AJ OGILVY, a former 3x All-NBL First Team member, has become just the second professional Australian basketball player to openly come out as gay.
Ahead of the NBL’s Pride Round, Ogilvy sat down with Adelaide 36ers center Isaac Humphries – who was the first Australian player to come out as openly gay – to reflect on his playing career and the challenges of not being able to live authentically.
Ogilvy logged 218 NBL games for the Sydney Kings and Illawarra Hawks, played professionally in Europe and also at the collegiate level in the United States. He described himself as “very lucky” to have enjoyed a long professional career, but doesn’t feel he had the chance to “live authentically”.
“I got to travel the world and get paid to play basketball, which is such a privilege,” Ogilvy said. “But I probably didn’t live my life as authentically as I could have during my time, especially in the NBL.”
Ogilvy has been married for nearly 18 months and said he met his husband while playing in Sydney, but throughout his career he mostly kept his personal life seperate from basketball. “While I was in Sydney, I probably kept it pretty separate, but I also wasn’t super discreet about it,” he said. “Some of the guys probably knew, but nothing was ever explicitly said. While I was in Wollongong, it became easier as the years went on and more of the guys got to know.”
Humphries became the first openly gay male player in the NBL when he came out in 2022. Living openly, he says, ultimately made his life easier. “I knew it was going to be a big thing,” he said. “But personally, it was massive to finally be open and honest and not have to hide so much… I just couldn’t cope anymore with the struggles and battles so privately.”
Ogilvy also reflected on the pressure he felt earlier in his career to conceal his sexuality. “For a long time it was, ‘I want to be a basketballer, so I have to be presented straight,’” he said. “I had two social media accounts – one for basketball and one just for close friends where I could be more open.”
Pride Round will be celebrated across Rounds 18–20 of the NBL season, with all clubs taking part in recognising and supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Ogilvy noted that Pride Round contributed to providing the right environment for him to speak openly on his sexuality.
“What the NBL has done with Pride Round – and how it’s grown year on year – has created a place for these conversations,” he said. “It gives people someone they can reach out to, ask questions, or see themselves represented.”
