6 LGBT Athletes Who Changed The Game Forever

From: NewNowNext

 5

Glenn Burke 

You can thank baseball player Glenn Burke for the high five: In 1977, Burke ran on to the field to congratulate Dodgers teammate Dusty Baker on a game-winning home run. Rather than a hug or a handshake, Burke offered an upraised hand and Baker slapped it. The high five went on to become a famous symbol of camaraderie and athletic celebration. Ironically, Burke was often denied such camaraderie from coaches and teammates during his four-year career in professional baseball. He was outgoing, funny and an incredibly gifted athlete—the fact that Burke was gay was an open secret among his Dodgers teammates and managers. And while Burke maintained players didn’t care, Dodgers general manager Al Campanis reportedly offered to foot the bill for a lavish wedding. To which Burke responded: “To a woman?!” He also had a troubled relationship with Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who was furious Burke was hanging out with his son, Tommy Jr., in West Hollywood. After only two seasons with the Dodgers, Burke was traded to the Oakland A’s, where he was underutilized and isolated. (Some teammates reportedly even refused to shower with him.) The final “out” in Burke’s career came in 1980, when Billy Martin was hired as the A’s manager. Early in his tenure, Martin stood in the dugout, looked straight at Burke and declared, “I don’t want no faggot on my team.” By the end of the season Burke was released from his contract.

Free from clubhouse homophobia, Burke was at least able to come out publicly. He even competed in the first Gay Games in 1982, in track and field, and then in the 1986 Games in basketball—proof of what a well-rounded athlete he was.

In later years he struggled with drug addiction and homelessness, and finally succumbed to AIDS in 1995. He always maintained that prejudice against homosexuality “drove me out of baseball sooner than I should have [gone].”

Still, he took pride in his achievements, telling People magazine in 1994, “They can’t ever say now that a gay man can’t play in the majors, because I’m a gay man and I made it.”