David Kopay, a gay former NFL player, said gay athletes would get more support if they were more open about their sexuality.

"It's so important for us to be visible and for everyone to know that we're all the same," Kopay said.

Reggie Rivers, an African-American former NFL player who is heterosexual, equated the current climate of socially acceptable discrimination against homosexuals with the overt discrimination against blacks in the 1950s.

"It seems that we are free to say anything about gay people without a societal reprimand," said Rivers, who now hosts a radio talk show and pens a column for the Denver Post.

Davidson said he was pleased with Sunday's event.

"I think the event went extremely well," Davidson wrote in an e-mail. "The audience seemed responsive to the speakers and to the topic, evidenced by the quality and quantity of questions audience members asked."

Sponsors of the event included BAGELS, the Black Students Association, Girlspot, the Harvard College Activities Fund, the Institute of Politics, OutSports.com, the Undergraduate Council and the Women's Sports Foundation.