Isaac Humphries came out publicly as gay just hours before his Melbourne United team played its National Basketball League season opener.
So how have the couple of days been for the former Kentucky Wildcats and former NBA player?
Amazing.
“I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed with how much support I’ve had not just from my team and our community in Melbourne and Australia, but globally I’ve had messages from support from every part of the world. It feels like I’ve touched every part of the globe,” Humphries said.
It’s been evident on social media:
A beautiful, inspiring and powerful message, @IsaacHumphries7 ❤️ https://t.co/1fyqVKkZCd
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 16, 2022
Really proud of former Cat Isaac Humphries and the courage behind this video
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) November 15, 2022
Take a couple minutes to watch https://t.co/lVYj17xNQP
Again, this is a gay professional basketball player coming out and saying hours later that the level of support he’s received has left him “overwhelmed.”
Ultimately, Melbourne lost to the Adelaide 36ers, 91-86. You can’t expect opposing players to give him a break. Interestingly, Humphries played for the 36ers for the last couple years until this season.
His ultimate stats for his first post-coming-out game? 8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists.
That included this dunk:
BAM! https://t.co/s4wDQIWxLE
— David McFarland (he/him) (@DavidLMcFarland) November 17, 2022
When are we going to stop telling gay athletes that they will be rejected? Despite the loss, he contributed.
As we at Outsports have said for at least a decade, the false reports of homophobia dominating sports — particularly men’s sports — are a total lie. Every piece of evidence says that in Western culture gay athletes will be supported in sports by other athletes, coaches, the media and fans.
We continue to be proud of Humphries for seeing through the lies and being a beacon of hope for other gay athletes.