Melbourne United star Isaac Humphries has skilled not one of the “smack talk” he feared he would face from NBL opponents after making world headlines by asserting he’s homosexual.
Humphries got here out publicly final month and revealed the intense toll hiding his sexuality had taken on his psychological well being, which he stated had led him to try suicide.
The 211cm former NBA centre’s story went all over the world, with overtly gay athletes a rarity in males’s skilled sport.
Despite some issues about how his announcement is likely to be acquired, Humphries has loved an overwhelmingly optimistic response at dwelling and overseas.
“I’ve received a lot of support from other teams, past teammates and friends … and I’ve had a lot of really nice things happen in our basketball community,” Humphries advised reporters on Wednesday.
“I’ve always felt very comfortable on the court since the announcement.
“That was a worry of mine; just how everyone received it and how it goes moving forward on the court with players and smack talk and all that stuff.
“But so far it’s been received really well and everyone’s just really proud that I can be myself and come out of a dark space and be happy.”
Humphries stated he had additionally anticipated adverse responses to his announcement on-line, however has acquired comparatively few.
“I’m a professional athlete and I’ve been in the public eye for so long of my life and I’m very used to having bad things said about me online or whatever,” the 24-year-old stated.
Humphries stated he has felt free and completely satisfied since popping out, however nothing has modified about his strategy to basketball.
“I guess it’s different (on the subject of sexuality) because it’s your character and it’s who you are and they’re attacking you.
“It’s pretty sad to say, but there’s nothing they’re going to say that I haven’t thought or said about myself.
“I’m all good with whatever they have to say and it looks like there’s been a lot of support from everyone else whenever anyone’s tried to say anything negative.”
Four weeks on from his announcement, Humphries is already making strikes behind the scenes to make use of it as a platform to assist others in fields equivalent to LGBTQI illustration and psychological well being.
He has sought recommendation from former AFL star and Indigenous chief Eddie Betts, who urged endurance in pursuit of real social change.
“I don’t want to just be a poster boy for this. I want to actually make things happen and really help,” Humphries stated.
“Absolutely expect to see me trying to make real change and help people, but it’s not an overnight thing.”
Humphries stated he has felt “free and happy” since popping out, however nothing has modified about his strategy to basketball.
He is concentrated on serving to Melbourne (6-11) bounce again into finals rivalry, beginning with Thursday night time’s sport towards cross-town rivals South East Melbourne Phoenix (10-6).
United are nonetheless reeling from blowing a five-point lead with 9 seconds left to play in Monday’s 90-89 loss to the Perth Wildcats.
“We’re obviously hurting and we need to understand what went wrong in that last minute, but we need to move on and take what we did so well and put it into play now,” Humphries stated.
“We’ve had a few really good displays of positive basketball in the last few games and we’re really working hard on building and snowballing positively.
“We were really showing that and I think we’re still going to. It’s just a real shame and disappointment with how that one ended.”
