The New York Times, in an obituary published recently, Jason Collins, First Active N.B.A. Player to Come Out as Gay, Dies at 47, writes:
His achievements on the court were eclipsed by an essay he wrote in Sports Illustrated in 2013 in which he declared: “I’m a 34-year-old N.B.A. center. I’m Black and I’m gay.”
In an essay for ESPN in which he revealed his glioblastoma diagnosis, Collins recalled his announcement from more than a decade earlier. “I got to tell my own story, the way I wanted to. And now I can honestly say, the past 12 years since have been the best of my life,” he wrote. “Your life is so much better when you just show up as your true self, unafraid to be your true self, in public or private.”