The smile is wide.

Wearing a black tank top with a rainbow-themed Detroit Pistons logo, Reggie Bullock beams at the crowd.

He’s standing atop the NBA's rainbow-colored float in June’s New York City LGBT Pride March, one of the world’s largest pride parades.

He is accompanied by others waving rainbow-colored flags adorned with the familiar NBA logo.

[ Pistons traded Reggie Bullock to L.A. Lakers for rookie, 2nd-round pick ]

The float bears two words:

Defiantly different.

The words support the many differences represented in our country.

Race.

Religion.

Sexual orientation.

Gender.

Bullock is a straight black man who played three-plus season for the Pistons before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.

And Bullock wants to protect the unique, the different — maybe because he was unable to protect his sister, Mia Henderson, the victim of a 2014 killing in Baltimore.

Henderson, 26, was designated a male at birth, but identified as female.

A suspect was arrested, tried and acquitted — a painful time for Bullock and his family. But Bullock has channeled that pain and anger to become an advocate for the LGBTQ community.

The pride march culminated a series of events in which Bullock announced his advocacy to the world.

Bullock, 27, declined to comment on this story, stating “all he has to say is out there.”

He did speak to the Free Press in September 2016 when he first started sharing Henderson’s story. And the Free Press spoke with others who are inspired by Bullock’s words and deeds.

“It’s huge to have the support of an active athlete out there speaking up because we can’t do this alone,” said former NBA player Jason Collins, who came out as gay in a 2013 edition of Sports Illustrated.

“As members of the LGBTQ community, you can’t do it alone. You see that during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. It wasn’t just African Americans, it was other allies. You need allies to use their influence and speak up for you when you’re not in the room to say, ‘Hey, that’s not cool. We’re not going to use that kind of language in the locker room. We’re going to respect everyone. We’re going to make everyone feel welcome whether they’re out and open or they’re in the closet.’

“Reggie has been instrumental in that.”

Overwhelming anger

Bullock was preparing for his second season with the Los Angeles Clippers when Bullock and his family’s lives were irrevocably shattered.

Henderson was found dead in Baltimore, the second homicide of a transgender woman in the city during the summer of 2014.

It was a vicious death.

She died of multiple stab wounds to the back, arms and chest. Bullock learned of the tragedy via text message.

Shortly afterward, the police arrested a suspect, Shawn Oliver, 46, and charged him with first-degree murder.

Police said DNA evidence tied Oliver to the crime scene. At trial, the defense said it was a case of consensual sex, and in January 2017, Oliver was acquitted of murder (though he's currently serving a sentence for a drug charge).

The outcome angered Bullock, who was traded to the Pistons almost a year after her death. He was excused from the Pistons to attend the trial, and he was there to hear the decision.

The crime angered Bullock.

The verdict angered him.

Media reports that prioritized the connection to her brother angered him as well.

“You know the thing that hurt me the most was (that) they didn’t put my sister’s name first,” Bullock told the Free Press in 2016. “They didn’t put Mia Henderson first. It was Reggie Bullock’s sibling, and that’s just crazy to me, for someone to be able to write a message like that. It should’ve, obviously, been Mia Henderson, the sister of Reggie Bullock.”

Bullock expressed his disdain on Twitter.

From this summer’s interview with The Players’ Tribune, it’s clear he still thinks the verdict was incorrect.

“Deep down in my heart, I just knew that we had the right guy," Bullock says, in an emotional 6-minute video. "If I could bet all my money on it, I’d bet that was the right guy.”

‘Happy to live her life’

When it comes to changing norms, slow acceptance knows no geographical boundaries.

And that’s true of North Carolina, where Bullock and his sister grew up.

The state isn’t considered part of the Deep South, and gay marriage has been recognized there since 2014.

But a controversial law was passed in March 2016 that, among other things, required all people to use the bathroom of the gender listed on the person's birth certificate.

Under pressure from political activists and businesses, that portion of the law was repealed by the state legislature a year later.

It shows acceptance isn’t easy.

Born Kevin Long, Henderson was designated male at birth. But she didn’t identify as male. Raised in Kinston, N.C., Bullock has admitted to feeling shame when he was younger. There was never a formal coming out; Henderson just was who she was.

“I definitely had to educate myself about it,” Bullock said. “But obviously, growing up in a household with a sibling that was pretty much a part of that community, I never disrespected her. I never disrespected her friends.

“The main message I got from my sister is that she was just happy to live her life. You know what I’m saying? She was just happy.”

Bullock was a budding basketball standout, first at Kinston where he was a top-20 national recruit.

His teams won two state titles.

He spent three seasons at North Carolina and was a 2013 first-round pick of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Henderson was very supportive of Bullock’s career, but she didn’t attend games.

But he was always close to her.

Bullock admitted to hearing some snide comments, but teammates refrained.

“My friends never disrespected me for having a sibling like that,” Bullock said. “Maybe it was just (their) respect for basketball. But I was never one of those type of people to ever joke with somebody about them being that way.”

The education of Reggie

Maybe it was the verdict.

Or maybe it was a genuine curiosity about his sister’s life.

Last spring, Bullock decided to make his voice heard, but he needed help in knowing how to proceed.

Erika Swilley, the Pistons' senior director of community and social responsibility, was thrilled to help.

Swilley has worked in community relations for several professional franchises over the past 13 years, and experience tells her personal connections to a cause work best.

Pistons forward Stanley Johnson raises breast-cancer awareness; his mother died from the disease before his rookie season in 2015.

Reggie Jackson furnishes libraries at Detroit schools to fight illiteracy.

“When players have a personal connection about something, it’s more genuine,” Swilley said. “I can send them out to do something, but it’s better when it’s something they want to do. You’re going to get 110 percent from them.”

This isn't the same as speaking out against racism or police brutality — issues that resonate in the NBA’s majority-black locker rooms. Advocacy is generally out of Bullock's comfort zone.

“Reggie’s basically a very quiet person,” former Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said in late August. “He’s not a person of a lot of words so for him to find the courage to be that guy out front speaking on those issues (is a good thing).

“In our league it’s harder to speak out on LGBTQ issues. On race issues, three quarters of the league is African American, but on the LGBTQ issue (it’s not the same).”

But Bullock was ready.

Swilley contacted the NBA for assistance.

In March, the Pistons celebrated the LGBTQ community with a pride night promotion during a home game against the Chicago Bulls. Bullock participated in a panel discussion afterward and shared his story.

Nicole Eisenberg, local philanthropist and suite holder, also helped. She is a national board member for GLAAD, an advocacy group for LGBTQ causes. Another group fighting for LGBTQ causes, Athlete Ally, also was enlisted.

Swilley, Eisenberg and the NBA arranged for GLAAD and Athlete Ally officials to come to Detroit for a crash course in media training.

Bullock had to learn the right pronouns.

When the grief was still fresh in 2014, Bullock took social media heat for referring to Henderson as “Kevin” when he first mourned her death on Twitter.

Instead of lashing out, Bullock took the criticism to heart, and by the time he spoke with the Free Press in 2016, he said: “I don’t claim that I have two brothers and two sisters anymore. I have three sisters and one brother.”

He had more to learn.

GLAAD representative Nick Adams, who attended the meeting with Bullock, said education is needed.

“There’s a lot of ignorance and confusion about what it means to be a transgender person and because of that, the transgender community faces extremely high rates of poverty, discrimination and violence,” Adams said.

Bullock learned his voice was necessary.

LGBTQ students face bullying. And voices were needed to remember Ciara Minaj Carter, Londonn Moore, Shantee Tucker and other transgender women of color who were killed in 2018, according to GLAAD.

The Trump administration, citing "tremendous medical costs and disruption," reinstated a ban on most transgender individuals serving in the military, but it was blocked by most district courts.

On Friday, the administration asked the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the ban, which some view as an effort to bypass federal appeals courts.

“Any time someone with a public media platform — especially someone like Reggie who plays in the NBA — speaks up and says, 'I had a transgender family member, I loved her, she lost her life to violence and I don’t think that should happen to anyone else,' it’s incredibly helpful to reach people,” Adams said.

Bullock isn’t unique.

Society needs to be educated on the issues the LGBTQ community faces.

And the same was true of the NBA.

“It was sort of built into the culture of sport as a way to attack someone,” Collins said. “You’re in a hypercompetitive, hypermasculine environment and my generation growing up, a lot of people’s way to be a bigger man was to challenge someone, challenge their masculinity, so homophobic language was used a lot of times as a way to do that.”

Collins, who realized he was gay in high school, spent his career in hiding because he didn’t feel the culture was accepting. But things have changed.

In 2011, NBA icon Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 by then-NBA commissioner David Stern for directing a gay slur at an opponent. Bryant apologized, but was defensive, saying he would appeal the fine, and he should not have been taken literally.

But in 2013, Bryant chided a Twitter follower for using anti-gay language. He was critical of his previous offense.

“That wasn't cool and was ignorant on my part,” he wrote. “I own it and learn from it and expect the same from others.”

The NBA has made LGBTQ education part of the rookie transition program.

Like the Pistons, other organizations have pride night promotions.

It’s all about creating an accepting atmosphere.

“That was the shift in the culture of basketball — at least with the NBA,” Collins said. “Terms that when I first came into the NBA were commonplace.

“Seeing that was something I was looking for as a closeted athlete.”

Real players don’t bully

There was a flurry of social media activity about Bullock in the days surrounding the Pistons' season-opening victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Oct. 17.

GLAAD announced from its Twitter account a $25,000 donation from Bullock the day before. It also announced Bullock’s participation in Spirit Day, GLAAD’s platform to speak against LGBTQ bullying, which took place the day after the game.

GLAAD released an accompanying public service video from Bullock, and Bullock wrote on Twitter and Instagram his affirmation on Spirit Day, encouraging others to wear purple to support the cause.

It was continuation of his offseason efforts.

He spoke at the GLAAD media awards in April. In late June, Bullock joined a community conversation and NBA coaches forum where he and Collins discussed obstacles LGBTQ youth face in organized sports and athletics.

Later that day, Bullock and his son, Treyson, rode on the float at the pride march in New York.

His relationship with Henderson was the subject of The Players’ Tribune piece.

The Chicago Tribune and The Ringer wrote articles.

He wants to perform in a rainbow-colored jersey.

Swilley estimates Bullock gets at least one media request per day, which helps explain his reticence to keep talking about his sister.

But those who know Bullock are happy to speak up for their quiet teammate.

The message is pride.

And Bullock has become a role model.

“That’s one of the issues that a lot of people don’t understand,” Jackson said. “Putting yourself out there and not being afraid of backlash and don’t care what happens or what people are going to think of you — whether it’s positive or negative.

“It’s a great maturation for him. We’re all just trying to get out of our comfort zones and be who we are truly.

“I’m proud of him no matter the cause.”

Follow Vince Ellis on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.