Helena's David Denson Comes Out As Gay, First in Affiliated Pro Baseball

[jw5511986]

In what I'm sure will become a much bigger story in the next few days, David Denson has revealed his homosexuality in an interview with the MJS and Tom H. I think the organization's reaction to David privately is very exciting and I look forward to the young man continuing to progress through his development. It would be awesome to see him reach the big leagues as the first publicly known gay ball player.

[ebmackenzie]

Hats off to Denson, unlike JCollins in the NBA or MSam in the NFL, this kid has an up and coming career and happens to be gay. I wish him well and wish that he could also come out as a MLB caliber 3B too.

[Mass Haas]

Here's the link to Tom Haudricourt's Journal-Sentinel story.

 

As Tom indicates:

 

With the help of former major-leaguer Billy Bean, who last year was named Major League Baseball's first Ambassador for Inclusion, Denson reached out to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to tell his story in a telephone interview.

 

Our best to Denson, certainly newsworthy.

 

(NOTE: We split the two posts above into its own thread, thanks for kicking things off on the discussion.)

[molitor fan]

Wow...Yay for the Brewers handling it in such a professional way...When he comes back to Appleton next year I expect the fans to rally around him...

[djoctagone]

"out at home--the glenn burke story" is a worthwhile read.

[Mass Haas]

I do think it's huge that Billy Bean (as noted in the Haudricourt piece, and not the A's GM as TMZ thought) is in place to coordinate things from an MLB front office perspective.

 

Bean was an initial contact and confidant, made sure he consulted with the Denson family, and will certainly have a hand in slowing the pace of media coverage in the future.

 

This process for Denson would have been exceedingly more difficult without Bean's availability (and newfound friendship with David).

 

Kudos to MLB on having Bean already in place to assist with this situation.

[SRB]

Awesome! Shame that Denson seems such a longshot to reach the majors, but an important step nonetheless.

[Jenkins5]

Congrats to David! I could only imagine the wait that has been lifted off his shoulders now! It's hard to play a game as mentally draing as baseball for anyone but when you already mentally consumed with have to lie about who you are, it is nearly impossible. Hopefully now he can get out there with a clear mind and just get back to reaching his higher ceiling

[TooLiveBrew]

Really great story, & I'll echo others in praising the Brewers & MLB for how they've handled this & supported David so far. I hope he gets a chance to be the first openly gay active MLB player!

[BrewersSuperCollector]

This kid a enough of a long hard road to get to the big leagues the way it is. This type of exposure just puts even more pressure on him.

[1992casey]

It's hard to put ourselves into someone else's shoes because everyone feels pressure differently. But David states in the interview that keeping quiet caused an awful lot of pressure.

 

I'd surmise that he feels that the pressure of suddenly having much greater exposure beats the pressure of keeping quiet. I think that his team, the Brewers, and Major and Minor League Baseball will help with the exposure aspect.

[gregmag]

Fantastic! I already loved the kid's 3TOness and personality. Now he's a pioneer.

 

I absolutely agree that MLB deserves credit for helping with this, as does the MJS (for which I rarely have a kind word).

 

At the same time, it's sobering that gay men and lesbians in Mississipi and Utah won the legal right to marry before a single affiliated pro baseball player came out. This is a great day, especially for Denson and also for baseball. Now we have a lot more work to do.

[rickh150]

If he can play ball, he should be able to play ball without any sort of harassment, mockery, or intimidation. No reason for hate, and those that do should be shamed, fined, and locked up.

 

That being said, more people equate gay rights to civil rights, which historically hasn't been the case. I, along with a minority of others, believe that homosexuality to be a sin, according to the Bible, and race equality is not. People are born in sin, some murderers, thieves, born liars, some cheaters, or having homosexual tendencies. According to The Bible, we should be fighting against each, holding to what is true, noble, pure, and good.

 

So, for me, why anyone would be applauded and encouraged to continue a lifestyle that is against the Bible is offensive to me. Why Bruce Jenner was given an athletic award, an ESPY for courage mind you, boggles my mind.

 

So.... the Denson news is ho hum for me..... No need to celebrate and no need to name call.

 

P. S. I know that I referenced my personal faith here, but I felt it was necessary to back my position and argument. I hope that this post could stay in this thread, respectfully, to represent a wider range of opinion.

[reillymcshane]

If he can play ball, he should be able to play ball without any sort of harassment, mockery, or intimidation. No reason for hate, and those that do should be shamed, fined, and locked up.

 

That being said, more people equate gay rights to civil rights, which historically hasn't been the case. I, along with a minority of others, believe that homosexuality to be a sin, according to the Bible, and race equality is not. People are born in sin, some murderers, thieves, born liars, some cheaters, or having homosexual tendencies. According to The Bible, we should be fighting against each, holding to what is true, noble, pure, and good.

 

So, for me, why anyone would be applauded and encouraged to continue a lifestyle that is against the Bible is offensive to me. Why Bruce Jenner was given an athletic award, an ESPY for courage mind you, boggles my mind.

 

So.... the Denson news is ho hum for me..... No need to celebrate and no need to name call.

 

P. S. I know that I referenced my personal faith here, but I felt it was necessary to back my position and argument. I hope that this post could stay in this thread, respectfully, to represent a wider range of opinion.

 

I disagree in so many ways, but I hope any sorts of discussion like this can be moved to the non-baseball thread.

[TheCrew07]

Obviously I've really liked David Denson and I could care less about race or sexual orientation... those are things I just don't concern myself with. So whatever works for him... he wanted to tell people, I'm down.

 

I hope he's able to just play baseball but I worry that he'll go the way of Michael Sam and things will get overblown and turn into a distraction for him. He may have washed out regardless because he's so patient to a fault at the plate, but I really wanted him to break out this year and while that didn't happen I certainly haven't given up on him as player.

 

I just hope there's no extra pressure and David can just worry about being a better baseball player but I can see this going the other way as well.

[torts]

If he can play ball, he should be able to play ball without any sort of harassment, mockery, or intimidation. No reason for hate, and those that do should be shamed, fined, and locked up.

 

That being said, more people equate gay rights to civil rights, which historically hasn't been the case. I, along with a minority of others, believe that homosexuality to be a sin, according to the Bible, and race equality is not. People are born in sin, some murderers, thieves, born liars, some cheaters, or having homosexual tendencies. According to The Bible, we should be fighting against each, holding to what is true, noble, pure, and good.

 

So, for me, why anyone would be applauded and encouraged to continue a lifestyle that is against the Bible is offensive to me. Why Bruce Jenner was given an athletic award, an ESPY for courage mind you, boggles my mind.

 

So.... the Denson news is ho hum for me..... No need to celebrate and no need to name call.

 

P. S. I know that I referenced my personal faith here, but I felt it was necessary to back my position and argument. I hope that this post could stay in this thread, respectfully, to represent a wider range of opinion.

 

I disagree in so many ways, but I hope any sorts of discussion like this can be moved to the non-baseball thread.

 

Agreed.

[SRB]

If he can play ball, he should be able to play ball without any sort of harassment, mockery, or intimidation. No reason for hate, and those that do should be shamed, fined, and locked up.

 

That being said, more people equate gay rights to civil rights, which historically hasn't been the case. I, along with a minority of others, believe that homosexuality to be a sin, according to the Bible, and race equality is not. People are born in sin, some murderers, thieves, born liars, some cheaters, or having homosexual tendencies. According to The Bible, we should be fighting against each, holding to what is true, noble, pure, and good.

 

So, for me, why anyone would be applauded and encouraged to continue a lifestyle that is against the Bible is offensive to me. Why Bruce Jenner was given an athletic award, an ESPY for courage mind you, boggles my mind.

 

So.... the Denson news is ho hum for me..... No need to celebrate and no need to name call.

 

P. S. I know that I referenced my personal faith here, but I felt it was necessary to back my position and argument. I hope that this post could stay in this thread, respectfully, to represent a wider range of opinion.

 

Doesn't say any of that in my Bible, perhaps you should read the words a little more closely.

[1992casey]

Let's move on from the religious angle before it becomes a problem.

 

Thanks!

[BrewersSuperCollector]

This kid has just made his career by coming out as an active player. He is probably being groomed now for his future public speaking engagements.

[Mass Haas]

Rattler Radio Postgame Post – August 16, 2015

The usual goodies... Kodi Mederios was interviewed by Fox 11 including thoughts on Denson, audio here, probably video at their website later.

 

Manager Matt Erickson's answers were insightful, but the Dylan Scott questioning of Medeiros was total overkill. I'm sure the last thing that Denson wants is for his former, current, and even potential future teammates to be bombarded like that. But all should likely be prepared in the early stages of this story for such.

[DHonks]

ah, the religious angle. Knew that was coming. Next thing we know, people will say they can't support Bryce Harper because he's mormon.

 

Anyways, saw this story Saturday evening and loved reading it. Best of luck to Denson. I've always hoped he would do well as he's lefty and has power. But now this (and the way it's all been handled) has me impressed with him and the organization

[1992casey]

This story is being reported all over the world. A Google News search turns up articles written in Spanish, French, German, and Italian.

[Boomer5]

I know Im in the minority, but Id prefer he focus on playing baseball. Michael Sam made himself into something bigger than the game and ultimately, he couldn't handle what he brought on himself. Im also sure his teammates and coaches couldn't have enjoyed all the extra questioning.

 

His orientation is nobody's business, and he is paid to work on becoming a prospect.

[1992casey]

I think we'd all prefer that David focused on baseball. In the interview, he told us that he was unable to do that before making his orientation public. Specifically, he used the words "depression level." I believe his hope is that coming out will be a means to be able to get his focus back toward becoming a better player.

 

In the short term, he says he's going to be declining interviews. That's a good move. After that, hopefully things will normalize and his sexuality will become an occasional topic rather than a constant one.

[Boomer5]

I think we'd all prefer that David focused on baseball. In the interview, he told us that he was unable to do that before making his orientation public. Specifically, he used the words "depression level." I believe his hope is that coming out will be a means to be able to get his focus back toward becoming a better player.

 

In the short term, he says he's going to be declining interviews. That's a good move. After that, hopefully things will normalize and his sexuality will become an occasional topic rather than a constant one.

 

I'd sure hope so. That is a subject that has nothing to do with baseball (and darn near anything else) and I hope it stays that way.

 

I couldn't care less about his personal orientation, but to make it a distraction on a teams development is something we don't need and is quite frankly selfish. These are young kids and the the task of becoming a major league player is difficult enough without adding non-baseball distractions.