The news hit the sports desk like a freight train. Jason Collins, the man who broke the NBA’s last great taboo, is dead at 47. The cause is not yet confirmed, but the tributes are already flooding in. From the White House to the locker rooms of London, the reaction is raw. Collins came out in 2013, a time when homophobia still stalked the hardwood. He wasn’t just a player; he was a symbol. One game, one season, a career that spanned a decade. But his legacy? That’s eternal.
Westminster, too, is mourning. Not that they’d admit it openly, but the Lobby is buzzing. I’m hearing from a source close to the Sports Minister that a statement is being drafted. “A trailblazer,” they call him. The usual platitudes. But there’s genuine grief here. Collins played for the Nets, the Celtics, the Wizards. He spent time in the UK too, playing for the London Lions in the BBL. A quiet presence, they say. Unassuming. But his courage was anything but quiet.
British sports figures are lining up to pay tribute. Gareth Thomas, the rugby legend who also came out as gay, called Collins “a giant.” The FA’s lead for inclusion, a woman who knows a thing or two about breaking barriers, said Collins “changed the game.” Even Prince William, in his role as FA President, is expected to release a statement. The Palace is monitoring the situation.
But here’s the inside baseball. Collins’ death comes at a moment when the culture war over trans athletes is raging. The right-wing press will try to weaponise this. Watch for op-eds claiming Collins is proof that “the left” has gone too far. Don’t buy it. Collins was a centrist, a Republican even. He voted for Trump in 2016, though he later expressed regret. His politics were complicated. His legacy is not.
I’ve been on the phone to a backbench Labour MP, a key figure in the All-Party Parliamentary Group on LGBT+ Rights. “We need to ensure his memory isn’t twisted,” she said, off the record. “He was about acceptance, not division.” That’s the line Number 10 will want to push. But will it stick? The news cycle is brutal.
The raw data: Collins played 735 NBA games. He averaged 3.6 points and 3.8 rebounds. Numbers that don’t tell the story. The real stat is that he was the first active male athlete in a major US sport to come out. The first. That degree of courage is rare in Westminster, believe me.
As I write this, the NBA has confirmed they will wear a patch in his honour next season. The Raptors, the Lakers, the Heat: they’re all posting. In London, the O2 Arena will dim its lights tonight. The Mayor of London is expected to attend a vigil in Soho. The Lobby tells me he’s been advised to keep it low-key. No photos. This is about the man, not the politician.
Collins was 7 feet tall, but he walked softly. He once said he hoped his coming out would “make it easier for the next guy.” It did. But the fight isn’t over. The data shows that homophobic incidents in football rose last year. Trans athletes are under attack. The battle for equality in sport continues.
For now, though, we mourn. A man who took a stand. A man who changed the narrative. A man who died too young. The tributes will pour in for days. The politics will follow. But for a moment, let’s just remember Jason Collins. The first. The brave. The giant.
More as we get it.
