The San Diego Loyal midfielder, at the center of two brazen acts of discrimination this year, opens up about being part of a team who are willing to literally walk away from the game for each other
When Collin Martin came out as gay in 2018, he didn’t think it’d be that big of a deal. But he immediately learned otherwise – and, even two years on, soccer, in its occasional and stubborn grotesquery, recently found a way of putting his visibility and status as a representative to the test.
Martin is speaking by phone from his parents’ home outside Washington DC, a few weeks after his USL Championship team, the San Diego Loyal, had an emotional end to its season that made worldwide headlines in which a player’s sexuality, of all things, became the story of the match. Disarmingly courteous and down to earth, the 26-year-old midfielder, began explaining what led him to come out.
