It's been almost a year since the first-ever inductees of the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame were honored in Chicago. Included were big-name athletes such as Billie Jean King, Greg Louganis, Jason Collins, and Johnny Weir.
This year, on July 11, a new crop of athletes and organizations will be honored in The Windy City. Among them will be: baseball player William ‘Billy’ Bean of the San Diego Padres, British diver Tom Daley, and rugby player Mark Bingham — who is known both as the namesake of the Bingham Cup and for his tragic death on United 93 in the 9/11 attacks.
Football fans will note the absence of NFL newbie Michael Sam. While Sam is still green in his career, it's worth noting that the list includes three former NFL players who came out as gay after their time in the league ended: Esera Tuaolo, Wade Davis, and Jerry Smith (deceased 1986, a casualty of the AIDS epidemic).
While some of the most visible inductees are LGBT athletes, organizations (e.g. Nike) and sports businesspeople are also included. As are straight allies — deceased San Francisco Mayor George Moscone (portrayed by Victor Garber in Milk) is also included in the list. The complete "roster" of inductees, via GNN:
John Amaechi, retired NBA player; Mark Bingham, rugby player (deceased); Tom Daley, Olympic medal winning diver ; Wade Davis, executive director of You Can Play and retired NFL player ; Fallon Fox, mixed martial artist ; Brittney Griner, decorated collegiate athlete, active WNBA player ; Mayor George Moscone, straight ally, former Mayor of San Francisco (deceased) ; Chris Mosier, founder of transathlete.com ; Nike, corporation ; Diana Nyad, endurance swimmer ; Jerry Smith, NFL player (deceased) ; Stand Up Foundation, anti-bullying non-profit organization ; Gareth Thomas, retired rugby player ; Esera Tuaolo, retired NFL player.
