Australian Isaac Humphries has become the first professional basketball player in the Australian League (NBL) to openly come out as gay, expressing great relief after taking the step and finally being able to "reconcile his sexuality" with his "environment". sports.
In an emotional video posted this Wednesday on his social networks, Humphries, 24, who plays for Australia's Melbourne United, revealed in the dressing room in front of his teammates that he is gay, and admitted making the decision after "an extremely dark" in which I even "tried to take my own life".
"I thought that this person could not be within our environment," confessed Humphries, who admitted taking the step thanks to "being part of a community full of pride and happiness", which was "an awakening for me," he added.
"You can be a great basketball player and be gay. It has nothing to do with your sexuality (...) I just want to be myself," Humphries concluded.
Isaac Humphries thus becomes the first Australian NBL player to acknowledge his homosexuality, in one of the few examples in the world of professional basketball.
In 2013, NBA player Jason Collins became the first professional athlete in a major American league to come out as gay. For his part, the five-time Olympic champion and global icon of swimming, Ian Thorpe, also Australian, admitted in 2014 to being gay after years denying the rumors.
Melbourne United CEO Nick Truelson told several Australian media outlets that "the whole club is proud of him." "It's an incredible step in Isaac's journey," Truelson added.
