Even someone who is filthy rich struggles with coming out. Maybe they have more to lose?
Kevin McClatchy is a member of a newspaper publishing dynasty which was co-founded by his great-great-grandfather James McClatchy in 1857. In addition to being a member of the McClatchy Company Board, in 1996, when Kevin was 33, he led an investor group to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team.
But Kevin has a secret that could have torpedoed the purchase. He was gay, and no one knew. If his secret was exposed, it could end the deal.
“I think I was paranoid, for sure, about people. And suspicious, definitely. And angry. In the back of my mind was: ‘What are you doing? You’re going into the most public arena possible with a secret.”
In the event the secret became public, Kevin privately told his sister he was gay, so the revelation wouldn’t be entirely out of the blue.
Kevin had been dyslexic as a boy, which held him back academically. His outlet and passion was sports, whether football, basketball, tennis, or baseball. As an adult, this led him to lead the partnership that bought the Pirates. He knew his business experience would help the team. He spent 11 ½ years as the managing general partner and CEO.
In that time, no one on the team, nor other MLB owners, questioned his sexuality. If someone asked why he wasn’t married, he would explain he was too busy to get married - working crazy hours. He admits it was a convenient excuse to hide behind.
“I think quite a few (suspected). Nobody would ask. The media never asked. The players didn’t ask. I would get some mail that would insinuate that people heard rumors…”
In 2007, Kevin stepped down as the CEO of the Pirates. Then in 2012, on his 50th birthday, he came out in an interview with the New York Times. When he was asked why he didn’t come out earlier:
“I’m sure people will criticize me because I came out later, and I should have come out while I was in baseball and in the thick of it… (would have been a) gamble at that point to come out and do it and if there had been a negative reaction… so I was focused, I guess, on what was directly in front of me . . . I was frightened that my own personal situation could in some way jeopardize the whole franchise.”
He decided to come out in 2012 because the time felt right. That outsiders couldn’t understand what it’s like in his footsteps, nor the pressures he was facing at that time. But he hopes that by his coming out it helps with the ongoing discussion of LGBT athletes in professional sports.
During the interview with the NYT, the reporter asked Kevin about the rumors that his father C. K. McClatchy II was gay or bisexual. Kevin replied:
"I don't think it's right for me to talk about my father's story. He passed away when I was 25 years old. What I’m doing … is try to tell my story and how it relates to sports. I want this story to be about the awareness of gays and professional sports.”
In 2012, McClatchy joined the board for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the organization created by Elizabeth Taylor. Kevin is now a Co-Chair of the amfAR board.
Kevin met his partner Jack Basilone, through a staffer to former Republican Senator Rick Santorum. (Santorum, BTW, is a vocal opponent of gay rights.) Kevin and Jack Basilone are now married and proud parents of son Connor McClatchy.
