Excited to share that our doc subject is being honored as part of Out Magazine's Out100 in Sports!
Bryan Ruby, 26, is a jack-of-all-trades who is making an impact as an out gay man in baseball and country music — two environments that typically do not have much LGBTQ+ representation. In September 2021, Ruby made history when he came out and became the only out gay active professional baseball player in the United States. Shortly after, he founded Proud to Be in Baseball, a nonprofit organization that supports and encourages young LGBTQ+ athletes.
Photo credit: Stasi Photography
“I’m most proud of the progress we’ve been able to make with our new nonprofit,” says Ruby. “We are advocating and creating mentorship programs for LGBTQ+ youth in the sport. I wanted to create the thing that I didn’t have, yet could have used the most as a young queer athlete.”
When Ruby is not on the field, he’s making a name for himself as a rising country music artist. In 2020, he won season 7 of the Nashville Rising Song talent search competition. Since then, he’s garnered more than 20 professional cuts as a songwriter, including a new single called “Left Field,” whose proceeds will be donated to Proud to Be in Baseball. He’s also collaborated with producer and sound engineer Chris Connors (John Legend, Kanye West) on several projects, including commercial music for the New England Sports Network.
But Ruby admits the road in the country music game has been bumpy at times. “[Over] the past three years, I’ve tried to make a name for myself as a songwriter in country music. Nashville is already full of songwriters and the genre is a notoriously tough arena for LGBTQ+ people to crack,” says Ruby.
“What I first thought was my weakness might just be my superpower,” he adds. “Being queer gives me a different perspective than the majority of country writers, and that has helped me tremendously.” @bryanrubyofficial