New Documentary Examines Glenn Burke, The First Openly Gay Major League Baseball Player

The San Francisco Chronicle on a new documentary called “Out: The Glenn Burke Story," Burke the first openly gay major league baseball player. Burke played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland A’s (where he was harassed and humiliated by then manager Billy Martin) during the late 1970’s, and he made no secret of his sexuality, but according to the article, “He abruptly retired from baseball in 1980, publically revealed his homosexuality two years later and landed in San Francisco’s Castro District where he initially was warmly welcomed. But his life there eventually spun out control, sending him spiralling toward drug use, prison time and AIDS,” complications from which he died of in May, 1995. He was 42. Directed by Don Harris, who befriended Burke in Berkley during the 1970’s, and when asked if a pro athlete could come out today as an active players, says “What Glen went through could not happen today. Why? Because of gay rights and powerful attorneys. So if you’re a player and you choose to be openly gay – but not necessarily come out, like if you were in Glenn’s situation today – you could argue discrimination. Can you imagine a lawsuit against a professional sports team, if they did anything today like what they did to Glenn Burke?” Harris adds that he believes “there a lot of gay players in pro sports today. They’re gay, but they’re in the closet. The question is: Would somebody ever come out? We asked everyone we interviewed, and they were all pretty much in line in saying it would have to be a megastar, a superstar player who would be extraordinarily valuable to the team. Glenn was only a few years into his career and he was working his way up. So would it have been different if he was hitting .315 with 25 home runs? Would the Dodgers have gone along with it then? Maybe.”