Kevin Mcclatchy Former Pittsburgh Pirates Owner Reveals He's Gay

Another day, another sexuality reveal. Today it’s former Pirates owner, Kevin McClatchy…

Via ESPN:

Kevin McClatchy, the owner and CEO of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1996 to 2007, has acknowledged he is gay to The New York Times, saying frequent homophobic slurs he heard in baseball circles had convinced him to keep his sexual orientation a secret.

McClatchy, an heir to a newspaper chain who sold his shares of the Pirates in 2009 only after ensuring that the club remained in Pittsburgh, said the time had finally come to speak openly about his sexuality.

“You’re not going to solve any problem until you start a dialogue,” McClatchy told The Times for an op-ed story published in Sunday’s editions. “And there’s no dialogue right now.” McClatchy will also be the subject of Wednesday’s “Outside The Lines” (3 p.m. ET on ESPN).

“I’ve got a birthday coming up where I’m turning old,” McClatchy, who will turn 50 in January, told The Times. “I’ve spent 30 years — or whatever the number is specifically — not talking about my personal life, lying about my personal life.”

McClatchy, 49, is not the first major-league executive or former executive to come out as gay. Rick Welts, the president and chief executive officer of the Phoenix Suns, revealed his sexuality last year.

“This has been challenging to me,” McClatchy told The Times of his decision to reveal his sexual orientation. “I probably didn’t sleep as well as I could have last night.”

McClatchy boasted of baseball’s ending of racial segregation in sports while saying he didn’t think players considered it similar to one of their own coming out as gay.