Homosexuality in sports in the United States

The homosexual sports community in the United States has one of the highest levels of acceptance and support in the world and is rapidly growing as of 2020. General public opinion and jurisprudence regarding homosexuality in the United States has become significantly more accepting since the late 1980s; for example, by the early 2020s, an overwhelming majority of Americans approved of the legality of same-sex marriages.

In regard to sports in the United States, in 2002 researcher Eric Anderson found "more openly gay runners and swimmers than football and baseball players." He then hypothesized that this occurred because gay men likely abandoned some sports in favor of sports that were more accepting of homosexuality. In 2006, a Sports Illustrated poll of roughly 1,400 professional athletes found that a majority would be willing to accept a gay teammate. As well, professional ice hockey (NHL) athletes seemed to be the most accepting of such teammates as 80% of its players approved of having a gay teammate.