Jags' Maxen is first male Amerin pro sports ach to e out as gay - ESPN

Contents:

• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• GIANT MURAL ON NORWICH PUB HONOURS JT FASHANU, ENGLAND'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER
• GAY ATRALIAN FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO SAYS WORLD CUP SHOULDN’T BE GOG TO QATAR, WHERE HOMOSEXUALY IS ILLEGAL
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH COACH COM OUT AS GAY IN A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU
• MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY
• GAY FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO SAYS HE WOULD BE ‘SRED’ TO PLAY AT THE 2022 WORLD CUP QATAR
• JOSH CAVALLO BE ONE OF THE FEW PROFSNAL MEN'S FOOTBALLERS TO E OUT AS GAY
• JAKE DANIELS: WHY BLACKPOOL PLAYER’S CISN TO E OUT AS GAY MATTERS
• JAKE DANIELS BE FIRST UK MALE FOOTBALLER TO E OUT AS GAY SCE 1990
• CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER, ULD BE TURNG POT FOR MALE SPORTS
• HERE ARE EIGHT OUT AND PROUD MALE GAY FOOTBALLERS
• NFL PROUDLY CLAR 'FOOTBALL IS GAY' NEW VIO
• 8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY
• GAY FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO WOULD BE ‘SRED’ TO PLAY AT WORLD CUP QATAR
• GAY PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLER 'VERY LIKELY' TO E OUT NEXT YEAR, SAYS JT FASHANU'S NIECE

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

-- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar 's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn. Outsi lebacker Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay and to play a game Associated Prs ntributed to this report.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

A giant mural of England's first openly gay footballer has been unveiled on the si of a Fashanu remas the only male profsnal player to nfirm he was homosexual - amid fears he would be "outed" by a natnal newspaper 1990 - and was ducted to the footballg Hall of Fame spe now beg seen as an spiratn the fight agast homophobia and discrimatn sport, the proud Canary took his own life 1998 - wrg his suici note that beg gay and a personaly was "so hard" former Norwich Cy striker, who beme the UK's first black £1m player when he was sold to Nottgham Fort, ntu to be seen as a legend at the Norfolk Champnship "wonr strike" agast Liverpool at Carrow Road 1980 went on to w Match of the Day's goal of the season now his face has taken pri of place on the si of a Canari supporters pub.

A mural of former Norwich Cy player Jt Fashanu, England's first openly gay footballer, has appeared on the Fat Cat and Canary. It has been almost a year sce Josh Cavallo announced he is gay, but even now he still stggl to prehend the far-reachg impact his announcement has had – pecially as he has begun to speak out on major issu, notably the Qatar World Cup.

A year on, Cavallo remas the only openly gay top-flight male footballer the world – he plays for Alai Uned Atralia’s A League – but his cisn spired Jake Daniels, a forward for English send divisn club Blackpool, to e out May of this year. “It was jt the uncertaty, seeg that there was no active gay footballer that’s e out before and there was no plan wh , ” he rells. Fashanu beme the first openly gay profsnal footballer after g out 1990 while playg the English top flight, but the backlash he suffered eventually led him to take his own life eight years later.

GIANT MURAL ON NORWICH PUB HONOURS JT FASHANU, ENGLAND'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER

Earlier this month, former Spa ternatnals Iker Casillas and Carl Puyol were wily cricized after the former posted a tweet claimg he was gay. Cavallo says the exchange between Casillas and Puyol prov football still has “got a long way to go” to eradite homophobia, even if the sport has recently ma steps the right directn. Jacksonville Jaguars' Kev Maxen has ma the public statement "to be vol support of people livg how they want to live, but I also want to jt live and not feel fear about how people will react"; Maxen is the first male ach a major Amerin sports league to e out as gay.

GAY ATRALIAN FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO SAYS WORLD CUP SHOULDN’T BE GOG TO QATAR, WHERE HOMOSEXUALY IS ILLEGAL

Kev Maxen, an associate strength ach wh the Jacksonville Jaguars, has bee the first male ach a major Amerin sports league to e out as gay. Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted when the then-St Louis Rams selected him 2021, Carl Nassib, then wh the Las Vegas Rairs, beme the first active NFL player to e out publicly. FirstThe Rairs fensive leman me out a statement posted to his Instagram acunt on Monday, beg the first active player the league to publicly intify as gay.

I actually hope that like one day vios like this and the whole g-out procs are jt not necsary, but until then I’m gog to do my bt and my part to cultivate a culture that’s acceptg, that’s passnate, ” before addg that he would donate $100, 000 to The Trevor Project, a nonprof group that foc on suici preventn efforts among lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer and qutng youth.

RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST

“Sports are, many ways, one of the last bastns of a place where homophobia n thrive, ” said Cathy Renna, a spokwoman for the Natnal L. ”Michael Sam, an all-Amerin fensive leman at Missouri, had been viewed as the most likely to acquire that distctn when he announced he is gay before he beg chosen by the Rams the seventh round of the 2014 N.

The Dallas Cowboys signed Sam to their practice squad, but he never played a regular season Otero/Associated PrsSam’s draft stat was seen as a barometer of whether the climate of men’s pro sports was beg more acceptg of gay athlet, particularly bee Febary 2014 the N. Had jt bee the first of the four tradnal major Amerin men’s sports leagu to have an openly gay active player when Jason Colls joed the Sam left the N. He played for ne seasons wh the San Francis 49ers and four other teams the 1960s and 1970s, and has sce bee an activist and an ambassador for the Gay Gam, a quadrennial sportg Simmons was the send former player to announce that he was gay, dog so 1992 after his reer wh the Giants and Washgton Football Team had end.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH COACH COM OUT AS GAY IN A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU

”In recent years, the league has publicly supported Pri Month through promotnal efforts like changg official social media avatars to clu rabows and supportg the You Can Play Project, which provis rourc to enurage clivy youth sports, even as some players have ma rogatory statements about gay people wh ltle penalty or supported groups that oppose gay Wewerka for The New York TimIn 2013, Chris Culliver of the San Francis 49ers and Chris Clemons of the Seattle Seahawks ma offensive ments when asked about the prospect of havg a gay teammate. ”San Francis nng back Garrison Hearst apologized 2002 for g a slur and sayg he wouldn’t want a gay player as a teammate.

MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY

His ment me after the former Mnota Vikgs player Esera Tuaolo publicly me out as gay that year after he had retired.

GAY FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO SAYS HE WOULD BE ‘SRED’ TO PLAY AT THE 2022 WORLD CUP QATAR

Players like Brendon Ayanbajo, who played wh the Baltimore Ravens, fend same-sex marriage and gay rights and supported Sam at the time. As the World Cup go on a untry where homosexualy is illegal, many global football fans are havg to reckon wh the sports' soccer remas one of the most popular sports around the world, very few players have been able to e out and enjoy a succsful reer afterwards.

JOSH CAVALLO BE ONE OF THE FEW PROFSNAL MEN'S FOOTBALLERS TO E OUT AS GAY

Gay players face prsure om teammat, ownership, ach, and fans over their are some of the men who have e out, fightg those stereotyp, and pavg the way for LGBTQ+ athlet who e after them. He me out 2011, and won the seventh season of Swedish realy show Let's Dance, beg the first out gay person to w.

In 2014, he beme Bra's hight-profile out, gay player, and was the first out, gay male player to play at Wembley.

Rogers me out as gay 2013, beg the first out gay man to pete a top North Amerin pro sports league when he played for the LA Galaxy that same year.

JAKE DANIELS: WHY BLACKPOOL PLAYER’S CISN TO E OUT AS GAY MATTERS

After beg the only current, openly gay player men’s top-flight football last month, Josh Cavallo says a new terview wh the Guardian that he would be “sred” to play at the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar bee of the untry’s homosexualy laws.

JAKE DANIELS BE FIRST UK MALE FOOTBALLER TO E OUT AS GAY SCE 1990

Cavallo, who plays for Alai Uned Atralia’s A-League, received wispread support om the football muny and beyond when he announced on social media that he is gay, cludg om Barcelona fenr Gerard Piqué, Atléti Madrid forward Antoe Griezmann and Liverpool midfielr Jordan Henrson.

CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER, ULD BE TURNG POT FOR MALE SPORTS

The 21-year-old has now voiced his ncerns about next year’s World Cup Qatar, where homosexualy is illegal and punishable by up to three years prison. He add: “One of the greatt achievements as a profsnal footballer is to play for your untry and to know that [the World Cup] is a untry that don’t support gay people and puts at risk of our own life, that do sre me and that do me make re-evaluate. Acrdg to a report to state-sponsored homophobia by Lus Ramón Mendos of the human rights group ILGA World, Qatar “ns Sharia urts, where technilly is possible that Mlim men uld be put to ath for same-sex sexual behavurs.

HERE ARE EIGHT OUT AND PROUD MALE GAY FOOTBALLERS

“Not havg anyone to look up to and to see okay, they’re playg football and they’re gay and they’re havg a succsful reer – that is somethg that sred me and somethg that I was worried that if I was to potentially e out one day, would affect my reer a bad way? Atralian footballer Josh Cavallo has e out as gay, beg one of the few profsnal men's soccer players the world to do so.

NFL PROUDLY CLAR 'FOOTBALL IS GAY' NEW VIO

Ashamed I would never be able to do what I love and be gay, hidg who I really am to pursue a dream I always wished for as a kid.

Male profsnal athlet e out as the first openly gay players currently participatg their rpective sports, cludg NHL hockey player Le Prokop and NFL fensive end Carl Nassib. When 17-year-old Jake Daniels publicly me out as a gay on Monday, phon pged as the UK’s media raced to ph out news alerts.

“I’ve known my whole life that I’m gay, and I now feel that I’m ready to e out and be myself, ” the English footballer said his statement.

8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY

Until Monday, Alai Uned’s Josh Cavallo was the only current openly gay top-flight male profsnal footballer the world. Daniels is the first profsnal male player to e out as gay the UK the last 30 years, says the Brish LGBTQ advocy group Stonewall.

GAY FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO WOULD BE ‘SRED’ TO PLAY AT WORLD CUP QATAR

Jt Fashanu was the first and, until now, only active male profsnal footballer the UK to speak publicly about beg a gay man. It was only last month that a football fan was banned om watchg live football by a Brish urt for three years for shoutg homophobic abe at a Premier League match between Brighton and Hove Albn and Arsenal October 2021. Men’s profsnal football is still behd the women’s game – there were 40 openly gay, lbian and bisexual players at the 2019 Women’s World Cup – and other sports.

Daniels, who said he had known he was gay sce the age of five or six, received support om his club and Stonewall before makg his statement and he will need that to ntue bee beg a trailblazer n be a heavy load to rry. The Blackpool forward Jake Daniels has end s of silence wh men’s football to bee the first player the UK to e out as gay sce Jt Fashanu 1990.

Photograph: Pl Dennis/TGS Photo/ShutterstockDaniels’s revelatn is a strikg landmark that when men’s football is more engaged wh social issu than any recent time, but still unable to ce progrs LGBTQ reprentatn wh the year Alai Uned’s Josh Cavallo beme the only male top-flight profsnal footballer the world to e out as gay, but others are yet to follow. In six months the men’s World Cup will be played Qatar, where homosexualy is illegal, and Cavallo revealed to the Guardian he would be “sred” to play at the tournament, the pnacle of world English football specifilly, the shadow of the talented and unfulfilled Fashanu still lgers over the game. The England ternatnal me out at the end of his reer and was to take his own life eight years later, Fashanu, Jt’s niece, who ns a charable foundatn his name, said that Daniels’s cisn would “e as a huge fort to the many footballers at all levels of the game still secretly livg as gay and who still feel unable to e out”.

GAY PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLER 'VERY LIKELY' TO E OUT NEXT YEAR, SAYS JT FASHANU'S NIECE

“I jt want to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay, ” the fensive leman for the Las Vegas Rairs said a vio posted to his Instagram acunt Monday.

And while someone g out 2021 might not feel like a big al, wh that simple statement, Nassib beme the first openly gay active player NFL that simple statement, Nassib beme the first openly gay active player NFL history. Though there are many openly queer women profsnal sports, the same nnot be said for homophobia of men’s sports culture has been well documented.