DENVER — Since making history Sunday by becoming the first openly gay player in any of the four major American professional sports, Jason Collins has done his best to make the focus of the attention surrounding all about basketball.
But there was no denying the significance of Thursday’s game against the Nuggets for Collins, given the fact he was set to meet with the parents of Matthew Shepard afterward.
“It’s definitely going to be special meeting them after the game,” Collins said before the Nets’ 112-89 blowout win, adding the chance to meet Dennis and Judy Shepard was “one of those cool things in life.”
“I’m very much looking forward, first of all, getting through this game,” he said, “and then meeting them afterwards.”
Shepard was a gay University of Wyoming student who was murdered in October 1998, a moment that brought hate crimes into the public consciousness and eventually spurred the creation of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded existing hate-crime legislation to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
To help honor the memory of Shepard, Collins began wearing No. 98 last season with the Celtics and Wizards before he came out publicly in a Sports Illustrated article last spring.
After the game, Collins presented the Shepards with a signed No. 98 jersey — though he didn’t give them the one he wore in Thursday’s easy win, in which he played eight fourth quarter minutes and scored three points — his first points since signing with the Nets Sunday.
“I did not want to give them a sweaty jersey,” he said.
Since Collins signed with the Nets, with whom he is again wearing No. 98, his jersey has become the top seller in the NBA.
“It’s an awesome feeling to have,” he said. “But I think it’s also a tribute to Matthew Shepard and also the year 1998 was the year the Trevor Project was founded. So the year 1998 has a lot of significance to me and a lot of people.”
Collins also said he was moved by the number of people buying his jersey now that they understand the reason he chose that number.
“My friends and family knew why I chose that number,” he said. “Now it’s just cool to see that so many people support it, as evident by people buying the jersey.”
Even in just the few days since he signed his initial 10-day contract, Collins has seen the media attention around him begin to decrease, and is looking forward to the day when he is just seen as a basketball player.
“It’s already started to shrink,” he said. “I do foresee the day where it will just be about the basketball and about the team and wins and losses and all that fun stuff. But even since Sunday, it’s slowly starting to peel off.“It’s great that, as a society, we’re moving at least in the sports world, to a place where all of us can be our true authentic selves and still contribute to our teams and hopefully encourage other parts of the country and other parts of society to also move forward and bring people together, not exclude people or discriminate against people.”