Gay athletes who've stepped forward

NBA basketball player Jason Collins came out in May 2013, becoming the first active American athlete in a professional sports league to do so. The announcement appeared on the pages of "Sports Illustrated" magazine in an essay written by Collins himself. "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay," he wrote.

Just months earlier, recently-retired striker Robbie Rogers had used similar language on his own blog: "I'm a soccer player, I'm Christian, and I'm gay." The 25-year-old then decided to return to soccer with the LA Galaxy team in Major League Soccer. His return was met with huge support from fans.

Rugby is the hardest, most macho of all sports, says Gareth Thomas (middle). The 35-year-old rugby player is a sports legend and public darling in Great Britain. He played 100 matches for the Wales national team, most of them as captain. He outed himself in a 2009 interview with the Daily Mail newspaper, speaking of years of psychological torment and a failed marriage.

Nadine Müller, one of the world's best discus throwers, only recently announced her homosexuality. On the last day of 2013 she married her partner, making the 28-year-old the first prominent and active German athlete to celebrate a gay union. She even hopes that her marriage will help her athletic career: "I feel so relieved," she said.

The European champion of 2010 is a public proponent of homosexual rights. Imke Duplitzer is a person with an opinion, criticizing, for example, human rights abuses prior to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the official work of the German Olympic Sports Confederation. She also has spoken out on doping issues in competitive sports.

American hockey player Caitlin Cahow (l.) makes no secret of her sexuality. She's together with former tennis player Billie Jean King, the latter of whom is one of two athletes Barack Obama will send to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia to protest anti-homosexuality laws in the country.

Brian Boitano is the second gay athlete in the US delegation to Sochi. The Olympic champion figure skater of 1988 made his sexuality public in December 2013, writing, "I am many things: a son, a brother, and uncle, a friend, an athlete, a cook, an author, and being gay is just one part of who I am."

The featherweight boxer wanted to become the first openly acknowledged homosexual to become world champion. But in October 2013, the Puerto Rican lost the championship match to Orlando Salido of Mexico. Cruz had come out officially one year earlier. After losing the match, he found solace in marrying his long-time partner.

Athletically, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz is a double-whammy: In summer, she plays professional soccer for the FC Wacker Innsbruck team; in winter, she opts for ski jumping. In February 2012 she came out publicly, and since August 2013 she has lived with her partner in a civil union.

Amelie Mauresmo is not the first professional lesbian tennis player. But unlike Bille Jean King, or Martina Navratilova, both of whom were outed by former partners, the once top-ranking Mauresmo did so on her own terms - after the Australian Open finals in 1999.

Former female national soccer player Steffi Jones announced she was gay in February 2013. The organizer of the 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany and director at the German Football Association made the announcement at a red carpet event where she introduced her girlfriend. Jones is just one of many lesbian German soccer players....

National player Nadine Angerer is open about her bisexuality. Also, Germany's substitute goalkeeper, Ursula Holl, is gay and has married her partner. It's also known that players such as Linda Bresonik and Inka Grings have relationships with women.

At age 15, Tom Daley took gold in the diving world championship in Rome, becoming the youngest in history to win in that discipline. In the 2012 Olympics in London he walked away with bronze. In December 2013, he released a video in which he stated that he was in a relationship with a man. "I still fancy girls," he said, "but at the moment I've never been happier."

The coming out of Justin Fashanu ended in tragedy. The English forward of Nigerian descent joined Nottingham Forrest in 1981. In 1990, he told the press he was homosexual. When his trainer learned that Fashanu had been frequenting gay bars, he fired the player and allowed him to be escorted from the playing field by police. In 1998, Justin Fashanu committed suicide.