Major League Baseball umpire Dale Scott has come out as gay.
Scott, a 29-year veteran umpire, quietly came out in the
October issue of Referee magazine, sharing photos of himself with longtime partner Michael Rausch. He is now the first openly gay active umpire in the MLB.
"I realized that it could open a Pandora's Box,"
Scott told Outsports.com of his decision to submit the photos. "But this is not a surprise to Major League Baseball, the people I work for. It's not a surprise to the umpire staff. Until Mike and I got married last November, he was my same-sex domestic partner and had his own MLB ID and was on my insurance policy."
"This is not going to be some huge flashing news to [MLB], but I also didn't want to be making some coming out story, some banner headline, because that's not how I operate. It's not a shock to MLB management because they're well aware of my situation and it's not a shock to the umpire staff. If it would have been, I don't think I would have done it."
"I am extremely grateful that Major League Baseball has always judged me on my work and nothing else and that's the way it should be," he added.
Twitter users had mixed reactions to Scott's announcement.
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