An American professional wrestler promised to get violent over gay marriage.

Pro athlete Jay Briscoe sent a violent and homophobic tweet the day after Delaware became the 11th state in the US to legalize same-sex marriage.

Olympic swimmer Amini Fonua has come out in his college newspaper, despite studying at one of the least LGBT-friendly schools in the US.

New-Zealand-born Fonua represented the South Pacific islands nation of Tonga in the 100m breastroke competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games. 

Straight afterwards Fonua joined Texas A&M University as a freshman where he has become an active 'Aggie' (the school's nickname) athlete.

Since no other male professional athlete in the US had come out during their playing careers, NBA player Jason Collins had to look back at a female superstar who did it 33 years ago.

That is Martina Navratilova who in 1981 came out publicly at the age of 23. She had two Wimbledon singles crown to her credit at the time and would go on to win 16 more grand slam singles titles as an openly gay athlete.

Shortly after NBA player Jason Collins came out publicly as a gay man on Monday (29 April), one of basketball's biggest superstars, Kobe Bryant, took to Twitter to express his support.

'Proud of you,' Bryant wrote of Collins to his nearly 2.5 million followers.

He added: 'Don't suffocate who you are because of the ignorance of others.'

Basketball player Jason Collins has come out as gay, becoming the first openly gay athlete in a major US team sport.

The seven foot tall 34-year-old, who plays center for the Washington Wizards, has come out in an article for Sports Illustrated.

He said: ‘I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, “I’m different."

‘If I had my way, someone else would have already done this.

Head football coach at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has spoken out in support of gay sports players.

Coach Jim Mora has appeared in a video filmed by the You Can Play project to raise awareness of changing attitudes to LGBT players in sport. The project’s simple message for gay sportspeople is ‘If you can play, you can play.’

Speaking to Outsports, Mora stated an athlete coming out on his football team and in other sports would be well received. He said: ‘It doesn’t matter to me.

Kerry Rhodes, who has played in the National Football League since 2005, wants people to know that he is not gay.

Speculation arose after a website posted several photos of the athlete on vacation with a male friend including one where he has his arm around the friend as they are on a boat.

Openly gay pro boxer Orlando Cruz has won his second match since coming out as a gay athlete.

Yesterday evening at a scheduled match in Florida, Orlando ‘The Phenomenon’ Cruz defeated Aaron ‘The Bomber’ Martinez in a 6th-round technical knock-out.

Cruz has amassed a massive gay and straight following since coming out last October.

In the ring Cruz wore a boxing kilt with the colors of the Puerto Rican flag in the front, and the rainbow colors of gay pride in the back.

Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, who is charged with murder, was cut from the pro-gay It Gets Better campaign yesterday (18 February).

The organizers of the campaign aiming to stop homophobic bullying said it would be inappropriate for the sportsman to continue to be involved, the South Africa Times reports.

Olympic medalist Tasha Danvers will climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for a British HIV charity.

The athlete who finished in third place in the 400 metres hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics has pledged her support to east London's Positive East charity by agreeing to trek Africa’s highest mountain.

'As an Olympian you often spend time having to be very selfish in order to achieve your goals,' she said. 

Chris Kluwe, a punter for the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings, has become an outspoken and well-known activist for marriage equality this year.

Now he's turning his attention to fighting homophobia in sports.

Kluwe has become the first pro athlete to join Athlete Ally Ambassador Program which encourages athletes, coaches, and fans to challenge homophobia in sports.

"This is about extending respect and sportsmanship to everyone,' Kluwe says of joining the group. 'It's a basic American idea, like football itself.'

Prior to my recent visit to Hungerford Primary School in London I don’t think I had actually set foot in any school for well over 20 years.