First Openly Gay Male Professional Athlete Jason Collins Announces Retirement From NBA, Reveals Joking Around With President Obama, Teammates

In a letter written for Sports Illustrated - the same outlet he utilized to announce to the world that he was gay - Collins announced that he will be announcing his retirement at this evening's Brooklyn Nets - Milwaukee Bucks game at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.   

In the Nov. 24 issue of Sports Illustrated, Collins writes "It has been 18 exhilarating months since I came out in Sports Illustrated as the first openly gay man in one of the four major professional team sports. And it has been nine months since I signed with the Nets and became the first openly gay male athlete to appear in a game in one of those leagues." 

Collins chose today to announce his retirement, and the game at which to do so, due to his relationship with former Nets coach Jason Kidd, saying "The day will be especially meaningful for me because the Nets will be playing the Bucks, who are coached by Jason Kidd, my former teammate and my coach in Brooklyn."

Jason's sexuality doesn't change the fact that he is a great friend and was a great teammate. @jasoncollins34

— Jason Kidd (@RealJasonKidd) April 29, 2013

Collins came out in April 2013, becoming the first openly gay male professional athlete in America's four major sporting leagues. He was signed by the Brooklyn Nets for the 2013-14 season in February 2014, and appeared in 22 games for the Nets. 

In an extended piece written for The Players Tribune - the site set up for first-person athlete accounts by retired New York Yankee Derek Jeter - Collins reveals even more about his life as a closeted athlete, setting up the varied scenes that he has experienced on team buses and in locker rooms... and at the White House, when he joked with President Obama.  

He also jokes that, when the Nets talked to him about signing, it was his relationship with Jason Kidd, saying "Most of the money I made in the NBA I probably owe to J-Kidd."

Collins goes on to answer the question as to whether anything was different about playing basketball after he came out. "Nothing was different," he writes. "I did what I always do. Being gay certainly didn't affect how I played. It's still just basketball."

As for the claims that a gay athlete would prove a distraction to a team, Collins explains how his teammates supported him, saying "You know what a real distraction is? Maintaining a lie 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for most of your career, for most of your life."

More importantly, in the powerful piece, he explains just what it was like to come out to his family, explaining "That's the secret that every single closeted person reading this-athlete or otherwise-should know. In the end, the people who genuinely love you will always love you and support you, no matter what. It's the secret I wish I had known for 33 years."