Minnesota United midfielder Collin Martin has announced on Twitter that he is gay, as he prepares to take part in the team’s Pride Night on Friday.
“Tonight my team, @MNUFC, is having their Pride night,” Martin wrote. “It’s an important night for me — I’ll be announcing that I am an openly gay player in Major League Soccer.”
Martin, 23, becomes the only active openly gay player in a major professional American sports league after the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Robbie Rogers retired last November.
“I have been out as a gay man for many years to my family and friends, and this includes my teammates,” Martin added in a statement, which he posted alongside a photo of him draped in a rainbow pride flag. “I have played Major League Soccer for 6 seasons: 4 seasons with DC United and 2 seasons with Minnesota United. Today, I’m proud that my entire team and the management of Minnesota United know that I am gay. I have received only kindness and acceptance from everyone in Major League Soccer and that has made the decision to come out publicly that much easier.
“As we celebrate Pride night, I want to thank my teammates for their unconditional support for who I am. In light of my experience as a professional athlete, I want to take this moment to encourage others who play sports professionally or otherwise to have confidence that sport will welcome them wholeheartedly. June is Pride month, and I am proud to be playing for Pride, and to be playing as an out gay man.”
Martin received kind words from the soccer community, most notably former New York Red Bull Sacha Kljestan, Fox Soccer analyst Stu Holden and MLS commissioner Don Garber.
“We admire Collin’s courage, and are proud of him and of the support from the soccer community,” Garber said in a statement.
Minnesota will wear jerseys with rainbow numbers when it takes on FC Dallas on Friday night. It is Martin’s second year with the club since spending his first four professional seasons with DC United.
