Meet the 16 out gay and bi players NFL history - Outsports

Contents:

• BUCNEERS' CARL NASSIB, FIRST OPENLY GAY NFL STAR, SAYS 'I'M NOT HIDG'
• CARL NASSIB, FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYER NFL, RETURNG TO THE TAMPA BAY BUCNEERS
• FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER SIGNS WH NEW TEAM
• CARL NASSIB, NFL'S 1ST ACTIVE PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY, SET TO REJO BUCS: REPORTS
• MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER SIGNS NEW NTRACT WH TAMPA BAY
• 7 GAY NFL FOOTBALL PLAYERS

BUCNEERS' CARL NASSIB, FIRST OPENLY GAY NFL STAR, SAYS 'I'M NOT HIDG'

The Tampa Bay Bucneers signed fensive end Carl Nassib — pro football's first openly gay, active player — brgg him back to where he livered two of his most productive seasons, officials said, then of the Las Vegas Rairs, me out a ltle more than a year ago and ma one of the NFL's most memorable early season plays, sackg the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson and forcg a fumble a dramatic Monday Night Football victory for the Silver & will be Nassib’s seventh season the NFL and his send stt Tampa Bay, where he played 2018 and 2019, rerdg 6.

75 ln this season had he returned to Las signg by Tampa Bay uld be as ccial a moment the history of gay acceptance wh sports as Nassib's g out last year, acrdg to Cyd Zeigler, -founr of a team, pecially a high-profile Super Bowl ntenr like Tampa, to sign an openly gay player is "huge, " Ziegler wrote.

The acquisn shows that Nassib's on-the-field productn tmps any lgerg homophobia, acrdg to Ziegler, who ntend that "people claimg that men’s pro sports broadly hate gay athlet (and y, this is still a claim) simply have no leg to stand on. NFL star Carl Nassib is speakg ndidly a new terview about the impact of beg the first openly gay active player the league. My whole thg is, I'm a football player who is gay.

CARL NASSIB, FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYER NFL, RETURNG TO THE TAMPA BAY BUCNEERS

' Bee all anyone's gonna remember about me is that I'm gay, " he said of his thkg at the time. I don't choose every day to be gay.

And this rare terview — only his send sce g out — Nassib said the only reason he's talkg about beg gay is to ntue supportg the Trevor Project, a nonprof aimed at helpg LGBTQ youth wh suici preventn and crisis unselg.

FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER SIGNS WH NEW TEAM

Comg out publicly as a gay pro athlete tak a ton of urage.

It mandat the person — particularly a gay or bi male athlete — wele some form of attentn for sharg his te self, which uld at tim feel a b overwhelmg.

Given the very few publicly out gay pro athlet, n also create some feelg of lonels. They helped really start the nversatn about out gay athlet men’s pro sports.

CARL NASSIB, NFL'S 1ST ACTIVE PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY, SET TO REJO BUCS: REPORTS

This signg of Nassib feels like the begng of the fal chapter of that same nversatn, that after this move, people claimg that men’s pro sports broadly hate gay athlet (and y, this is still a claim) simply have no leg to stand on. As Fox Sports NFL wrer Henry McKenna told Alex Reimer on his Sports Kiki podst this week, while some people were ncerned that homophobia was the reason Nassib hadn’t yet signed wh a team, the wa was “not too unual for a guy who’s a former starter to not que have a al yet.

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

This news also jt a few days after another out gay profsnal athlete — Solomon Bat — signed wh the Sux Cy Explorers after g out. In a matter of the last five days, two different out gay profsnal athlet have signed wh different teams different stat different sports and different leagu. In other words: The are teams reprentg more-nservative areas who unrstand their players and fanbas will accept the gay athlet.

This also shatters all of the chatter I saw on social media om some rners of the LGBT muny claimg that the NFL and s anti-gay forc would prevent Nassib om every playg the league aga. Yet some LGBT people feel the need to clg to old stereotyp of athlet as they remember them gym class, teasg the gay kids. I’ve said for years that if a team n’t handle a gay athlete the locker room, they should fire their general manager and achg staff, and fd some new team ptas — It would be a failure of learship.

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

The Bucs signg Nassib sends a msage to every sgle gay athlete hopg to make profsnal sports that, y, if they n produce game-time suatns, they n be out and proud and have a reer, even for a team wh a real shot at the Super Bowl. And gay fans everywhere — and even LGBT people who uldn’t re ls about the NFL — have a powerful reason to cheer for the Bucs this season.

PREVIOUS: Mystery man Carl Nassib voted Bucs team pta He beme the first openly gay, active player the NFL. Last year, NFL fensive leman Carl Nassib ma league history by beg the first active player to e out as gay.

FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER SIGNS NEW NTRACT WH TAMPA BAY

Nassib ma history ahead of the 2021 season when he beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay June. Carl Nassib, who ma history last year by beg the NFL’s first active openly gay player, reportedly found a new team wh the start of the 2022 season ls than a month agreed to a one-year al wh the Tampa Bay Bucneers on Monday, acrdg to multiple reports.

5 sacks and 52 total ma history when he revealed to the world he was gay. Ryan Gaydos is a senr edor for Fox News Digal. The NFL has played for more than 100 years and there have been 16 gay or bi players to e out publicly.

7 GAY NFL FOOTBALL PLAYERS

16 and the first one to e out as gay while on an active roster.

Over the years, Outsports has known of a few other players who are gay but have never e out, even when retired.

The NFL Network produced a documentary on Smh beg gay. Jenks is gay and this was the the first time he wily discsed his sexual orientatn.