MINNEAPOLIS _ Minnesota United midfielder Collin Martin publicly came out as gay in a social media statement Friday morning, making him the only out athlete currently playing in one of the five major men's U.S. sports leagues.
Martin, 23, is the first male athlete from any of those major leagues to say he is gay since 2014, when Michael Sam came out ahead of the NFL draft. Martin is believed to be the first male athlete from a pro Minnesota team to come out publicly during his career.
"I never thought that was completely important because I thought it'd been done before," Martin said. "But, I mean, you look around, there's still not an out professional athlete in the five major sports in America ... right now. So it's still important."
Robbie Rogers, a former LA Galaxy and U.S. national team winger/defender, was the first openly gay man to compete in one of the top-five leagues after he came out in February 2013. Rogers retired at the end of 2017 after missing the whole season with injuries. Rogers tweeted his support after Martin's statement.
About two months after Rogers came out, NBA center Jason Collins announced he was gay and played for the Brooklyn Nets in 2014 before retiring that same year. Sam, who played college football at Missouri, came out almost a year after Rogers before the St. Louis Rams drafted the defensive lineman. He never played an official NFL game and retired from the sport in 2015.
In baseball, a minor-league player from the Milwaukee Brewers' system, David Denson, came out as gay in 2015; he retired in 2017. The NHL has never had an out player. Non-major sports have several out male athletes, such as figure skater Adam Rippon and freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, who both participated in the Winter Olympics.
Martin has played in 20 games with 13 starts since joining the Loons last season, including starting five of the past eight. He said he decided rather suddenly to come out Friday ahead of United's Pride Night game at 7 p.m. against FC Dallas at TCF Bank Stadium.
A fairly private person who rarely posts on Instagram or Twitter, Martin said one day it just clicked on him, and he decided he was ready to move forward. He informed the team of his plan on Monday.
The Maryland native has been out to his four siblings and friends for about four years, and his parents and teammates for about two.
He said a few things recently inspired him to make a public statement. One was seeing how much support there is in his sport for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community. About 125 men's and women's soccer players from all different levels participate in Playing for Pride, a fundraising campaign in its second year that raises money and encourages conversation about inclusion.
"The big thing, and the point I'm trying to bring across, is that I've been out with the team and with my teammates and the staff for over a year now, and I've had nothing but support," Martin said. "It's taken me a while to feel comfortable on the teams I've played on and to be completely myself, and talk to my teammates about my (ex-)boyfriend and who I'm going on dates with or about being gay myself. And all that has been super rewarding.
"At this point, it was just trying to maybe get over that hump and to maybe see if I can just affect more people, because I think I've affected a lot of people in my daily life and around this locker room positively just by being myself."
Martin said he read several coming-out stories from athletes in other sports and at other levels that share a negative aspect or barrier to overcome. He admits to having those, too, culminating during his one year at Wake Forest when he used alcohol as a defense mechanism while trying to figure out his sexuality as well as his place within a soccer team and a heteronormative world.
Since returning home and signing his first professional contract as a homegrown player for D.C. United in 2013, he was finally able to explore the sexuality he knew he identified with since he was a boy.
Those he has come out to have met him with support and understanding. While Martin shies away from talk of being brave or an inspiration, he hopes sharing his story will encourage younger gay athletes to know there is a space for them, just as athletes who came out before encouraged him.
"It's important for people to just respect themselves and respect their own timeline but to also just be open and honest and understand that locker rooms are changing," Martin said. "And professional sports are a place for people to be themselves wholeheartedly."
Martin's statement attracted more than 1,000 retweets and 4,000 likes on Twitter just 45 minutes after it posted. Teammates Christian Ramirez, Eric Miller, Ethan Finlay, Matt Lampson and Michael Boxall tweeted their support.
His former team D.C. United also chimed in, as did Toronto FC, Orlando City SC, the Seattle Sounders, the San Jose Earthquakes and Minnesota WNBA team the Lynx. Players from around the league like Vancouver Whitecaps' Sean Franklin, Houston Dynamo's AJ DeLaGarza, Toronto's Jozy Altidore and Orlando's Sacha Kljestan were also supportive.
In a statement released Friday morning after Martin publicly came out, MLS Commissioner Don Garber said, "We admire Collin's courage, and are proud of him and of the support from the soccer community."
When Martin came to Minnesota in a trade ahead of the Loons' inaugural 2017 MLS season, Martin didn't have to make any big announcement to the whole team.
"It's funny. I told maybe one or two guys last year, and it just spread really fast," Martin said. "You tell the right person, and he'll tell everyone for you."
Martin's best friend on the team, fellow midfielder Collen Warner, said he remembered early on last season going to dinner with Martin and several of the draft picks when Martin told them he was gay. But the group didn't believe him at first, since Martin is known for joking.
"All of us basically said, 'You're lying to us.' ... Everybody was, like, chirping at him. But then he was like, 'No, seriously, I'm gay,' " Warner said. "I remember it being an emotional night because I've never really experienced anything like that as far as a close friend or anything. Never actually been there when somebody's felt comfortable enough to tell a group of people like that."
Martin said for some of his teammates, such as Warner, he's their first gay friend or first gay person they know. To sit down to lunch with them and have intimate conversations about what it's like to be gay is "priceless," he said.
"For them to ask me ... anything that you would ask a normal person that's your friend and for them to ask me those questions and feel comfortable with it, I love that," Martin said. "And for them to ask dumb questions for me to be like, 'No. You have it completely wrong. You're ignorant. You're being stupid.' That stuff means a lot. Or for them to be like, 'How was your date the other night, Collin?' Mainly because, I mean, I'm very open. I like to tell them everything. But for them to also engage with me makes me feel ... like nothing else is new, which is how it should be."
Martin hadn't fully anticipated what reaction he would receive from his announcement. But his father, Gerard Martin, said he knows his son is prepared for anything and has been since he was 6 years old. He drew attention for being the smallest, youngest and most-talented player on his youth soccer team, which tended to rattle some of the more intense parents.
"Parents would scream at him and say, 'You don't belong here. Play with your own age.' And he would just sit there and laugh," Gerard Martin said. "He would play the soccer game, and he would do something amazing, and he'd turn around and look at the father who was yelling the most at him and point right at the father and then he'd put his finger to his lip like, 'Shh.'
"He always had a huge personality. If someone was going to get after him, he was going to show them."
