N.B.A. Executive Rick Welts Comes Out

Rick Welts, the CEO and president of basketball team Phoenix Suns, has publicly revealed he is gay, according to a profile in The New York Times.

Welts, 58, discusses the difficulty he faced trying to maintain a relationship while closeted and explained that he wants to "pierce the silence that envelops the subject of homosexuality in men's team sports. He wants to be a mentor to gay people who harbor doubts about a sports career, whether on the court or in the front office. Most of all, he wants to feel whole, authentic."

Welts's revelation makes him Welts one of the most prominent figures active in American sports to openly declare that he is gay. Read the full profile here.