Openly gay athletes

Jason Collins, a veteran center with the Brooklyn Nets, revealed he is gay in a first-person account published in Sports Illustrated, making him the first openly gay player to appear in an NBA game. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

Figure skater Johnny Weir came out in his January 2011 memoir titled Welcome to My World. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won

Former tennis player Billie Jean King. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Megan Rapinoe of the U.S. women's soccer team revealed she was gay in an interview with Out magazine shortly before the London Olympics. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

Former WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes (R) came out as gay in a 2005 interview with ESPN The Magazine. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

American long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, the first person to swim from Cub to Florida without a shark cage, came out at age 21. REUTERS/Alex Gallardo

Puerto Rican boxer Orlando Cruz came out as gay in October 2012 while still active professionally. REUTERS/Scott Miller

Former San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Kwame Harris revealed he is gay in a March 2013 interview with CNN. Harris played in the NFL from 2004 to 2009. REUTERS/Lou Dematteis

Orlando Magic center John Amaechi became the first former NBA player to come out publicly in his February 2007 memoir Man in the Middle. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Midfielder Robbie Rogers, who played on the U.S. national soccer team, came out as gay in a February 2013 blog entry. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

Tennis player Martina Navratilova came out as gay in 1981. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

British diver Tom Daley announced he was bisexual in a YouTube video released in December 2013. REUTERS/Neil Hall

Number one WNBA draft pick Brittney Griner revealed she is gay in a Sports Illustrated interview in April 2013. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Now-retired soccer player David Testo was the first American soccer player to come out as gay in November 2011. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham came out in a 2008 newspaper profile on Olympic hopefuls. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

Boxer Emile Griffith, who died in July 2013, said later in life that he was bisexual. His career was defined by a New York match in 1962, in which he pummeled his opponent Benny Paret after he taunted him with a gay slur. Paret died in hospital 10...more

American figure skater Rudy Galindo came out as gay in a book published in 1996. In 2000, Galindo announced he was HIV positive. REUTERS

College player Will Sheridan came out publicly in 2011 after retiring from basketball. REUTERS/John Gress

Seimone Augustus is an openly lesbian WNBA player with the Minnesota Lynx. REUTERS/Tami Chappell

Retired rugby player Gareth Thomas came out in December 2009, making him the first openly gay professional rugby player. REUTERS/David Gray

Former Canadian Olympic swimmer Mark Tewksbury came out in 1998. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Former Germany midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger came out in January 2014. REUTERS/Alex Grimm