Milwaukee Brewers’ Prospect David Denson First Active MLB Player to Openly Admit He is Gay

Milwaukee Brewers prospect David Denson will probably make the news a lot more before his playing career is done. A personal choice needed to be made in his view and he made that choice, to go public, with the support of his minor league teammates. Denson announced to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he was gay, the first active professional baseball player to do so.

Denson wanted to unburden himself but, as the newspaper's website revealed, it wasn't the way Denson expected. Says the Journal Sentinel, "Denson had just entered the clubhouse a month or so ago when a teammate jokingly referred to him using a derogatory term for a gay male. It was the kind of profane, politically incorrect banter heard in that environment since team sports have been around. That teammate had no way of knowing Denson actually is gay, but the 20-year-old slugger of African-American and Hispanic descent quickly seized the opportunity. 'Be careful what you say. You never know,' Denson cautioned the player with a smile."

Denson then revealed to his teammates that he was in fact gay. His teammates, the article goes on, closed ranks around him to listen to Denson and the most beautiful thing of all happened. His teammates supported him completely. In a statement released by the Milwaukee Brewers GM Doug Melvin, he made it known that the Brewers were behind Denson 100 Percent. From MLB.com, we have this, "David is a highly respected member of the Milwaukee Brewers family, and he is a very courageous young man," said Brewers GM Doug Melvin in a statement released Sunday morning. "Our goal for David is to help develop him into a Major League player, just as it is for any player in our system, and we will continue to support him in every way as he chases that dream."