Major League Baseball umpire Dale Scott
has come out gay.
The coming out was simple and initially
appeared to go unnoticed.
When contacted by Referee
magazine, a subscription-only publication with a circulation of
roughly 45,000, for a profile, Scott decided to include a photo of
himself and his husband, Michael Rausch.
The
article, which appeared in the glossy's October issue, did not
reference Scott's sexuality. Instead, it described Rausch as Scott's
“longtime companion” in the photo caption.
However, the men, together 27 years,
married in November.
In an interview with Outsports,
Scott, 55, said he realized he was gay at 19.
“I figured it all out when I was 19,”
he said. “My coming out process was very simple. One day I just
said to myself: 'I get it, you're gay. Now it all makes sense.' I
realized this is who I was and what I was. I decided I can do one of
two things – I can lie to myself and be miserable the rest of my
life or I can accept who I am, understanding that I've got to play
the game.”
“Obviously, when I sent that picture
to Jeff, I knew exactly what it meant,” he said elsewhere.
Scott added that he and Rausch were
previously in a domestic partnership.