Jason Collins, a Center in the NBA, made history as he became the first professional basketball player to announce being gay. The issue has been covered nationally on nearly every news source.

“I don’t really support this movement, and that’s all I can say,” junior basketball player Austin Fox.

Senior football player David Karr also disapproves of Collins’ announcement.

“It’s wrong,” said Karr. “From a Biblical view, it’s wrong.”

Contrary to Karr, junior Brady Blackwell supports the openness of Collins’ announcement.

“I was surprised he was the first man to ever admit it,” said Blackwell. “I felt an instant wave of respect because it’s not easy to admit personal things in the world of athletes. Especially sexuality-wise.”

Being the first NBA player to come out of the closet, the announcement took many people by surprise.

“I was pretty surprised about it,” said junior basketball player Braxton Jester. “He doesn’t really look gay. I don’t think it will effect it (the NBA) very much, because I mean everything was fine before everyone knew. I think some guys will be afraid to get close to him on the court now.”

While Jester and Blackwell were more surprised by the news, sophomore softball player Morgan Neal shared the same opinion.

“It was pretty shocking,” said Neal. “I guess it’s good that he came out about it, and didn’t just keep it under the table.”

A big question since the announcement has been where does basketball go from here? NBA players and analysts have voiced their opinion, and senior basketball player Alex Rice also commented on the matter.

“I don’t think it will affect the game until he signs with a team,” said Rice. “He is a free agent right now. It should be interesting to see how locker rooms react if he does sign with a team.”

“I don’t think it effects the game,” said junior baseball player Gus Vitt. “I mean, it might be weird for teammates at first, but they’ll get used to it.”

Blackwell shares the opinions of Jester, Rice, and Vitt and believes that the event won’t distract NBA players from the task at hand: basketball.

“Most pros are very respectable people towards other players,” said Blackwell. “Honestly with the finals coming up if the guys in the league was secretly a wizard I don’t think any of them would care.”

Another question in the NBA and the world of athletics as a whole is if Collins is blazing the trail for more athletes to be honest with their sexuality.

“I think it opens a door for more possibilities of players being open about their personal life,” said Blackwell. “Seeing that his announcement didn’t come with much adversity, I see people being more relaxed on the topic later.”

“I do believe more guys will decide to come out of the closet as well since someone went first,” said Jester. “They will feel better about doing it.”

How would student athletes respond if a high school player came out of the closet?

“It’d take some time to get used to,” said Vitt. “I don’t think it would make a difference, honestly.”

“It’d be kind of awkward,” said Karr. “We’d still play the game, but we’d start talking about the locker room and stuff. Girls aren’t allowed in the locker room for obvious reasons, so would a gay player be allowed to go into the locker room with the rest of the team?”

“I think it’d be fine,” said Neal. “I don’t think it’d be a big deal, really.”