Jason Collins was the first active NBA play to come out. He was born in 1978 in California and has a twin brother. He played with his brother at Stanford and then played for various pro teams after that. He came out in 2013 after the season concluded. He became a free agent that summer and was not invited by any team to training camp. In 2014, he signed a 10-day contract to rejoin the Nets. He played for 11 minutes that night and became the first publicly gay athlete to play in any of the four major North American professional sports leagues. Jason chose to wear No. 98 in honor of Mathew Shepard. His jersey rose to the top spots for sales in the NMA’s online shop. The NBA announced that a part of the proceeds would go to the Mathew Shepard Foundation and GLSEN.
