Gay baseball player Bryan Ruby describes “hyper-masculine” locker room experience after coming out
interview with USA Today in September, and though he’d played in some games afterwards to close out the season, “a lot has changed over the past 10 months.”In a first-person post on Outsports, Ruby said, “A quick scroll through my social media shows a whole lot of rainbow, and as they say: once you’re ‘out’, there’s no going back ‘in’ (the closet).”He’d also since co-founded Proud To Be In Baseball, an advocacy and support group working to promote LGBTQ inclusion in the sport, and gone on a national tour to support the cause.
A post shared by Bryan Ruby (@bryanrubyofficial)Related: Baseball player Solomon Bates comes out as gayFor these reasons, Ruby was “pretty nervous” to rejoin the team — especially in the locker room.“Walking back into the hyper-masculine world of the locker room last month, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about being treated differently by my teammates this season,” he said. “My guard was up as I stood at my locker, changing with the rest of the guys before my first practice back with the squad.”As he tried to maintain a low profile, a starting pitcher turned and asked a surprisingly normal question: “So Ruby, how’s your boyfriend doing?”He answered the question, and the fellow player started talking about his own girlfriend.Related: Maybelle Blair, baseball player who inspired ‘A League of Their Own,’ comes out at 95“That was something I never, ever thought could be possible to talk about so nonchalantly in the locker room,” Ruby said. “Now I know for the first time how good it feels to have a workplace conversation in which you don’t have to lie about your personal life.
