In recent years, we've watched as a handful of professional athletes have stepped forward to admit that they're apart of the LGBTQIA+ community. Retired NBA player Jason Collins made international headlines when, in 2013, he shared that he was gay in a Sports Illustrated feature. Recently, NFL free agent Ryan Russell publicly admitted that he is bisexual. Dennis Rodman, in all of his outlandish glory, has been embraced by the LGBTQIA community for decades and according to him, there are more gay professional athletes that most people think.
The former NBA star was promoting his new 30-for-30 documentary, Rodman: For Better or Worse, when he chatted with Business Insider about homosexuality. There is a section of Rodman's ESPN documentary that highlights the basketball player's inclusion in the LGBTQIA community as he's previously dressed in drag, partied at gay clubs, and admitted he's thought about men sexually. "I don't know why people haven't came out before," he said. "It's cool that people are coming out being, you know, gay or homosexual or whatever, lesbian and stuff like that."
"I wouldn't be surprised, literally, I've said it all along, if 10 percent or 20 percent of people in the NBA, or any sports, [are] gay," Rodman stated. "I wouldn't be surprised. It wouldn't shock me at all. I think today, it wouldn't shock anyone. I think that'd be more acceptable now than anything." He added that as long as the players can perform on the field, it shouldn't matter what goes on in their bedrooms.