Brad Thorson, former llege football player and NFL prospect, out as gay - Outsports

Contents:

• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS GAY
• MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY
• THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB
• 7 GAY NFL FOOTBALL PLAYERS
• GAY FURRY HACKERS ARE TARGETG US STAT FOR PASSG ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATN
• 8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY
• IT WAS A SIMPLE TEAM PHOTO, BUT MEANT THE WORLD TO GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER
• GAY FOOTBALL STOCK PHOTOS AND IMAG
• COULD THIS BE THE FIRST HARD OPENLY GAY DICK THE NFL?
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST
• GAY ATRALIAN FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO SAYS WORLD CUP SHOULDN’T BE GOG TO QATAR, WHERE HOMOSEXUALY IS ILLEGAL
• GAY FOOTBALLER JOSH CAVALLO SAYS HE WOULD BE ‘SRED’ TO PLAY AT THE 2022 WORLD CUP QATAR
• PHOTOS: NEW YORK GAY FOOTBALL LEAGUE BACHELOR AUCTN
• GAY ATHLETE G KENWORTHY AND BUTTS GALORE HIGHLIGHT ESPN BODY ISSUE
• TOP 10 GAY NFL PLAYERS WHO ARE TLY INSPIRATNAL
• BRAD THORSON, FORMER LLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER AND NFL PROSPECT, OUT AS GAY

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league. When Kansas State offensive tackle and NFL hopeful Stt Frantz me out to the natn as gay last week, he shared that his teammat, to whom he'd e out earlier, had warmly received the news, a sign the most alpha of locker rooms may fally be ready for equaly.

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS GAY

Here's a list of players llege and pro ball who have proved you n be gay or bi and still n the KopayRunng back Dave Kopay, who signed wh the San Francis 49ers 1964, would play for five teams before hangg up his jersey 1972. Yet he nspicuoly has never been ducted to the NFL Hall of SimmonsRoy "Sugar Bear" Simmons, an offensive leman for the New York Giants and Washgton Redsks, beme the send NFL player ever to publicly reveal he was gay. So Coach Vce Lombardi knew McDonald was gay when he took over learship of the team 1969, but ma clear there would be no discrimatn his locker room, those close to the legend say.

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

He would e out to HBO Sports 2002, where he discsed lghg off gay jok and slurs for years while he played DavisCornerback Wa Davis, who played preason wh the Tennsee Tans, Seattle Seahawks and Washgton Redsks and spent two seasons wh NFL Europe teams Berl Thunr and Barcelona Dragons, me out as gay 2012, nearly a after his retirement. He did end up playg two years wh the Montreal Alouett, makg him the first openly gay player the history of the Canadian Football BryantA Purdue alum who gaed more yards than any other non-Heisman Trophy wner Big Ten history, Dorien Bryant failed to get drafted 2008. He would later move to San Francis and jo the Fog, a gay gby team, and pen a g-out blog post GallagherA Universy of Ptsburgh offensive leman om 1977 through 1979, Ed Gallagher reprsed his sexualy until 1985, when he had his first sexual enunter wh a man, then attempted to kill himself 12 days later.

He died LuhenA kicker for the Nebraska Cornhkers who played om 2003 through 2005, Eric Luhen told Outsports he was open about beg gay and suffered relentls bullyg om a handful of teammat. While he said he never kept his sexualy a secret, a "nspiracy of silence" left the matter unspoken the GendreA kicker for four seasons wh the Middle Tennsee Blue Rairs, Alan Gendre, openly gay om age 16 on, would end his llege reer as the lead srer Sun Belt nference history.

THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB

He ma the cisn to announce he was gay, the first active Divisn III player to do so, after nnectg wh Conner Mertens through You Can Play, he SarafArizona State leman Chris Saraf 2014 me out as gay to lol LGBT publitn Compete, makg him the first Divisn I player out of the closet. The move quickly brought msag of support om the athletic partment and universy officials, and the wrer for Compete told The Arizona Republic that the school fact approached him about breakg the SimsBrian Sims 2000 was named -pta for the Bloomsberg Universy football team Pennsylvania, makg him the first openly gay llege football pta NCAA history, acrdg to Outsports. Sims, post-football, entered polics and 2012 beme the first openly gay polician ever elected to the Pennsylvania Hoe of DarrowAn offensive leman for Prceton, Mason Darrow me out 2015.

He's now pursug a ont-office job profsnal JohnsonMy-Kg Johnson, a recent grad of Tempe High School Arizona, is set this fall to be the first openly gay scholarship player reced to play major-llege football, takg the field wh the Universy of Arizona. He said he wanted to enter his fal season of llege ball livg openly and hontly, and emailed the newspaper shortly after Kurdzlek, a iend and opponent on the field, me out PertetWyatt Pertet, a special teams player and receiver for Capal Universy, will be a sophomore this season.

7 GAY NFL FOOTBALL PLAYERS

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.

GAY FURRY HACKERS ARE TARGETG US STAT FOR PASSG ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATN

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.

8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY

" It was also published as an illtratn an undated (late Nov 2010) "Jealo Brothers" blog tled "Fantasy football is a wee b gay, no there's nothg wrong wh - 's a manly thg. “When I returned to football my sophomore year after g out was bee I knew that if I qu football was jt the begng of thgs I would qu or hold myself back om bee I was gay, ” Strer told Outsports. “To fast forward to my last football game my senr year and have end wh ‘NFL 360’ there to clu me a story celebratg the first openly gay football player NFL history is still really unbelievable to me.

Their experienc are universal, ways good and bad, for many LGBTQ people — Pick talkg about the pa om the ial rejectn by her mom; O’Callaghan discsg suicidal thoughts before beg rcued by a therapist; Rapoport’s touchg rellectn of g out to NFL Commissner Roger Gooll by approachg him at a Super Bowl event holdg her girliend’s hand and Gooll’s se upon seeg ; Saffold discsg growg up Black and gay on the South Si of Chigo “where there are rampant levels of homophobia” and Strer on how he ed to worry “about how bad my life might be after I me out.

IT WAS A SIMPLE TEAM PHOTO, BUT MEANT THE WORLD TO GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER

Soon his parents cid to send Harris away om his hometown for further tn to hi is homosexual his retirement om Amerin football, Kwame Harris 2013 publilly revealed of beg a homosexual an terview wh CNN. Then he arrived at a pattern of ty gray-and-blue lolm tile, thereby breakg the ultimate taboo men's team sports: an openly gay man showerg wh his NFL barrier that Sam strolled through June was long nsired an unbreakable cultural obstacle to acceptance for gay players, even a society which, acrdg to Gallup, 78 percent of people unr 30 support same-sex marriage. But this was unprecented an NFL locker room, our culture's ultimate temple of stky teammat strip down to their most vulnerable state, njur, for some, a range of emotns: their most awkward memori (middle school gym class), ept securi (size), purt symbolism (baptism) and most ignorant fense mechanisms (homophobia).

And if there's one universal certaty a sports shower, 's this: Everyone's The Magaze: Acceptg Openly Gay Football PlayersFormer Divisn III lebacker Stt Cooper talks about his acceptance the locker room as an openly gay football TEAMMATES SPEND at least 20 hours together the shower each season. "When former NFL rnerback Wa Davis, the executive director of the LGBT athlet' advocy group You Can Play, speaks to teams about tolerance si the locker room, he this very reference to break the ice: "Let's jt stop wh this ia that 'Oh, gay guys are lookg at everyone's penis, ' bee you straight guys -- adm -- you all know you're lookg too, " he tells his dience.

Some soclogists hypothize that one reason teams don't provi dividual showers is that the more privacy you provi, the easier is for behavr to late om homosocial to somethg sexual. Stanley Kubrick/SK Film Archiv/Mm of the Cy of New YorkAs a culture, we have always stggled to rencile the ia that such an timate, homoerotic rual is beg performed by men who epomize the culture's heterosexual ial.

GAY FOOTBALL STOCK PHOTOS AND IMAG

"A bunch of athletic men, all naked together, latherg themselv up and bondg a shower room -- I mean, that's the begng of a gay romance novel, " says Stt Cooper, a former lebacker for Augsburg College Mneapolis who 2013 officially me out to his teammat before his senr season. Case pot: One of the most popular ways of hazg NFL rooki the days is by repeatedly splashg them wh shampoo and liquid soap right as they step out of the shower, forcg them to go back si to rse all this time the sports world has been tryg to nvce that real men would never allow gay players a space as timate and sacred as the team the naked tth is, whether they realize or not, they won't let them The Mag on Twter (@ESPNmag) and like on ESPN Rear on Twter: @ESPN_RearJo the nversatn about "Nothg To See Here.

COULD THIS BE THE FIRST HARD OPENLY GAY DICK THE NFL?

SiegedSec, a self-scribed group of gay furry hackers, took s skills to state ernments late June, breachg agenci across five stat and releasg a wealth of stat targeted on June 27 were Texas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and South Carola.

So, many profsnal leagu, teams, and players are raisg their voic to fight back agast homophobia so that gay footballers don’t face backlash while g out.

15-year-old sophomore Jake Strer serly thought of qutg his Illois football team after beg outed, but he cid to embrace who he was and ma all the difference. And some people believe that his penis beme erect at this week's NFL Sutg Combe, that there is photographic evince of said openly gay erect penis, and that this is somehow a "nightmare" for the NFL. Perkz/@rlnassib/@rkrelentls)When Kansas State offensive tackle and NFL hopeful Stt Frantz me out to the natn as gay, he shared that his teammat (to whom he'd e out earlier) had warmly received the news, a sign the most alpha of locker rooms may fally be ready for equaly.

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

Cornerback Wa Davis, who played preason wh the Tennsee Tans, Seattle Seahawks and Washgton Redsks and spent two seasons wh NFL Europe teams Berl Thunr and Barcelona Dragons, me out as gay 2012, nearly a after his retirement. He later cled to sign wh the Tennsee Tans and Dallas Cowboys before g out as gay at 24, he told Philalphia Magaze revealed to the magaze that he'd dated a male cheerlear at Purdue who had threatened to out him then.

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

The Bachelor star and former football player (who was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted ee agent and was on the practice squad of the Oakland Rairs and the Philalphia Eagl) me out as gay April of 2021, sayg he had fally e to terms wh his sexualy and the "next step all of this was sort of lettg people know.

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

The Rairs leman ma NFL history durg Pri Month 2021 when he me out as gay a heartfelt Instagram post, beg the first active NFL player to e out as member of the LGBTQ+ muny. The Hampton Universy player ma history October of 2022 when he me out as gay an Instagram Story post, beg the first out gay football player at a Historilly Black College or Universy.

Atralian A-League soccer star Josh Cavallo me out as gay an October vio posted to his social media, beg hailed as the first current male top-flight profsnal soccer player to publicly do so. The 28-year-old Natnal Football League player and Rairs fensive leman ma history when he me out as gay on Instagram durg Pri Month, beg the first veteran NFL player to e out as gay while signed to a regular-season ntract. The Bachelor star and former football player (who was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted ee agent and was on the practice squad of the Oakland Rairs and the Philalphia Eagl) me out as gay April, sayg he had fally e to terms wh his sexualy and the "next step all of this was sort of lettg people know.

Corey Walsh, the 27-year-old pro BMX rir and Vans spokperson, said he isn't normally the type of person to "let people " on his personal life, but felt was important to e out as gay a March Instagram post bee "there are a lot of people still stgglg wh the same suatns" and he "jt wanted to let people know that they are not alone.

PHOTOS: NEW YORK GAY FOOTBALL LEAGUE BACHELOR AUCTN

Champn long track speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy never hid beg gay om his fay, iends, and fellow athlet, but he also wasn't one to rate his locker wh rabow Pri flags eher.

GAY ATHLETE G KENWORTHY AND BUTTS GALORE HIGHLIGHT ESPN BODY ISSUE

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. ”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.

TOP 10 GAY NFL PLAYERS WHO ARE TLY INSPIRATNAL

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. 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. ”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.

On Monday eveng, a few hours after the Las Vegas Rairs fensive leman Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as a gay man, Outsports, a webse voted to the tersectn of sports and LGBTQ issu, ntacted Dave Kopay for ment.

We watched Monday Night Football and discsed his experienc the league and his cur latter-day stat as a gay pneer who nohels led a workaday life as a floorg salman. Three years before that, upon wng an Osr for playg an AIDS-afflicted lawyer Jonathan Demme’s Philalphia, Tom Hanks livered a tearful speech which he sang the prais of his high-school drama ach, a gay man. That eveng and our later phone nversatns, Kopay sometim flashed anger, referrg to himself bterly as “lonely old me, Dave Kopay–the-gay-football-player.

BRAD THORSON, FORMER LLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER AND NFL PROSPECT, OUT AS GAY

But when I ntacted Greg Aiello, then the NFL’s director of munitns, about this possibily, he told me, “In general, the gay issue is not somethg that ncerns . While I was rearchg my Kopay article, I ught wd of a mor that a then-current NFL player was on the cp of intifyg himself as a gay man to a major reporter at ESPN.

” But for the time beg, Nassib’s announcement is a big al—the long-overdue assignment of a face and name to a gay man enjoyg a succsful reer the NFL right now. The most crge-ducg aspect of revisg my GQ article is seeg how dismissive I was when Kopay suggted that the NFL Players Associatn should issue a statement support of gay rights. The tone of his announcement, livered via Instagram vio, was almost offhand: “What’s up, people, I’m Carl Nassib […] I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay.

Hampton Universy rnerback Byron Perks, the first openly gay football player at a historilly Black universy, cid to show off his be to celebrate Pri Month. In a jubilant celebratn of thenticy and love, Byron Perks, the trailblazg openly gay football player at a historilly Black universy, proudly showsed his new partner.

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.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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.