Collin Martin walked mindlessly off the soccer field as if on autopilot, not yet able to process that two scenarios he’d remember forever — one dark, one heartening — were playing out simultaneously.
Two years earlier, the Montgomery County native had wrapped himself in a rainbow pride flag for a Twitter announcement, making him the only openly gay player at the time in any of the five major men’s professional sports leagues. Now it was 2020, and Martin, then 25, and his San Diego Loyal teammates were trudging off the pitch during a game to protest a homophobic slur directed at him by an opposing player.
It was a nightmarish moment for the unassuming Martin, who had never wanted his sexual orientation to negatively affect his team. But the sacrifice of his teammates and their manager, Landon Donovan — one of America’s most celebrated players — to forfeit the game imprinted on him. “What was very powerful was Landon sticking up for me. I mean, Landon’s played the game at the highest level,” Martin said.
Five years later, almost no other male professional athletes have come out, and Martin and others hold tightly to that scene — of the players slowly walking to the locker room, one draping an arm around Martin’s shoulder — as proof of what is possible
“I may get emotional about this,” color analyst Shannon MacMillan, a former Olympian and World Cup player, said shakily on the local TV broadcast of the game, played without fans due to the pandemic. “This is a group of guys that will support each other to the end.”
For Martin, now 30, the homophobic taunt remains a guidepost pointing him toward a core mission: trying to battle unseen cultural barriers preventing other male athletes from coming out. A midfielder for North Carolina FC (his San Diego club folded in 2023), he speaks to current and aspiring players about his experiences, participates in “pride nights” with his team, hosted a fundraiser for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and says he’d consider running for some sort of political office in the future.
“I think he would make a fantastic politician,” said Jacob Reitan, a Minnesota attorney and gay rights activist who started a gay-straight alliance club in high school in the 1990s. Walz, then a teacher and football coach, served as faculty adviser and — years later — was introduced to Martin by Reitan.
Martin, who was then playing for Minnesota United FC of Major League Soccer, became an ally of Walz, last year’s unsuccessful Democratic vice presidential nominee, and his interest in politics grew.
Martin, who says it’s too soon to predict his career path after soccer, “has got the right amount of passion and energy but also a calmness to him that I think serves politicians well,” Reitan said.
Martin can’t help but wonder why so few other men are out in baseball, football, basketball, hockey and soccer, even as people in other areas of American life, including women’s sports, are increasingly open about their sexual orientation.
He believes many male athletes seem to calculate that the risk of being out — and potentially upsetting relationships with agents, teams, sponsors and sometimes families or churches — remains steep.
“If one of those areas is still troubling or hard, why would you take the biggest leap to come out publicly?” Martin said in an interview near the Chevy Chase home where he was raised by his father, a cardiologist, and his mother, a pastoral counselor. “I think about agents and people that want to protect someone’s image.”
But Martin adds: “I would love to see a major athlete come out. I’ve been told that there are some major, major athletes out there that have a story to tell.”
Martin came out five years after Robbie Rogers, who played for the University of Maryland and the LA Galaxy, became the first openly gay male athlete in 2013 in one of American sports’ major pro leagues. He retired in 2017.
Since then, there has been one active gay National Basketball Association player (Jason Collins in 2014), one active National Football League player (Carl Nassib in 2021-22) and no active Major League Baseball or National Hockey League players, according to Outsports, a website featuring LGBTQ sports news that chronicles “coming out” stories. College football star Michael Sam was drafted into the NFL but only played in the preseason before being released in 2014.
“Collin coming out was significant because of how few ‘out’ active male pro athletes there have been,” said Jim Buzinski, Outsports’ co-founder.
Buzinski said male athletes have to endure “a ridiculously old stereotype” of gay men and the “frankly odd nature of having to come out in the first place. Straight athletes do not have to declare themselves heterosexual. They’re just allowed to be. But for a male athlete to be out, he has to declare something about his sexuality that is very private for a lot of people.”
Martin debuted in Major League Soccer when he was 18, playing for D.C. United, his hometown-area club. It had been neither a goal nor a plan to come out to the world. Serious, soft-spoken and intensely competitive about soccer, he appears self-contained in the sense of not seeking validation from others.
According to Reitan, he told Martin in 2018: “You know, in the history of the five major leagues, there have only been two active players that have ever come out. It was Robbie Rogers and Jason Collins. And you can get the bronze medal by announcing that you’re gay. This is not a chance that’s going to come again in your life.”
Even after deciding to go public, Martin said, “I was naive to the fact that my story was going to be a big deal to a lot of people. Once reality settled in and people began to look to me as a reference point in a way, I began to look at myself as an activist.”
He said he is concerned about President Donald Trump’s dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs, which are intended to promote fairness in hiring and encourage diverse workforces.
“There has been a lot of progress made in (former President Joe) Biden’s administration to address systemic issues in our country, and for Trump to dismiss these right off the bat is extremely disheartening,” Martin said. “It’s our job now to make sure that the work that was done to create more equity doesn’t disappear completely under Trump.”
Trump has called DEI policies “nonsense” and said they contradict “merit-based” hiring.
Buzinski, the Outsports journalist, said Martin could have a “model” if he decides to enter politics: U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a 44-year-old Kansas Democrat who is a former professional mixed martial arts fighter. She has been out for years.
Fans stood and applauded, some waving rainbow flags, when Martin appeared in his first game after his announcement in 2018. He had earlier tweeted: “It’s an important night for me. I’ll be announcing for the first time publicly that I am an openly gay player in Major League Soccer. I have been out as a gay man for many years to my family and friends, and this includes my teammates.”
Among the wave of social media responses was one from former talk show host James Corden, who called Martin’s public declaration “awesome and brave.”
Another tweet came his father, Gerard Martin.
“Collin proud of you and what you stand for. Love dad,” it said.
Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com or 410-979-2052.