A national gay rights leader has said journalists shouldn't be afraid to ask athletes if they're gay because doing so would just uphold a negative stereotype.

However, several journalists said yesterday that they knew for months, and in some cases, years, that John Amaechi, former Penn State athlete and NBA player, was gay.

On Wednesday, the Internet was abuzz with news about Amaechi's new book, "Man in the Middle," which will be released Feb. 20. and will detail his life as an in-the-closet athlete at Penn State and in the NBA.

Jim Buzinski, a 1980 graduate of Penn State and founder of outsports.com, said the Web site knew about Amaechi's sexual orientation months before the announcement but did not disclose it. Amaechi wasn't a highly recognizable name until word of his book deal with ESPN broke Wednesday.

Ideally, Buzinski said, a non-retired athlete, unlike Amaechi, of super-star status would come out of the closet before the end of their playing career. The Web site, though, would not disclose that person's homosexuality unless given permission, he said.

Amaechi is the first NBA player to reveal that he is gay. Eventually, Buzinski and Eric Hegedus, the president of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, said they would like to see a situation where it wouldn't matter if athletes were gay.

"As more and more people come out and more and more is written about it the perception changes," Buzinski said. "It's going to take journalists' willingness to ask the question ... but if you are an older journalist, you might not even have the gaydar."

Hegedus said he would like to see a world where being a gay athlete wouldn't be a negative. Many believe that by avoiding questions about an individual's homosexuality they are actually protecting that person, he said.

Hegedus said he believes the opposite, and by ignoring the question people are only fueling the negative connotation that goes along with asking for a person's sexual orientation. Amaechi's post-retirement announcement is one more example.

"It's perceived as a negative and that's just not the case," Hegedus said. "There are certain situations in pro sports where it becomes delicate, but journalists have to be professional about it. Don't say it's negative to ask an athletic if they are gay."

Harrisburg Patriot-News columnist David Jones wrote on Wednesday that in 1995 "it was common knowledge among the PSU homosexual community" that Amaechi was gay. Hegedus doesn't suggest that all journalists with this knowledge should out homosexuals to the public -- just don't hold back from asking about it.

In a column that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle on Feb. 26, 2006, Hegedus wrote "a professional sin of omission -- the failure to get all the facts by shying away from asking a newsmaker his or her sexual orientation -- still clouds the media's actions."

Hegedus said he doesn't want to see reporters become hesitant to ask a possible gay athlete about his or her sexual orientation. He said the question shouldn't be any different from heterosexual athletes in the pros being questioned about companions.

Now, Hegedus is seeing some players who aren't reacting in the most accepting of fashions to Amaechi's announcement. Philadelphia forward Shavlik Randolph told The Associated Press he would warn a gay teammate "don't bring your gayness on me," and there would be awkwardness in the locker room.

"There is homophobia in sports," Hegedus said. "I read a lot of quotes by pro basketball players, some say it was OK but others didn't."

Hegedus stressed that the context of questions about an athlete's sexuality is most important. By no means is he saying that every athlete should be asked if they are homosexual, but there should be no differentiation between asking a gay man or straight man about their sex life.

"It becomes a problem if the problem isn't addressed," Hegedus said, "and the personal tidbits of gay athletes are treated differently than any other athlete."