MLB Umpire Dale Scott Comes Out as Gay

Veteran MLB umpire Dale Scott reveals that he is gay.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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For 29 seasons Dale Scott has been a Major League umpire. And, for all but one of those seasons, he's been partners with Michael Rausch, who he revealed he's been married to since last November.

Last month, Scott revealed that personal detail to Referee magazine who published a picture of Scott with his husband. Since we don't have a subscription to that particular magazine (which we assume is mainly for refs) we had to wait until today to find out from an interview with Outsports.com. In case you're somebody who wonders why Scott would choose to do this, here's the rationale from the ump himself:


“My thought process was that there’s a story about my career and how I got started in umpiring and they’re talking to people I have known since junior high and it didn’t seem right to have a whole story and pictures without a picture of Mike and I, someone who’s been with me through this entire process."

Basically he said that the magazine wanted pictures of him off the diamond and that it wouldn't make sense not to mention, you know, his partner of nearly 30 years. He also inferred that everybody in Major League Baseball's management already knew, adding:


"Obviously, when I sent that picture (to the magazine), I knew exactly what it meant. In a small way, this was opening that door in a publication that wasn't going to be circulated nationwide. It could be picked up, but it's not Time magazine. I made that decision to go ahead and do it because I felt it was the right thing to do. I realized that it could open a Pandora's Box, but this is not a surprise to Major League Baseball, the people I work for. It's not a surprise to the umpire staff." 

With Scott's announcement he becomes the first male official from the "Big Four" sports leagues to reveal that he's gay. Back in 2007, NBA referee Violet Palmer made a similar pretty much the same announcement.

[via ESPN]

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