Jaguars Associate Strength Coach Kev Maxen Com Out As Gay In A First For U.S.-Based Pro Leagu | HuffPost Sports

Contents:

• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN FIRST MALE PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• 'PRO-GAY, ANTI-MANLY' FOOTY JERSEY GO UP FOR SALE IN RPONSE TO PRI BOYTTERS
• ONLY OPENLY-GAY PROFSNAL RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYER SPEAKS OUT ON MANLY JERSEY CONTROVERSY
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH COACH COM OUT AS GAY IN A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• MANLY SEA EAGL PRI JERSEY: GAY CLUB LEGEND IAN ROBERTS SAYS DISPUTE IS 'SAD AND UNFORTABLE'

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

”Ian Roberts, the former Manly player who 1995 as a Sea Eagle beme the first NRL player to publicly e out as gay, said he was “heartbroken” at the suatn but later weled the club’s apology. He wasn’t the first gay man to play gby league – I’ll give the tip – he was the first to have urage to e out and pave the way for others to do so.

In 1995, Ian Roberts beme the first gby league player to e out as gay. As an olr gay man, this isn’t unfaiar.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN FIRST MALE PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

The top eight teams qualify for the was the only club planng to wear a pri jersey this Manly forward Ian Roberts, who the 1990s was the first high-profile gby league player to e out as gay, said he was not surprised by the players’ cisn.

'PRO-GAY, ANTI-MANLY' FOOTY JERSEY GO UP FOR SALE IN RPONSE TO PRI BOYTTERS

“As an olr gay man I’m ed to this. Pic: Manly DigalSource: SuppliedMORE NRL NEWSBLOG WITH HOOPS: NRL nng out of sp after Tigers shamblEXPLAINED: The NRL’s exce for Tigers robbery and why no one is buyg TALKING POINTS: Legend won’t ‘sugar-at’ Knights ms; Walsh ‘BS’ torchedFormer NRL star Israel Fol was sacked by Rugby Atralia 2019 after he put a homophobic post on social Kent said this ntroversy suatn has arisen by no flt of the players.

“The Manly jersey is there for everybody to wear, there is no prejudice or bias agast anyone and Ian Roberts showed that 25 years ago when he me out as a gay man and wore the Manly jersey. -- 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. LGBTQIA+ reprentatn men's sportAlthough roughly one 25 Atralians intify as part of the LGBTQIA+ muny, there are currently no openly gay male players the NRL, a group that totals more than 500 people across 17 is not unique to gby league: Atralia's top five domtic men's petns – the AFL, NRL, Big Bash, A-League Men and NBL – jt one active player, Josh Cavallo of Alai Uned, is openly trend extends to men's sports leagu elsewhere the world, wh only a handful of current athlet such as Carl Nassib of the Las Vegas Rairs and Le Prokop of the Nashville Predators open about their sexuali.

ONLY OPENLY-GAY PROFSNAL RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYER SPEAKS OUT ON MANLY JERSEY CONTROVERSY

They stem om cultur of hyper-masculy sport, the normalisatn of genr rol, the equent e of homophobic and sexist language as part of locker-room banter and abe, and the relatnship between sport, power, and vlence; thgs that affect all levels of the pyramid and rult a signifint drop-out rate of LGBTQIA+ men and boys om arth of reprentatn explas why former Manly player Ian Roberts – the first and currently only male NRL player to e out durg their reer – has been the loust LGBTQIA+ voice this past week, spe the fact he retired more than two s NRL have bee more active the LGBTQIA+ space recent years, cludg enterg a float to Mardi Gras, beg a participant the Pri In Sport Inx, updatg their Incln Framework to reflect var sexuali and genr inti, and offerg tn ssns for ele and muny players around batg homophobia. Incln starts om whAt the heart of the problem is the disnnect between public statements of cln and the work that is done behd the scen to make cln part of an anisatn's everyday Erik Denison, the head rearcher of the Sport Incln Project at Monash Universy and lead thor of Out On The Fields, the first and largt ternatnal study on homophobia sports, the first warng-sign that Manly was foced more on optics than on genue cultural change was that the club had not nsulted s own players the lead-up to the release.

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

"That's how we undo problems around homophobia, sexism, racism, and all kds of difference. "Pri gam were vented 20 years ago to raise awarens of homophobic discrimatn sport that is harmful or exclnary, " Dr Denison said. Denison's own work has found clubs that hold Pri gam see a noticeable rctn homophobic language – so long as the game is acpanied by genue, player-led dialogue amongst participants – bee they dispt eper cultur that normalise discrimatory attus and behavurs wh sport.

"There's such strong evince that boys and men who e homophobic and sexist language and badgerg and are immersed sexist cultur are six tim [more likely] to rape a woman three years later, " Denison said.

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

So when you ll someone a 'fag' or a 'poof', that has nothg to do wh the person beg gay: has to do wh them beg a failed man and not livg up to the standards of masculy. "Two separate studi found that clubs that hold pri gam e about 50 per cent ls homophobic language and around 30 per cent ls sexist language than those that don't.

"But the biggt lson that sport n take om the Manly saga is that celebratg cln n only occur after the difficult, time-nsumg, and rource-heavy work behd the scen that engag wh the very same people who mata cultur, stctur, and norms that are exclnary and unsafe for margalised don't jt volve one-off iativ, but ongog nversatns amongst all people (pecially men)  sport that unpacks and criqu the var tersectg cultural forc like masculy, genr rol, homophobia, and vlence that n manift discrimatn towards mory groups everyday while the club's tentns were admirable, the way Manly went about cln – g as an exercise optics and marketg stead of a genue sire to change the sport's culture – ultimately did more harm than nnot simply slap a rabow on a jersey and expect cln to follow. Gay, Bi, Straight, Trans, and all male intifyg are wele.

MANLY SEA EAGL PRI JERSEY: GAY CLUB LEGEND IAN ROBERTS SAYS DISPUTE IS 'SAD AND UNFORTABLE'

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. A 'Pro-Gay, Anti-Manly' footy jersey has been released rponse to the seven Sea Eagl players who refed to wear the club's rabow pri strip. Popular Asie satire page The Betoota Advote are the people behd the new shirt self is all whe and featur rabow trimmgs – jt like Manly's 'Everyone League' the very ont of the k reads the words 'Pro Gay, Anti-Manly' big, bold announce that the shirt was on sale, The Betoota Advote ma a post Instagram, sayg: "LET’S GOOOOOOO!

Roberts is the only male profsnal gby league star history to e out as gay and he adms the players' refal to wear the rabow-loured 'Everyone League' strip uld impact the wir LGBTQIA+ muny.

“This is very personal to me as an olr gay person, bee I’ve lost iends to suici, ” Roberts said.