GW had the first openly transgender athlete in Division I sports. Now, Massachusetts has the first openly gay men’s basketball player.
Sophomore guard Derrick Gordon, who plays for conference rival UMass, became the first openly gay male athlete in Division I basketball Wednesday, coming out in interviews with ESPN and Outsports.
Colonials fans will know Gordon as one of the Minutemen’s best starters. Against GW on Feb. 15, Gordon scored 11 points and grabbed three rebounds, as the Minutemen served the Colonials their only home loss of the season, 67-61.
In the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinals, Gordon scored eight points and pulled in four boards, as GW got revenge with a win and a trip to the semifinals.
As a starter for head coach Derek Kellogg this year, Gordon averaged 9.4 points and 3.5 rebounds.
The announcement comes just a few months after NFL prospect and former Missouri defensive lineman, Michael Sam, became the first openly gay NFL draftee.
Gordon said it was not Sam, but Jason Collins – the NBA’s first actively gay player – who inspired him to come out to his teammates April 2. Collins, who announced he is gay last April, signed with the Brooklyn Nets in early March.
“When Jason came back to the league, that’s when I started to build a little more confidence about myself,” Gordon told ESPN. “If the NBA can accept him, then everything is going to be fine in my book.”
Gordon’s teammates were 100 percent supportive when he spoke to them in a team meeting, he said, and gave him words of encouragement like, “We got you,” “you’re our family,” and “this doesn’t change anything.”
