Charles Barkley said American society is still unfriendly toward gay people in the aftermath of the death of Jason Collins , the ex-Net who made history in 2013 by becoming the first active Big Four (MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA) athlete to announce he was gay. Barkley believes there are more male athletes who are gay but unwilling to do so due to a “homophobic” mentality permeating society. “If another guy did it, it would still be a big deal because we live in a homophobic society,” Barkley said