Basketball player Jason Collins signed a 10-day contract with the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, Feb 23; later that day he made history by becoming the first openly gay man to play an NBA game. Collins, who played with the Nets (at the time they were the New Jersey Nets) and other NBA teams earlier in his career, came out as a gay man in April 2013. Sunday’s NBA game was the first he has played since coming out.
Last April, Daily Xtra sent a camera to Barclays Center in Brooklyn to gauge Nets fans’ reactions to Collins’s coming out. Judging by their comments in the above video, it would appear Collins landed in the right place.
“I think it was about time somebody did it,” one fan said.
Brooklyn has a history of hosting breakthroughs in sport. In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play major league baseball when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
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