At last week's 2014 National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association summit, ESPN NBA editor Kevin Arnovitz sat down with out NBA-er Jason Collins for an extended chat on his experience with the media while coming out in the major leagues.
Collins became the first openly gay active NBA player and he joined the Brooklyn Nets in February 2014.
During the lengthy discussion (over an hour), Jason was warm, candid, and laughed quite a bit as he shared his thoughts on the process of coming out in a media firestorm, what the landscape for out athletes looks like now, plus what the future hold for him.
Before his coming out announcement, Jason credited media training where he learned to pivot from awkward questions, and to not "give any additional ammunition" to "the haters."
Jason also shared this for those who are still in the closet: "When you do come out, your life is going to get much better."
Jason was more than generous with his time taking photos with everyone who approached him, and never looked like he was rushing the appearance at all. He could not have been nicer.
And props to Arnovitz for his excellent Q&A plus follow-up. Nice to see someone who knows what they're doing.
I didn't start recording until ten seconds into Jason's first comment - my apologies. The recording begins as Jason talks on discussions he had with his Stanford college roommate U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, (who is not gay) about his first thoughts on coming out.
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