sports figures like Greg Louganis in the spot light,” said Tom Donohue, founder and executive director of Who’s Positive, an HIV/AIDS advocacy and awareness organization.

“Not only can his presence be a reminder for folks to be tested, his appearance on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ can reemphasize how those living with HIV/AIDS can live normal and active lives.” said Donohue, who is also on the board of directors for The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA).

Time will tell if this Facebook movement will work — but if the producers are recruiting Tim Tebow — it seems only fair.

Louganis’ Facebook campaign page is here.

“I am pleased to announce that we have concluded the collective bargaining process and have reached an agreement that addresses many significant issues that were challenges to our league,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern.

“This collective bargaining agreement will help us move toward a better business model, a more competitive league and better alignment between compensation and performance.”

The move was immediately hailed by the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy groups:

“The NBA now joins leading Fortune 500 companies and the vast majority of Americans who believe that gay people should have the same opportunities to work and live freely as who they are,” said Mike Thompson, Acting President of GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

“This decision shows that homophobia has no place on the court or in the game and we hope that local, college and high school teams follow this important example.” Thompson said.

“The NBA now joins the ranks of some of the most influential organizations and corporations in the country, who all believe that equality and inclusion are integral to a successful workplace,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “We are grateful to Commissioner Stern, the NBA and the Players’ Association for sending such a powerful message to society that what matters is a person’s talent, not their sexual orientation.”

The move follows similar action by the National Football League and Major League Baseball, who both added sexual orientation to their non-discrimination policies earlier this year.

The NBA already had a similar non-discrimination policy in place for employees.

Article XV, Section A of the MLB’s expiring Basic Agreement, in effect from 2006-2011, states: “The provisions of this Agreement shall be applied to all Players covered by this Agreement without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.”

In the new agreement, the words “sexual orientation” were added to Article XV, reported the New York Daily News.

This decision follows that National Football League, which did the same in their CBA this year. Baseball officials familiar with the process describe the mention of “sexual orientation” as not necessarily related to the NFL, and as a provision readily agreed upon by both union and league negotiators.

The change in wording comes at the end of a significant year for gay rights issues. The military abolished its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and same-sex marriage became legal in New York state. In baseball, several teams filmed an “It Gets Better Video,” an anti-bullying effort aimed at Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender youth.

Michael Weiner, the union’s executive director, said that the decision was not motivated by requests from his membership, but by “the lawyers on both sides just recognizing that it should be there.”

“Whether it’s in the right way or sometimes the wrong way, you learn about life and its lessons.”

Amélie Mauresmo

Amélie Mauresmo was the World No. 1 tennis player. She won 25 career titles including two Grand Slams. In 2004, she received an Olympic Silver medal in tennis singles.

Mauresmo was born in Laye, France, where she began playing tennis at age 4. Her talent on the court was quickly recognized, and her parents enrolled her in private lessons. At 17, she was named Junior World Champion after winning both the French Open and Wimbledon.

In 1999, two years into her professional career, Mauresmo came out during the Australian Open. She publicly embraced her girlfriend after defeating the World No. 1 player, Lindsay Davenport. Mauresmo credited her on-court success to coming to terms with her sexuality. She is the first tennis player to come out without losing any major sponsors.

Mauresmo is one of only a few tennis players to reach World No. 1 ranking before winning a Grand Slam title. Known for her powerful one-handed backhand and net play, she has defeated top-ranked players such as Venus and Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, and Justine Henin. In 2003, she helped France capture the Fed Cup.

In 2007, the president of France presented Mauresmo with the Legion of Honor. Two years later, she announced her retirement.

Since retiring, Mauresmo has coached other professional tennis players. In 2009, she became ambassador of the Sport for Life Foundation, a Swiss-based organization dedicated to supporting young athletes. “I want to share the experiences I’ve gathered along my career with young people so they cannot walk into traps,” she says. “Respect for values is the foundation for success!”

Mauresmo resides in Geneva, Switzerland.

“I hear from people all over the world that my coming out has empowered them in their search for self.”

Dave Kopay

Dave Kopay made headlines in 1975 when he became the first NFL player and one of the first professional athletes to come out. His autobiography, now in its fifth printing, was a New York Times best seller.

The second of four children, Kopay was born in Chicago into a strict Roman Catholic family. When he was in grammar school, the family moved to North Hollywood, California.

Kopay began his football career at Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles, a school known for its championship athletics. He was named to the all-Catholic conference all-star football team. He enrolled at the University of Washington and as team co-captain led the Huskies to the PAC-10 conference title. The following year, he was named an All-American running back.

In 1964, Kopay was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers. He was the team’s leading rusher in his rookie year. He played for five NFL teams in his nine-year career, including the Detroit Lions, the Washington Redskins, the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers.

While playing for the Redskins, Kopay had relationships with women and men, including teammate Jerry Smith, who died of AIDS in 1986. At the suggestion of his therapist, Kopay married a woman to try to fix what he perceived as a problem. The marriage lasted a year.

Three years after retiring from the NFL, Kopay came out publicly in an interview with the Washington Star. He shared details about his struggle with homophobia and sports in “The David Kopay Story,” published in 1977. Kopay pursued coaching positions with NCAA and NFL teams, but believes he wasn’t hired because he is gay. Since 1982, he has worked in his family’s business.

Kopay is one of the founding Gay Games Ambassadors, and has been present to support participating athletes and artists at every edition of the Games.

A champion of gay rights for more than 30 years, Kopay has given hundreds of speeches and media interviews. In 2007, he donated $1 million to the University of Washington’s LGBT center.

Despite suffering serious injuries during his football career, Kopay still misses the thrill of playing for the NFL. “There’s nothing like the rush of playing on Monday Night Football,” he says. “There’s nothing that will ever fill that void.”

Kopay resides in Los Angeles.

“I had to come out because it was too hard not being myself.”

Kye Allums

Kye Allums is the first openly transgender athlete to play NCAA Division I college basketball. Allums was a star shooting guard on the George Washington University (GWU) women’s basketball team.

Born Kyler Kelcian Allums in Daytona Beach, Florida, he was the oldest of four children. Nicknamed Kay-Kay, Allums was a self-described tomboy, who identifed as male from childhood. “I’ve always felt most comfortable dressing like a boy, but my mom would take all of my clothes and force me to wear girl clothes,” he says. Allums would put boys’ clothes in his backpack and change before going to school, then change back before he got home. He says it was the only way he could go to school.

Allums received a basketball scholarship to GWU. In his freshman year, he played in 11 games for the Colonials and missed the final 20 due to injury. As a sophomore, he started 20 of 26 games.

That same year, Allums began to distance himself from Kay-Kay and opened up to some of his teammates. “I do not like being called a girl. I’m a guy in a girl’s body,” he said. Thereafter, he told his head coach Mike Bozeman. Allums says his teammates, coach and family have all been supportive.

Allums was advised not to begin taking male hormones or undergo gender reassignment surgery while remaining on the women’s team. If he did, he would risk losing his scholarship and ending his college basketball career. Allums says he’s undecided about when he will continue his transition.

After suffering a total of eight concussions and not starting any games his junior year, Allums announced he would not be returning to the Colonials for his senior season. “I alone came to this decision and I thank the athletic department for respecting my wishes,” he said.

In 2011, Allums began telling his story at speaking engagements and other forums. “It meant a lot to me to help and affect others in a positive way,” he says about sharing his experience with young people struggling with similar issues.

As for his future, Allums says, “I’ll just be trying to make some kind of difference in the world and look forward to my life.”

Sean Avery (left) and Wayne Simmonds

The incident, during Monday night’s pre-season exhibition game between the Flyers and New York Rangers, was caught on tape, and most viewers assert it confirms Simmonds shouted “fucking faggot” at Rangers winger Sean Avery following a scuffle between the two.

But according to the NHL, “there are conflicting accounts of what transpired on the ice, we have been unable to substantiate with the necessary degree of certainty what was said and by whom,” said NHL senior vice president Colin Campbell Campbell.

GLAAD — the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation — however, said the video shows Simmonds “clearly shouting an anti-gay slur at Avery” and called the NHL’s response “horrendous:”

What if a goalie said he “couldn’t remember” whether the puck had slipped past him and crossed the plane of the net — and if none of the referees had a clear view of the shot? What would the NHL do? Would they simply take the goalie’s word for it? Or would they look at the videotape to see what happened? We’re asking the NHL to treat this incident the same way.

In a post-game interview, Avery said he heard Simmonds use the slur. Simmonds did not deny the accusation, but said he couldn’t remember everything he yelled — he later revised his statement to say he explicitly did not use a gay slur.

Watch:

GLAAD has called on the NHL to take the incident “as seriously as the NBA took the Kobe Bryant and Joakim Noah incidents, and as seriously as MLB took the Roger McDowell incident.”

By now, hockey players and athletes of all ages across this country are aware of what transpired during Monday night’s game. They’re aware that a professional athlete used a defamatory slur. They’ve now seen evidence that — despite big talk about how homophobic attitudes “will not be tolerated” — when it comes down to it, authorities will be more than willing to turn a blind eye.

Using this slur was a bad example for Simmonds to set — and refusing to take responsibility for it is a horrendous example for the NHL to set.

Campbell said the league reserves the right to amend its decision if any new evidence becomes available.

Avery is an outspoken supporter of the LGBT community, and has been criticized for his support of marriage equality.

The video features coach Don Mattingly, James Loney, Matt Guerrier, Jamey Carroll, A.J. Ellis, Rod Barajas and Hiroki Kuroda, and whose message includes, “We’re here to tell you, you deserve respect … you are worthy, and it does get better.”

Watch:

LAist notes, “In declaring “It doesn’t matter which team you cheer for,” the Dodgers video also doubles as a somber follow-up to the opening game day tragedy in the stadium parking lot that found San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow the victim of a brutal beating handed down by a Dodgers fan.

To date, the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, have all produced “It Gets Better” videos.

The Minnesota Twins and the Washington Nationals are also reported to be planning videos.

To date, no teams from the NBA or the NFL have produced, or announced plans to produce, an “It Gets Better” video.

The policy change was first noticed by Pete Olsen at the blog Wide Rights:

The language from the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement Article VII, Player Security, reads:

Section 1. No Discrimination: There will be no discrimination in any form against any player by the Management Council, any Club or by the NFLPA because of race, religion, national origin or activity or lack of activity on behalf of the NFLPA.

The new language in the 2011 CBA, now moved to Article 49, reads:

Section 1. No Discrimination: There will be no discrimination in any form against any player by the Management Council, any Club or by the NFLPA because of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or activity or lack of activity on behalf of the NFLPA.

Olsen at Wide Rights notes that famed attorneys Theodor Olson and David Boies — the lead attorneys in the case challenging California’s Proposition 8 — were on opposite sides of the NFL negotiations. Boies represented the team owners, and Olson represented the players.

The agreement was ratified by NFL players on August 4.

“Dennis Rodman, an open book when it comes to sex, says he will sometimes visualize being intimate with men and goes on to say that people wouldn’t be surprised if he said he was gay: “Back then it was like, ‘Oh, my God, he’s gay.’ If I told people I was gay, they would say, ‘Oh, we knew’ — [laughs] — ‘we was just waiting for you to come out!’”

Rodman, 50, also mentions CNN newscaster Anderson Cooper, calling him “gay as fuck.”

The gay community is very cool … Look at the guy on ’360,’ they got a news guy, he’s fucking gay as fuck … and he’s still making 25 million fucking [dollars] a year.”

Watch:

Cooper, long the subject of rumors and speculation about his sexual orientation, has never come out publicly as gay, but in May 2007, Out magazine ranked Cooper second behind David Geffen in its list of the fifty “Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America.”

Even The New York Times, in a feature article this weekend about his new daytime talk show, seemed to give Cooper a gentle, knowing nudge:

Mr. Cooper is opening up about everything, almost.

The one thing he hasn’t done yet — and the lacuna grows more obvious and awkward with each show — is talk about his love life. It’s hard to see how he can continue to leave that out selectively and preserve one particular zone of privacy while building a confessional talk show wrapped around his good looks, high spirits and glamorous adventures.

Rick Welts

Welts told the Arizona Republic this week that he is leaving “the best job in sports” to focus on his personal life, and spend time with his partner, who lives in Sacramento.

“The most important thing for me is to get my personal and professional lives better aligned,” Welts said. “They’ve probably never been aligned. I’m 58 years old and it’s time to do that.

[...]

“This has been an incredibly personally gratifying experience, going through that and reaching a different part of my life where I’m able to share 100 percent of my life with people I work with instead of 95 percent,” Welts said.

“There’s a great sense of satisfaction and freedom in that. What I’m doing is uncharacteristic of Rick Welts. Leaving one of the best jobs in sports to go figure out what’s next is something I never would’ve done a year ago or five years ago or 10 years ago. Personally, there is a level of confidence and that I can figure it out and the future is going to be terrific. I’m just in a different place.”

Arizona Republic

Welts, 58, has spent 40 years in sports, rising from ball boy to NBA executive to team president.

When he came out in May in a revealing profile in The New York Times, Welts shared intimate details about being a closeted gay man in professional sports, the death of his partner from AIDS complications, and the ending of another 14-year relationship due to living life in the shadows.

Welts said he may write a book and make some speaking engagements.

Ian Krol

The Oakland Athletics on Sunday suspended indefinitely pitching prospect Ian Krol after he posted an offensive tweet that included an anti-gay slur.

The tweet, which has since been deleted from Krol’s @KingKrol9 Twitter page, read:

“ASU is a bunch of fake a** f***, get on one knee a **** **, I’m better than you’ll ever be…”

Krol had all of 90 twitter followers prior to the announcement, but the A’s were obviously keeping tabs on him.

News of Kroll’s suspension comes just one day after it emerged the Chicago White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham used his cleat to write “GETZ IS GAY! G.B.” in the infield dirt against Kansas City — an intended joke aimed at his former teammate Chris Getz, who was playing for the Royals. Beckham later apologized.

Krol and Beckham join Kobe Bryant, Joakim Noah, and most recently DeSean Jackson as athletes who have come under fire recently for using gay slurs.

During an appearance on Sirius XM’s “All Out Show with Rude Jude and Lord Sear” on June 30, a caller asked Jackson, if he had ever “got his dick knocked in the dirt.”

DeSean Jackson

“What kind of question is that?” Jackson replied, and then called the fan a “gay ass faggot.”

The show’s host — Rude Jude — later said that Jackson shouldn’t apologize because he “is a hood dude,” and for “hood cats, the worst thing you can call someone is a bitch or a faggot. I don’t think he’s homophobic. He’s joking.”

But on Saturday, Jackson issued this statement, and said he no harm.

“In a recent radio interview a caller got really confrontational with me,” Jackson said through a spokesperson. “I got very heated with the caller, took it a bit too far and did not mean to offend anybody. I meant no disrespect and a better choice of words was needed.”

An MSNBC blogger notes that the comment comes “just when the controversy over homophobic slurs in sports seemed to have quieted down for the summer.”

Jackson’s comments came only days after former Giants’ hero David Tyree said that he believed legalizing gay marriage in New York would be the first step towards society devolving into anarchy.

Basketball stars Kobe Bryant and Joakim Noah were ordered by the NBA to pay fines after using gay slurs to attack a referee and a fan earlier this year.

The Red Sox become the third professional sports team — after the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs — to participate in the campaign aimed at providing encouragement for LGBT youth.

“Bullying is something that has touched many of our lives either personally or through someone we love,” said Red Sox senior vice president of public affairs/marketing Susan Goodenow.

“We are proud of dedicated Red Sox fans like 12-year-old Sam Maden who took the courageous step recently to publicly stand up against bullying of LGBT youth, and we are honored to join Sam and others throughout Red Sox Nation in support of the It Gets Better Project.”

The 60-second video features third baseman Kevin Youkilis; catcher and team captain Jason Varitek; and Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

Also included are Eric Maitland, a Red Sox greeter and Wheelock College counselor; TJ Connelly, Fenway Park’s DJ and member of the Red Sox Fan Services & Entertainment department; Kristen Rosa, Smith College student and Red Sox fan; and Alison Tippett, a student at Lexington High School and daughter of Red Sox Director of Baseball Information Services Tom Tippett.

The “It Gets Better Project,” which has since compiled more than 10,000 online videos, was launched by Seattle-based activist and author Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller, in response to the increasing number of teen suicides of kids who were bullied for their perceived sexual orientation.

“The Chicago Cubs organization celebrates you for exactly who you are, gay or straight,” said Cubs Manager Mike Quade, in the video. Watch:

On June 1, the World Series champion San Francisco Giants became the first major league sports team to join the “It Gets Better Project.“ Following the Cubs’ announcement, the Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins have also announced plans to release their own “It Gets Better” videos.

The project, which has since compiled more than 10,000 online videos, was launched by Seattle-based activist and author Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller, in response to the increasing number of teen suicides of kids who were bullied for their perceived sexual orientation.