White Sox minor leaguer Anderson Comás publicly came out and announced that he is gay, via Instagram. In a world where LGBTQ+ professional athletes are very scarce, Comás is just the 2nd player in MLB history to come out as gay while being currently affiliated with a team.
“This may be my most personal thing I ever share and it’s that I’m proudly and happily part of the LGBTQ+ community,” he says.
He then goes on to share some inspiring words about being able to openly come out and combining that with being a professional athlete.
“…I’m doing this cause I wanna be an inspiration for those like me out there fitting for their dreams, please don’t listen to those stupid things that people say about us, fight for your dreams, believe in yourself…”
Comás received an outpour of congratulations and powerful messages in return from teammates, fans across the league, and the LGBTQ+ community itself.
Chris Getz, the White Sox’s assistant general manager of player development released a public statement regarding Comás’s announcement, and with no surprise, he completely endorsed and supported his decision.
“Anderson first shared his news with us last year and I was very pleased that he was comfortable sharing with us in player development. I also was happy at the reaction across the organization, which as you would expect was to support, help, and congratulate a teammate,” Getz says.
I think that this is such a cool gesture by the team and specifically Chris Getz for immediately releasing a public statement and providing the necessary support the team could offer. Of course it’s expected that everyone should be accepting of Comás, but just hearing it come from the organization the way it did is super neat. As most fans around the league know, Liam Hendriks is a huge LGBTQ+ supporter, saying that the White Sox’s pride night was a huge part of signing his contract.
Anderson Comás was initially signed by the White Sox to a minor league deal back in 2016 and plays for the ACL White Sox currently. He’s been pretty solid in the minors, batting a career .261. While he may not see the big leagues anytime soon, he still represents the team and the team represents him, which makes this all a really cool story.
The Professional Sports Universe Remains Low on LGBTQ+ Players
Like I said earlier, it’s not common to see professional athletes come out as gay publically, especially while they’re still active. The MLB has recently had a number of players come out, such as minor leaguer Solomon Bates, TJ House, and now Comás. As for other sports, a different story. Carl Nassib of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the only NFL player to come out publicly while still playing, and there’s only been 15 other NFL players to come out as gay or bisexual after their career. In the NBA, same sort of deal, where Jason Collins was the first gay player in all 4 professional sports to play a game after coming out, and just recently former NBA player Issac Humphries. That’s it.
Full inclusivity within the sports world has a long way to go, but it seems as though the White Sox have made themselves the team leading by example.
