{"id":1934160,"date":"2026-05-14T02:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1934160"},"modified":"2026-05-14T02:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:08:08","slug":"charles-barkley-laments-lack-of-progress-in-wake-of-jason-collins-death-we-live-in-a-homophobic-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1934160","title":{"rendered":"Charles Barkley laments lack of progress in wake of Jason Collins\u2019 death: \u2018We live in a homophobic society\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the wake of Jason Collins\u2019 death earlier this week, Charles Barkley lamented how little he thinks societal acceptance has changed since Collins came out as the first openly gay player in the NBA more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Speaking on \u201cInside the NBA\u201d on Wednesday night, a day after Collins died at 47 after a battle with Stage 4 glioblastoma<\/a>, the NBA Hall of Famer said that America still has ways to go in accepting athletes of all sexualities.<\/p>\n

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Collins was the first active male athlete in any of the four major North American professional sports leagues to be openly gay.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf another guy did it, it would still be a big deal,\u201d Barkley said, \u201cbecause we live in a homophobic society, and that\u2019s unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins played 13 years in the NBA (2001-2014) and came out as gay on April 29, 2013, in a first-person essay published in Sports Illustrated.\u00a0He went on to become a champion of gay rights in all sports for several years, once telling The Athletic\u2019s<\/em><\/a> Steve Buckley: \u201cI would always try to spin things in the way of there\u2019s work to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Jason<\/p>\n
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\n Jason Collins wanted us to know \u2018there\u2019s work to be done\u2019 to support gay athletes\n <\/div>\n
\n Was Collins \u2014 the first active, openly gay NBA player \u2014 disappointed more athletes haven\u2019t come out? His answer was forward-looking.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Barkley maintained that there are still more gay athletes in North American sports who don\u2019t feel comfortable revealing their sexuality.\u00a0No other NBA player has come out since Collins did in 2013, though Carl Nassib, then of the NFL\u2019s Las Vegas Raiders, did in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody who thinks we ain\u2019t got a bunch of gay players in all sports, they\u2019re just stupid,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there is such an atmosphere toward the gay community, and that\u2019s what\u2019s really unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barkley\u2019s thoughts came in response to analyst Kenny Smith sharing that he believed society had progressed past someone being openly gay being viewed as notable. Smith championed Collins\u2019 fight for normalcy in that space.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou say \u2026 \u2018What\u2019s the big deal?\u2019 If somebody said that they\u2019re openly gay, what\u2019s the big deal?\u201d Smith said. \u201cWell, 13 years ago, it was a big deal. And the reason why it doesn\u2019t feel as big now at times is because of people like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins finished his 13-year career averaging 3.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. But for host Ernie Johnson, Collins\u2019 impact on sports and society weighed far heavier than his on-court play. To Johnson, Collins\u2019 legacy was the path he paved for others to follow toward living in their truth.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just a gentleman, yes, and a guy firm in his beliefs,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cA guy who really, through his words and through his actions, has told us all, \u2018You don\u2019t have to live in the shadows.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of Jason Collins\u2019 death earlier this week, Charles Barkley lamented how little he thinks societal acceptance has changed since Collins came out as the first openly gay player in the NBA more than a decade ago. Speaking on \u201cInside the NBA\u201d on Wednesday night, a day after Collins died at 47 after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1934160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1934160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1934160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1934160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1934160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}