Sportswriter for Boston Herald comes out

Ed Gray, a prominent sportswriter for the Boston Herald, outed himself Tuesday in a column in the newspaper. "I'm out because I no longer, in good conscience, choose to ignore the unabashed homophobia that is so cavalierly tolerated within the world of sports," he said. "I'm out because the silence of a closeted gay man only serves to give his implicit approval to bigotry. I'm out because I refuse to continue hiding from the truth that an openly gay man has as much right as a straight man to play sports or report on them." "In the cases of both a gay athlete and a gay sportswriter, homophobic athletes always come up with the same sorry excuse to justify the perpetuation of prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation--the locker room," Gray continued. "What, exactly, does a straight athlete have to fear from a gay teammate or sportswriter? Any man secure in his heterosexuality should not have a care in the world when a gay man is present in the locker room. He is there only to earn a living, not to infiltrate the locker room in a covert operation to 'convert' straight athletes. There are infinitely more friendly and healthy environments in which a self-respecting gay man would prefer to explore his sexuality than a locker room full of straight guys."