#billy bean

[gayseball]

Glenn Burke, Billy Bean, and TJ House, the only three MLB players to come out as gay. I dedicate this series of crayon portraits to them, all the players who have yet to come out, and all the players who never will.

[100gayicons]

UPDATE

I first posted about Billy Bean on January 21, 2021. He was one of the first professional baseball players to come out of the closet. He devoted his life to advocating for Gay Rights, and to help other players struggling to come out. He later became the league's senior vice president for diversity, equality, and inclusion.

I was sorry to learn Bean passed away in 2024 from leukemia. I want to share some additional details of his life with this new post.

At the time he came out, Bean said:

“In the history of baseball, there have been only two players who have disclosed, and we just had our 20,000th player. Two out of 20,000 tells you that it’s not the easiest culture to crack.”

In 2003, he wrote his autobiography, “Going the Other Way.”

“This book is not a sad story about a victim of homophobia or baseball mistreating me. It's about what it's like to live in the closet and to try to realize a dream under those restrictions."

Reflecting on his childhood:

"I've always been gay. I was gay since birth, and I just knew that there was something different about me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I think it was 13 years old… I always had a girlfriend from, like, (from) the age of 14."

In 1993, two years after getting married, Bean met Sam Madani at a cowboy-themed gay bar. They quickly began a sexual relationship. Admirably, Bean decided the situation was unfair to his wife, and he asked for a divorce.

Bean and Madani moved in together, but since he was still an active player, they had to keep their living arrangement secret from his teammates. Bean recounted an incident where two of his Padres teammates dropped by his apartment unannounced. Madani had to sneak away until the players left. But in 1994, when Bean hosted a Super Bowl party for friends and family, Madani attended as "just a buddy".

On April 23, 1995, Madani, who had recently been diagnosed with AIDS, died of a cardiac arrest from AIDS-related complications. Because their relationship was such a secret, Bean did not attend Madani’s public funeral.

Because of the stress and grieving for Madani, Bean decided to retire after the 1995 MLB season. After coming out to as gay to his parents and friends, Bean came out to the public in a 1999 Miami Herald interview.

Billy resettled in Miami Beach, where he had a 13-year relationship with Efrain Veiga. They broke up in July 2008.

Bean was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia in 2023. He died at his home in New York City on August 6, 2024, at the age of 60. At the time of his death, Bean was married to Greg Baker, a doctor in Manchester, New Hampshire.

This 2004 quote by Billy Bean is a fitting statement to end this post.

"I think I am the living embodiment of the idea that you never know how life is going to turn out. I am here because I want to be a voice for people who want to come out, but may not be able to do it yet. Every waking minute of my life was a calculated attempt to protect people from knowing this huge secret about me. I think baseball is unfortunately going to be one of the last places where athletes can come out without fear of huge ramifications," he said. "But to say I can't be gay and a great center fielder at the same time is discriminatory and just not true."

[theglitchywriterboi]

New Subway Surfers character intro !!! Cool !!! But... Wait

He's a veggie burger.... Cool - not the first non-human character in Subway Surfers ^_^ But...

Um...

What mischief are you getting up to Billy Bean ?!

SUBWAY SURFERS FIRST CANON CANNIBAL *NOT CLICKBAIT*

[gummyartstradingcards]

[sorryimviolet]

Hi and welcome back to another episode of Bill and Friends™

[yourdailyqueer]

Billy Bean

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: 11 May 1964  

Ethnicity: White - American

Occupation: Former prof baseball player, actor, reality star, activist

[baseballthrowbacks]

billy bean during his time with the dodgers, 1990

[yessoupy]

Billy Bean-Torey Lovullo friendship strong

The Major League clubhouse is a room of sweat and sacrifice, of dreams and dedication. A room where players at the peak of their professional powers brace and bond and scheme and shower. Entering this room can be intimidating for an outsider, especially if your mission is to stand in the center, with all eyes fixed upon you, and say to these men the words that were once unthinkable -- or at least unspeakable -- in these confines. "I'm gay," Billy Bean says in the midst of a more complete sentence. But it's those two words that cause those who didn't know his story to suddenly sit more upright and listen more intently.

There is no doubt that in the public world of entertainment, LGBTQ+ individuals can feel intense pressure to remain closeted. Billy Bean’s experience is tragic. The dream of becoming a professional baseball player in the major leagues requires personal sacrifice from players who don’t feel like they have to hide themselves. What Billy had to do was beyond what anyone should ever have to.

But at no point was he required by legally-binding contracts to closet himself. Yes, the culture of the game and the clubhouse and society effectively required it of him, but the law? No. And that was in the 80′s and 90′s! Do they conspiracy theorists expect us to believe that since 1995, the law has come to be used in this way? When I can go to a baseball game and see it on the big screen that derogatory language directed at someone (fan, player, umpire, coach) because of their sexual preference* is grounds for being removed from the ballpark?

I do understand that some of these conspiracy theorists must live in repressive locales, where they don’t feel comfortable coming out due to real dangers to their person, or threats to their livelihood. I understand this, believe me. But Louis Tomlinson is not you. Harry Styles is not you. There aren’t contracts binding either or both of them into remaining in the closet against their will.

Stop cheapening the very real experience of closeted entertainers with your shitty and heartless conspiracy theories.

*they’re definitely using the wrong word but THIS IS PROGRESS I’ll accept it