NBA's Jason Collins: Why is it harder for a male athlete to come out as gay? We (Clare Balding and I) are on a whistle stop tour of the States...well Washington and New York to be precise, so I am writing this post on a rather wobbly Amtrak train. From the window I can see the trees full of Spring blossom as the train passes by the ubiquitous shopping malls and baseball pitches. Even the high schools seem to have floodlit facilities, thus demonstrating the importance of sport over here. Baseball, American football and Basketball. These are the three big ones. Almost everyone who is not in a business suit, wears clothing bearing some kind of team allegiance. So it is rather thrilling that while we are here the basketball player Jason Collins has given an interview to Sports Illustrated and becomes the first openly gay active male athlete in major North American team sports. It's completely extraordinary really. It has taken until 2013 for anyone to do this and the reaction has unsurprisingly been huge. His coming out is the top story in every news bulletin. Even President Obama called Jason to offer his support and praise his courage. This says a lot about our time. People can rattle on about gay rights and how we now have everything we need, out legal rights are about to be extended to equal marriage and yet the leader of the free world feels the need to call Jason and commend his bravery. Because it IS brave and if anyone says otherwise they are talking nonsense. If you still need to be brave to 'come out' then we have a long long way to go to achieve full equality. Of course athletes have come out before. John Amaechi, the English basketball player, came out after he retired. But what is different about Collins is that he is still playing the game. So will this open the floodgates? Are we now going to see hundreds of sports stars follow in his footsteps? Certainly his sponsors Nike are supportive. This would be one of the fears of any athlete still in competition, that by coming out they may lose their endorsements. Companies can lead on this and help the situation...imagine if a company were to positively 'favour' gay sports stars? Imagine if Nike declared that all their new signings would be gay athletes! That might send a few hurtling out of the closet. There have certainly been some top female sports stars who have come out. Tennis ace Martina Navratilova being one of the most prominent but also Jana Novotna, Amelie Mauresmo from the same sport and the boxer Nicola Adams. Is it easier for women? Of course these women all took part in individual sports not team games. The locker room repartee was not much part of their world. But Martina did come out in 1981 - more than a whole generation ago. She suffered as sponsors dropped her but somehow, through her success, weathered the storm. Tennis is a rather civilised sport compared to some. You don't expect the crowd to shout obscenities. Nevertheless not a single male tennis player in the 'open era' we supposedly live in together has ever ever been gay. It's an amazing anomaly. Perhaps women are more ready to come out in the sporting arena because they have less to lose? Because sponsorship of women's sport is so pitiful in comparison with men? No I don't think so. I think more women have come out because fans of women's sport may be more accepting and because we have been lucky to have had Martina lead the way as a role model for others. These brave few are only the tip of the iceberg. My wish now is that hundreds come forward, men and women. So many that no one can count. So many that this is no longer news. So many that no one can remember who is gay and who is not. So many that the sponsors would have no one left to give their money to if they left out the gays. Come out even if you are straight. Stand up everyone and say 'I am Spartacus' altogether now...