Which US professional sport athletes are the most socially liberal?

[James Monroe]

The sports establishment always seemed to be reactionary in comparison to other entertainment industries, especially when it comes to LGBT and women rights, so I wonder which league would contain the most athletes who rebelled against those values. By rebelling those values I mean being openly atheist, support same sex marriage, oppose the death penalty, and other liberal values. 

[7,052,770]

Almost certainly hockey

[SATW]

NHL.

[Boris]

[dead0man]

Yeah, NHL followed by the NBA.  Way down the list is the NFL and another big gap down to MLB.

[Mr. Illini]

The NHL by several miles.

Certainly the Chicago Blackhawks, as evidenced above, although it is worth noting that the Chicago Cubs have proven to be far and away the most socially liberal franchise in the country.

http://chicago.gopride.com/news/article.cfm/articleid/56085289

[James Monroe]

Yeah, NHL followed by the NBA.  Way down the list is the NFL and another big gap down to MLB.

  Now... I suspect baseball to be more socially liberal than the NFL. Its the league with probably has  the most misogynists playing, also the most militaristic out of the four leagues. Not trying to argue baseball is some liberal paradise though it does attract a somewhat more liberal fan base than the NFL.

[dead0man]

Yeah, NHL followed by the NBA.  Way down the list is the NFL and another big gap down to MLB.

  Now... I suspect baseball to be more socially liberal than the NFL. Its the league with probably has  the most misogynists playing, also the most militaristic out of the four leagues. Not trying to argue baseball is some liberal paradise though it does attract a somewhat more liberal fan base than the NFL.

I can't find the link now, but I read something once that showed that baseball players held the most socially conservative views and the explanation was that most of them didn't go to to college (unlike NBA and NFL players) and thus never spent a lot of time around people different than them.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

NHL.

Not surprised that MLB players are more conservative than NFL players, but I'd expect it's different between the fanbases.

I'm not sure what I think of the idea that being an atheist is, itself, a good example of a 'liberal value'.