Young gay athletes: 'How the world is changing'

I can't imagine being out at Hope High School, the rough public school I attended in 1971-75 in Providence, R.I. Those Italian boys from the north side were macho-macho types who would have made mince meat out of a little squirt like me. And that was off the court and field, where gay teen-agers would have been even less welcome.

But now students worry less about coming out, the Los Angeles Times says today in a story about the emerging generation of out gay athletes in high school and college. They include Allen Acevedo (above), running in Washington, D.C., and Lucas Goodman (inset) of Green Lake Crew in Seattle; they're both 18 years old. "This is an issue that's in transition even as we speak," Jay Coakley, a scholar and author on sports culture told the newspaper. "We're looking at how the world is changing."

[Photos: Acevedo by Joshua Roberts; Goodman by Kevin Casey; both via LAT]