Kev Maxen be first male ach a US men’s pro sports league to publicly e out as gay | CNN

Contents:

• MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR MEN'S PRO SPORTS TO INTIFY AS GAY
• NFL ACH BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR U.S. MEN’S PRO SPORTS TO E OUT AS GAY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• BUCNEERS' CARL NASSIB, FIRST OPENLY GAY NFL STAR, SAYS 'I'M NOT HIDG'
• THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB
• THE 39 CURRENT NFL PLAYERS HAVE ALL PLAYED WH AN OUT GAY TEAMMATE
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST
• CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY N.F.L. PLAYER, HAS BEEN A FOOTBALL EVERYMAN
• BEFORE CARL NASSIB, MICHAEL SAM WAS THE NFL’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DRAFT PICK. HE NEVER PLAYED A REGULAR SEASON GAME.
• CARL NASSIB OF LAS VEGAS RAIRS ANNOUNC HE IS GAY, PLEDG $100,000 TO TREVOR PROJECT
• THERE HAVE BEEN 11 KNOWN GAY PLAYERS NFL HISTORY
• CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER, ULD BE TURNG POT FOR MALE SPORTS
• MICHAEL SAM, FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER, RETIR FOR MENTAL HEALTH REASONS

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

The NFL has played for more than 100 years and there have been 16 gay or bi players to e out publicly. Over the years, Outsports has known of a few other players who are gay but have never e out, even when retired. No NFL ach had ever publicly e out as gay, so Maxen, an assistant strength and ndng ach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, kept quiet about his sexual that ma him angry — at himself.

Former San Francis 49ers offensive assistant Katie Sowers beme the NFL’s first ach to e out as gay 2017.

Acrdg to the article, Maxen ma his cisn to do so last year and reached out for advice om Carl Nassib, who 2021 beme the NFL’s first out gay active player as a member of the Las Vegas was Nassib who put Maxen ntact wh Outsports. Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual. Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO 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.

In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that. “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer. The nned cktail is named after a lloquialism given to the popular mixed drk (vodka and soda) orred at bars by the gay muny.

“Puttg a product wh the word gay the tle is reprentatn self,” which he hop reclaims the word om the negativy ’s sometim associated wh. He thought of creatg Gay Water about a year ago while on a vatn wh his iend that had got a job wh the beverage dtry. The two chatted about the limed amount of gay people wh , and wh Hodson burnt out om his tradnal day job tech, started the nned cktail.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR MEN'S PRO SPORTS TO INTIFY AS GAY

Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water. “Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”.

For now, Gay Water is sold largely onle (wh a few retailers) and four sugar-ee flavors — watermelon, lime, peach and grapeu — at lnch. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN. “There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said.

Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space. NFL star Carl Nassib is speakg ndidly a new terview about the impact of beg the first openly gay active player the league. ' Bee all anyone's gonna remember about me is that I'm gay, " he said of his thkg at the time.

NFL ACH BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR U.S. MEN’S PRO SPORTS TO E OUT AS 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.

Matea offensive leman Jake Strer, who is gay, is one of five current or former LGBTQ athlet profiled.

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

“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. EST, we see scen of Strer’s last game as a Matea Mtang, terspersed wh him speakg about beg gay football and what Nassib’s g out meant to him.

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

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. “I thk 11- or 12-year-old kids playg football prr to Carl Nassib g out didn’t thk there uld be a gay football player, ” Rapoport said.

THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB

Some people still believe that the NFL is a “homophobic” monolh where ’s “dangero” to be gay. Dpe Outsports chroniclg lerally dozens of piec of evince to the ntrary, there’s a ntued belief amongst some that NFL players would overwhelmgly reject a gay player if he me out. So we set out to figure out how many current NFL players have already played on the same team wh an out gay teammate.

We found 39 current NFL players, who were on a roster for the 2020 season, who have already had an out gay teammate. The 39 current NFL players have played wh at least five gay or bisexual men who were out to their team while they were on the same team.

At least six of the players on the Cardals’ 2020 roster — about 10% of the team, — has already had a gay teammate they knew of.

THE 39 CURRENT NFL PLAYERS HAVE ALL PLAYED WH AN OUT GAY TEAMMATE

Wh that experience, solid veteran learship, a ach Kliff Kgsbury who has ld gay football player Stt Frantz, and a ont office that has monstrated an embrace of LGBTQ people, is easy to make the se that an out gay player wh the Cardals would be weled. The are the current NFL players to have played wh an out gay or bi man on their team (wh that team and their current team listed):. If you thk I’ve missed a current NFL player who’s played wh an out gay or bi teammate, be sure to leave the rmatn the ments below.

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 jt want to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay, ” Nassib said a vio posted to his Instagram acunt.

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

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. “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.

CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY N.F.L. PLAYER, HAS BEEN A FOOTBALL EVERYMAN

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. Players had prevly announced publicly that they were gay, but all after their playg reers were over.

David Kopay beme the first pro football player to publicly e out as gay 1975, three years after he retired.

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. Simmons also said he never would have clared himself gay durg the four seasons he played for the N.

BEFORE CARL NASSIB, MICHAEL SAM WAS THE NFL’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DRAFT PICK. HE NEVER PLAYED A REGULAR SEASON GAME.

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

Players like Brendon Ayanbajo, who played wh the Baltimore Ravens, fend same-sex marriage and gay rights and supported Sam at the time. Otherwise, we create a pattern of celebratg an athlete’s bravery while also cuttg their reer off at the exampl offer utnary Michael Sam told the world he was gay, he was drafted the seventh round 2014, the lowt pick of any SEC fensive player of the year. Dpe reachg out several tim, I haven’t spoken to my sports agent aga to this 2021, Carl beme the first NFL player on an active roster to e out as gay.

He om a football fay, was a standout at Penn State and has tght his teammat about personal Miller/Getty ImagPublished June 22, 2021Updated June 25, 2021Las Vegas Rairs fensive leman Carl Nassib walked outsi his home Wt Chter, Pa., looked directly to his phone and did somethg that he said he hoped would one day no longer be a few brief sentenc, the 28-year-old Nassib me out as gay. Conversatns wh iends and fay ma possible, he said, for him to publicly say that he is gay. L., his ach and his peers the league for their rpect and acceptance, and acknowledged that many gay people before him did not receive that same support.

CARL NASSIB OF LAS VEGAS RAIRS ANNOUNC HE IS GAY, PLEDG $100,000 TO TREVOR PROJECT

Seven years before Las Vegas Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay on Monday, an all-Amerin om the Universy of Missouri risked a promisg reer wh a public claratn. “I am an openly proud gay man, ” Michael Sam, a 24-year-old fensive end, told ESPN and the New York Tim Febary announcement followed a surprisg 12-2 season for Missouri, which won the SEC East and then the Cotton Bowl as Sam was named the SEC fensive player of the year. On Tuday, Sam thanked Nassib for jog the ranks of LGBTQ football players, payg special tribute to the donatn Nassib ma to the Trevor Project, a nonprof foced on suici Vegas Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib announced June 21 on Instagram that he is gay, makg him the first active NFL player to e out.

The NFL particular had faced cricism for allegedly askg prospects about their sexual orientatn and had been acced of hamperg players who spoke out favor of gay many profsnal athlet around the world, cludg several retired NFL players, had e out by 2014, no one who was still playg football had dared to make that move before story rurfaced on Monday when the 28-year-old Nassib, who was drafted by the Cleveland Browns 2016 and now plays for the Rairs, announced that he is gay a vio on Instagram.

THERE HAVE BEEN 11 KNOWN GAY PLAYERS NFL HISTORY

“Here’s the tth: Everyone ow Michael Sam such a b of gratu, ” Wa Davis, a former NFL rnerback who me out as gay 2012, told The Washgton Post on Monday.

He wasn’t the only gay man who stggled to fd a place the NFL after g retired NFL players have publicly intified as gay, begng wh Dave Kopay, who me out 1975, three years after leavg the sport. He me to natnal attentn as a star of the Browns' "Hard Knocks" appearance 2018, givg fancial advice to teammat and offerg his take on the existence of Missouri lebacker Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted NFL history 2014, when the Rams took him 249th overall. The announcement today by former Patrts and Chiefs offensive leman Ryan O'Callaghan that he is gay brgs to seven the number of NFL known gay players NFL history who have played a regular season game.

In addn, four other players who me out as gay were NFL trag mps, some playg preason gam. Legendary Packers and Redsks ach Vce Lombardi — who had an openly gay brother — knew that some of his players were gay.

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

In the Outsports article on O’Callaghan g out, longtime NFL executive Stt Pli says he has unseled gay NFL players before.

“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. Currently, there is only one openly gay player on a profsnal men’s team the “big five” Amerin sports: Soccer player Coll Mart of the USL Champnship League (Mart me out 2018 as a member of Major League Soccer’s Mnota Uned) NFL has existed for 101 years, and that time, there has never been a player on an active NFL roster who has publicly acknowledged his gayns.

MICHAEL SAM, FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER, RETIR FOR MENTAL HEALTH REASONS

In 2014, Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team, when the St. (In 2015, he beme the first openly gay player the Canadian Football League when he spent a season wh the Montreal Alouett. To be a gay man is to face beg stereotyped as weak or effemate — the oppose of what a football player, or an athlete, is “supposed” to be.

” Davis remembers spendg $1, 500 at a strip club an attempt to nceal the fact that he was gay om his spe society’s evolvg attus, the sports world seems to be movg far slower to mornize and stigmatize.

“I thk ’s safe to say there’s at least one on every team who is eher gay or bisexual, ” O’Callaghan speculated 2019.