NBA球员正式宣布出柜

Jason Collins ，a National Basketball Association player has become the first active player in a major professional U.S. team sport to reveal he is homosexual.

Free-agent center Jason Collins revealed he is gay in the cover article for this week's Sports Illustrated magazine.  He wrote he did not "set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport," but he is "happy to start the conversation."

Collins said he first realized he needed to reveal his sexuality last year when his friend and roommate at Stanford University, U.S. Representative Joe Kennedy, marched in Boston's Gay Pride parade.  But this month's twin bombings at the Boston Marathon finally convinced him that he "shouldn't wait for the circumstances of my coming out to be perfect."

Collins received an outpouring of support Monday from across the nation.  NBA Commissioner David Stern said the league was " proud he has assumed the leadership mantle on this very important issue." President Barack Obama personally called Collins to offer his support, and White House spokesman Jay Carney called the revelation another example of the change in attitude in the U.S. towards homosexuality.
The 34-year-old Collins played the past season with the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards and has played for six NBA teams during his 12-year career.