The homosexual sports community in the United States has one of the highest levels of acceptance and support in the world[1][2][3] and is rapidly growing as of 2020.
[4][5] General public opinion and jurisprudence regarding homosexuality in the United States has become significantly more accepting since the late 1980s;[6][7] for example, by the early 2020s, an overwhelming majority of Americans approved of the legality of same-sex marriages.
[6] In regard to sports in the United States, in 2002 researcher Eric Anderson found "more openly gay runners and swimmers than football and baseball players.
[25] Football player Alissa Wykes of the Philadelphia Liberty Belles became one of the first active American athletes to publicly come out as gay when she announced that she was a lesbian in an article in the December 2001/January 2002 edition of Sports Illustrated for Women.
[30][31] However, on August 30, St. Louis released Sam as part of a final round of cuts to reduce their roster to the league-mandated 53 players before the start of the regular season.
[20] Thierry Henry, at the time playing in Major League Soccer, was quoted in a column for New York Daily News as saying "he (Rogers) is a human being, first of all.
[44][45][46] Many female soccer players have been openly gay while actively playing for American teams, such as Joanna Lohman[47][48] and Megan Rapinoe.