Erik Braverman, the vice president of
marketing and broadcasting for the Los Angeles Dodgers, last week
came out gay, making him Major League Baseball's (MLB) fifth out
executive.
Braverman came out in an
Outsports
profile.
“I didn't want anyone to, in any way,
not view me for the quality of my work,” Braverman said of his
decision to not share his sexuality publicly. “I don't want to be
known as the gay executive who happens to run marketing and
broadcasting for the Dodgers. I want my accomplishments and my job
to be first and foremost and speak for themselves.”
Braverman said that discovering his
sexuality at an early age “created a lot of conflict” within
himself.
“I struggled with being a baseball
player in Texas dealing with who I was,” he said. “So baseball
took a back seat when I was dealing with my own internal struggles.”
He said that he decided to come out
publicly to help other LGBT people interested in sports.
“What kept me in the closet was the
perception that Major League Baseball and pro sports in general
aren't open-minded,” he said. “The feeling that, right or wrong,
it's not an open and accepting environment.”
“The fact that I'm talking about it
publicly today is remarkable,” he added. “If there are kids in
junior high and high school and college, and even if they are older,
if they see me and realize it's a possibility [to be out and have a
successful career in professional sports], then that's a great reason
to do this.”
Also out at MLB team front offices are
Greg Bader of the Baltimore Orioles, Steve Reed of the Washington
Nationals, Laura Ricketts of the Chicago Cubs and Matt Schulte of the
Kansas City Royals.