Australian professional basketball player Isaac Humphries declared that he is gay through a social media post on Wednesday. By admission, he becomes the first Australian basketball professional to openly come out as gay.

“It is a truth about myself that I have wanted to deny for a long time, but I now feel comfortable,” he said. “I have finally come to a point where I know I can reveal myself as a gay man and still play professional sport,” he further added.

Who is Isaac Humphries?

Isaac Humphries is an Australian professional basketball player who represents Melbourne United in the national basketball league (NBL) and also a musician. He was born on January 5, 1998, in Sydney to the couple Mr Humphries and Michaela Humphries. He attended Scots college in Sydney and Australian Institute of sport in Canberra.

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In 2014, he played a critical role in Australia’s silver medal finish at the FIBA (International Basketball federation) U-17 World championship. In 2015, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky and was able to play 23 games. He turned professional in 2017, being signed in by his hometown side Sydney Kings for the 2017-18 NBL season.

He made his national senior debut in the 2019 FIBA World Cup. After stints with FMP of the basketball league of Serbia and NBA associations with Los Angeles Clippers and Orlando Magic, he returned to NBL, joining the Adelaide 36ers. Since July 2022, Humphries has represented Melbourne United.

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On November 16, 2022, Humphries openly declared himself being gay through a social media post.

In an article on CNN, Humphries elaborated on the atmosphere he grew up in, whose hostility to people of the LGBTQ+ community made it difficult for him to come out openly about his sexuality. “Growing up in Australia, I went to an all-male private school from about the age of 13, where there was an expectation that everyone was straight and that was the end of the conversation,” said Humphries.  

However, Humphries was forced to go to Los Angeles in 2021 to recover from injuries when he saw a totally different atmosphere. “In LA, it was completely different. I was around some of the most successful people in the world – everyone from musicians, television and film producers, media personalities, A-list celebrities – and got to see that being openly gay can come with joy,” wrote Humphries in the said article.