Back in March, a month before the NBA's Jason Collins revealed he was gay, CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman wrote that some people believed the atmosphere was safe for an NFL player to come out.

Linebackers Scott Fujita and Brendon Ayanbadejo and punter Chris Kluwe have long championed gay rights, and all think NFL locker rooms could handle a gay teammate. On Thursday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell weighed in on the matter. In an interview with NFL.com's Steve Wyche, Goodell was asked, in light of the positive response to Collins coming out, if he believed a gay player would be "accepted."

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — New Zealand born swimmer Amini Fonua, a student at Texas A&M University who represented Tonga at the 2012 London Olympics last year, has come out as gay.

SAN DIEGO – Readers of San Diego Gay & Lesbian News who took our poll think that NBA center Jason Collins will be treated fairly after coming out publicly.

Our poll question was: NBA center Jason Collins comes out. Will he be treated fairly?

The results, which are not scientific, reveal that 53% of readers believe that Collins will be fairly treated, 29% are doubtful and 18% are not sure.

The professional sports world has been waiting for a Jason Collins moment— a gay athlete currently playing in a major league to come out publicly. What you may not know is that the subtext is that it was hoped the moment would star an African-American male.

The African-American community, let alone the sports world, desperately needed an openly gay current male professional player.