Jaguars associate strength ach out as gay a first for US-based pro leagu

Jaguars assistant Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's pro sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer. * gay athletes who have come out *

In a September terview wh USA Today, 25-year-old mor league baseball player beme the only active baseball profsnal to be out as gay! 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.

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

Kev Maxen, an associate strength ach wh the Jacksonville Jaguars, has bee the first male ach a major U.S.-based profsnal league to e out as gay. * gay athletes who have come out *

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. Hiltz had prevly e out as gay while llege and has been a visible and affirmg prence for gay athlet the past.

THERE ARE VAR PERSONAL REASONS MORE GAY MALE PRO ATHLET HAVE NOT E OUT. HERE ARE 7 OF THEM

Jacksonville Jaguars associate strength ach Kev Maxen has e out as gay. His announcement is a first for a male ach a major U.S.-based profsnal league. * gay athletes who have come out *

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.

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. He ially feared negative stereotyp about gay male athlet but threw those ncerns asi after his two-tle performance at the U.

CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY

Sayg he no longer wanted "to feel like I have to lie" about who he is, Jacksonville Jaguars associate strength ach Kev Maxen me out publicly as gay on Thursday * gay athletes who have come out *

In June 2021, NFL fensive end Carl Nassib me out as gay a vio posted to his Instagram, addg he donated $100, 000 to The Trevor Project, an anizatn that foc on suici preventn LGBTQ youth after he stggled wh his sexualy for 15 years. "Sce Febary and my big announcement, this has been a whole [lot of] speculatn of the first openly gay football player, but you know what?

The athlete quickly ma a name for herself a seri of TV terviews, where she voiced her support of women's rights and LGBTQ rights as an openly gay woman. "I thk female athlet, general, are at the foreont of every prott general bee we're gay, we're women, we're women of lor, we're sort of everythg all at one time, " Rapoe told NBC news 2019.

The thgs you hear as a child—every time you hear someone say 'f----t' or talk bad about a gay guy, or see somethg on TV and make fun of that. " He scribed hidg his sexualy while playg for the Utah Jazz, but said some teammat who spected he was gay were welg about a 2007 terview on "Outsi the L, " Amaechi, who played five seasons the NBA, said he thought there were other gay players the league, but said 's "terrifyg" for some to e out. '"But a few months later, he joed the Los Angel Galaxy team and beme the first openly gay man to play a major US profsnal league.

JAGUARS STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY

Jacksonville Jaguars associate strength ach Kev Maxen jt me out as gay. * gay athletes who have come out *

I showed jt bee I'm gay don't make me any different or ls of a person, " Denson told the Milwkee Journal Sentel 2017. "One time, I was the fourth gra and somebody said, 'Oh, bee you skate, you're gay, '" Rippon told Today 2019. Greg Louganis won four gold medals and one silver medal at three Olympic Gam om 1976 to 1988 as a diver, but wasn't until 1994 that he me out as gay.

""If I n show that I'm out and I'm fe, then hopefully the younger generatn will feel the same way, " Grer said the same year, Grer recieved a multi-ln dollar al om Nike, and beme the first openly gay basketball player endorsed by the brand, acrdg to The married her wife, Cherelle, 2019.

JAGUARS STRENGTH COACH KEV MAXEN COM OUT AS GAY

Even before Jason Colls, plenty of other athlet around the world have e out as gay, eher while still active or retirement. From Marta Navratilova to Greg Louganis to Sheryl Swoop, men and women om a variety of sports have openly acknowledged their sexualy, though many others are believed to still be reluctant to e forward. Colls, a 34-year-old NBA veteran, beme the first active player the four major Amerin profsnal sports to e out as gay, wrg a first-person acunt posted on Sports Illtrated's webse Monday. Colls has played for six teams 12 seasons, cludg this past season wh the Washgton Wizards, and is now a ee agent. "It is hugely powerful when any dividual the sports world, wherever they e om the world, feels able to e out," said Ruth Hunt, puty chief executive of the Brish gay rights anizatn Stonewall. "The fact that this is a current player adds to the strength of his statement." Prevly, some pro sports athlet waed until after qutg to say they were gay, cludg former NBA player John Amaechi and former NFL nng back Dave Kopay. English soccer player Jt Fashanu mted suici 1998, eight years after g out durg his playg reer. Amaechi, a center who played five seasons wh four teams, beme the first NBA player to publicly e out 2007, three years after the Englishman's playg reer was over. He said Colls spoke wh him before cidg to e out and lled his cisn "ground-breakg" and one that uld enurage other gay athlet to follow su. "I'm gettg tons of msag right now om people talkg to me about him, about what he's done," Amaechi told The Associated Prs. "I've spoken to a uple of llege athlet the Stat and a uple of high school athlet who are very good who have been immensely buoyed by this news. "They feel a weight lifted off them even if they aren't out and they aren't gog to e out at this pot." Sports leagu Bra and elsewhere Europe have been tryg to bat anti-gay bias. But the taboo remas particularly strong soccer, where there are no openly gay players Europe's top leagu. Homophobic chants still occur at some gam. "Football is not gog to change," Amaechi said. "If wanted to change would change. It has the rourc to do so. It don't want to change." Amaechi said he has been touch wh soccer players, cludg the English Premier League, who are gay but are not ready to go public. "Many of them are out already," he said. "They are out the way that most people are out that people they love and that people who re about them know that they are gay. But random strangers don't know that they are gay." Fashanu remas the only top-level Brish soccer player to have e out publicly, acknowledgg he was gay 1990. The former Nottgham Fort and Norwich Cy striker was found hanged a London garage at age 37. Acrdg to an qut, Fashanu left a note sayg, bee he was gay, he feared he wouldn't get a fair trial the Uned Stat on sexual asslt charg. Maryland police were seekg him on charg that he sexually asslted a 17-year-old boy after a party at his apartment. Robbie Rogers, a former U.S. natnal team player who played for Leeds England's send-tier divisn last season, went public Febary that he was gay, sayg on his personal webse that "I realized I uld only tly enjoy my life once I was hont." He also said he was retirg om the sport. Anti-gay sentiment soccer has been exprsed different ways. Last year, Italy forward Anton Cassano said he hoped there were no homosexual players on the natnal team and ed a rogatory word to scribe gays. Fans of two-time fendg Rsian champn Zen St. Petersburg signed a petn sayg gay players were "unworthy of our great cy." Marcello Lippi, Italy's World Cup wng manager, ed a stir 2009 when he said he had never e across a gay player and would advise gay players to stay the closet. "The NBA is light years ahead of football, there is no doubt about that," Amaechi said. In the U.S., Kopay, who played for five NFL teams over 10 years, was the first pro athlete to acknowledge his homosexualy publicly when he me out 1977 after retirg, and wrote a book about . Four-time divg gold medalist Louganis revealed he was gay 1994, a year before announcg he was also HIV-posive. Swoop, a WNBA star and three-time Olympic gold medalist, disclosed 2005 that she was gay. In tennis, women's greats Navratilova and Billie Jean Kg me out about their sexualy. Former French player Amelie Mrmo also spoke about her sexual orientatn. U.S. soccer star Megan Rapoe me out before she played last year's London Olympics. WNBA star Seimone Augt and the league's No. 1 draft pick, Brtney Grer, are some of the more recent female athlet to follow su. Glenn Burke, an outfielr for the Los Angel Dodgers and the Oakland A's the 1970s, and Billy Bean, a utily player the 1980s and 1990s, disclosed they were gay after retirg. Burke died of plitns due to AIDS 1995. Gareth Thomas, a Welsh gby star, attracted wispread media attentn 2009 when he announced he was gay; he played until he retired 2011. "I was like a tickg bomb. I thought I uld supprs , keep locked away some dark rner of myself, but I uldn't. It was who I was, and I jt uldn't ignore any more. I'd been through every emotn unr the sun tryg to al wh this," Thomas said a recent documentary broadst on Brish televisn. Orlando Cz of Puerto Ri me out October as pro boxg's first openly gay fighter, sayg, "I don't want to hi any of my inti. I want people to look at me for the human beg I am." Canadian swimmer Mark Tewksbury me out as gay six years after wng a gold medal the backstroke at the 1992 Barcelona Gam. Former Olympic skig gold medalist Anja Paerson of Swen announced last year after her retirement that she was a long-term relatnship wh a woman. Atralian diver Matthew Mcham me out as gay before he won the men's 10-meter platform gold medal at the 2008 Beijg Olympics. __ AP Sports Wrer Rob Harris London ntributed to this report. * gay athletes who have come out *

-- 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. Gay, lbian, bisexual, trans and queer soccer players who are publicly out — now at least 95 total — make up almost 13% of all the athlet petg the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Atralia and New Zealand, Outsports has found. 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 ATHLET HAVE E OUT WHILE ACTIVE OR RETIRED

Thanks to the proment athlet who are gay, the sports world is beg more and more acceptg of homosexual players. Whether the famo Olympians, ... * gay athletes who have come out *

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.

ATHLET WHO ARE GAY

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. Almost a ago, when Robbie Rogers, Jason Colls and Michael Sam all me out publicly three different pro sports leagu wh a year, I was nvced that there would then be a stream of gay and bi pro athlet who followed su and me out publicly.

Now 2022 we have Carl Nassib out on a new team the NFL, Solomon Bat out on a new team mor league baseball, Le Prokop as an NHL prospect, Coll Mart the USL Champnship, and a few other gay guys playg pro sports while publicly out other untri. Over the years reportg at Outsports about gay athlet, there has been one most-mon qutn I’ve heard the most often, and ’s picked up steam over the last year: Are we on the precipice of a slew of gay and bi men g out pro sports and changg the game? I’ve spoken to straight and gay athlet om var generatns — Michael Irv, Chris Kluwe, O’Callaghan, Trenton Thompson — and they’ve each told me that yeah, you’d hear some homophobic stuff high school, but by the time guys enter the ranks of profsnal sports, that’s mostly gone (though Kluwe had choice words and a lawsu for one ach).

Send, while homophobic and anti-gay slurs may be rare as athlet elevate to high-level llege and pro sports, nversatns about women still abound.

WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS

While gay pro baseball player Bryan Ruby has wrten about athlet askg him about his relatnship, I’m not gog to profs that every locker room is que there yet. Still, the weight of agents’ voic is huge, and I know for a fact some agents suggt gay athlet stay the closet. For years I’ve assumed that the percentage of gay men society at large — around 3-4% — is the same as profsnal sports.

Playg out my theory on the other si of sports, men’s ele leagu are domated by straight guys bee so many of the gay and bi athlet have cid to foc on another votn before they get here.

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