Before Carl Nassib, Michael Sam was the NFL’s first openly gay draft pick - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• RUDY GAY EXPECTED TO DRAW TERT OM WARRRS, LAKERS, MAVERICKS, BULLS, PELINS
• JEFF ROHRER — RETIRED DALLAS COWBOYS LEBACKER — COM OUT AS GAY, REVEALS HE'S GETTG MARRIED
• THE DALLAS COWBOYS’ LONG GAY & BI HISTORY: 3 OUT ATHLET, SOME GLORY HOLE, A GAY DATG SE & MORE
• GAY FORMER DALLAS PLAYER JEFF ROHRER AND HIS HBAND WELED AT COWBOYS RNN
• GAY FORMER DALLAS COWBOY JEFF ROHRER IS MARRYG HIS BOYIEND THIS SUNDAY
• JEFF ROHRER — RETIRED DALLAS COWBOYS LEBACKER — COM OUT AS GAY, REVEALS HE'S GETTG MARRIED
• BEFORE CARL NASSIB, MICHAEL SAM WAS THE NFL’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DRAFT PICK. HE NEVER PLAYED A REGULAR SEASON GAME.
• FORMER COWBOYS LEBACKER OUT AS GAY, ANNOUNC WEDDG
• TONY CASILLAS: I PLAYED WH GAY DALLAS COWBOYS PLAYERS THE '90S
• REMEMBERG MICHAEL SAM'S NFL, CFL REER AFTER RAIRS' CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE'S GAY
• 'THE NFL NEED THIS': HOW CARL NASSIB'S G OUT AS GAY N CHANGE FOOTBALL AND SOCIETY
• THROUGH THE YEARS: DALLAS' GAY CULTURE
• MICHAEL SAM, FIRST OPENLY GAY NFL PLAYER, CUT OM DALLAS COWBOYS
• CARL NASSIB OF LAS VEGAS RAIRS ANNOUNC HE IS GAY, PLEDG $100,000 TO TREVOR PROJECT
• THE 39 CURRENT NFL PLAYERS HAVE ALL PLAYED WH AN OUT GAY TEAMMATE

RUDY GAY EXPECTED TO DRAW TERT OM WARRRS, LAKERS, MAVERICKS, BULLS, PELINS

Veteran forward Rudy Gay is expected to draw tert om several playoff-liber teams, cludg the Goln State Warrrs, Los Angel Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Chigo Bulls, and New Orleans Pelins, league sourc told Michael Stto @ HoopsHype. Reportg on tra talks surroundg Jam Harn and how they uld affect Joel Embiid and PJ Tucker, not on the Lakers, Warrrs, Bucks, and Mavericks, pl ee agency updat on Rudy Gay, Edmond Sumner, and more on @hoopshype.

Rudy Gay is the first of several roster partur the Thunr will need to make (via @The_ThunrWire):.

The Oklahoma Cy Thunr has signed forward Jack Whe to a multi-year ntract and waived forward Rudy Gay, was announced today by Executive Vice Print and General Manager Sam Prti.

JEFF ROHRER — RETIRED DALLAS COWBOYS LEBACKER — COM OUT AS GAY, REVEALS HE'S GETTG MARRIED

Shams Charania: The Oklahoma Cy Thunr have waived Rudy Gay, sourc tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

In a st-cuttg move, the Atlanta Hawks are tradg guard TyTy Washgton Jr., and forwards Usman Gaba, Rudy Gay and a future send-round pick to the Oklahoma Cy Thunr for Patty Mills, sourc told ESPN on Saturday. Retired NFL lebacker Jeff Rohrer is gay and set to bee the first former or current NFL player a same-sex marriage, he revealed a new terview published on Wednday. Said Rohrer, “If I had told the Dallas Cowboys the 1980s that I was gay, I would have been cut immediately.

THE DALLAS COWBOYS’ LONG GAY & BI HISTORY: 3 OUT ATHLET, SOME GLORY HOLE, A GAY DATG SE & MORE

He told the Tim, “People are born gay, as I was, though beg gay was jt somethg that had no place durg the urse of my football life. To be sure, the Bucs have their own history wh the LGBTQ muny, namely a really gay former logo, a tight end Rob Gronkowski who’s profsed his love for the gays, and the last team RK Rsell played for a regular-season game before g out. Yet the Cowboys have a ep, rich history wh gay athlet and the LGBTQ muny that we want to highlight head to the NFL season kickoff.

GAY FORMER DALLAS PLAYER JEFF ROHRER AND HIS HBAND WELED AT COWBOYS RNN

Durg his time wh the team, owner Jerry Jon said him beg gay is “a ad issue.

It’s no secret that gay mors have swirled for years around quarterback-turned-TV-mentator Troy Aikman. Aikman threw fuel on the fire 2015 when he sentially said that he’s chosen to not date men, claimg that beg gay is “a liftyle people choose. Years before the legalizatn of same-sex marriage or Michael Sam g out, “The Playmaker” Michael Irv talked about his love for his gay brother and his acceptance of same-sex marriage eply powerful ways.

Then-Cowboys top receiver Dez Bryant talked about his mother beg gay 2010, sayg that he had stggled wh but had eventually e around to beg “fortable” wh .

GAY FORMER DALLAS COWBOY JEFF ROHRER IS MARRYG HIS BOYIEND THIS SUNDAY

When the URL was up for ctn about 15 years ago, some people who wanted to create a gay datg se won the bid. For a uple of years, one of Outsports most-trafficked stori was a post about two gay Cowboys fans beg highlighted by ESPN. Jeff Rohrer didn’t thk he uld e out as gay to his Dallas Cowboys teammat the 1980s.

Now the former Cowboys lebacker, who me out as gay and married his hband a few years ago, knows his former teammat accept him and his hband for who they are. Gay former Yale football player Jeff Rohrer attends the Yale-Harvard game wh his hband, Joshua Ross. Other former Cowboys have publicly exprsed their support for gay rights, cludg Hall of Famer Michael Irv.

JEFF ROHRER — RETIRED DALLAS COWBOYS LEBACKER — COM OUT AS GAY, REVEALS HE'S GETTG MARRIED

It’s powerful to see the NFL club emed “Ameri’s team” so posively support a gay former player. While perceptns of homophobia the NFL persist, the current and former players are monstratg the league is welg.

”The kdns of my iends and my fay and my teammat” he said, his voice tremblg, psg between words, dog everythg he uld to exprs the sudn joy that enveloped his new gay life. He had never, while he was playg the NFL for the Cowboys or at any pot durg his marriage to his wife, dated men, had a boyiend or had any kd of gay experience. For an after-work cktail at the popular gay Wt Hollywood waterg hole, Tortilla Republic.

“My experience is that people are born gay, and anyone who wants to dispute that I’d be happy to have a nversatn wh them, cludg Mike Pence.

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

At least at this pot our society, toughns is not associated wh the gay muny. Dpe the perceptn, Rohrer isn’t sure he ever heard a gay slur the Cowboys locker room. In that nversatn The Playmaker said he believed that if a teammate had e out as gay to the rt of the Cowboys the 1990s, they would have accepted him and moved on.

Whether or not there were gay slurs thrown around the locker room, there is a machismo virtually every football locker room that seems to send an unspoken msage exudg heterosexism. In the 1970s we know that multiple Washgton football players – Dave Kopay, Jerry Smh, Ray McDonald – were gay, and that some of their teammat knew about them. Var Hoton Oilers om the early 1990s have spoken publicly about knowg or assumg that at least two of their teammat were gay.

At a time when acceptance of gay people is at an all-time high, there are still rners of our culture where homophobia ns rampant. Beyond fdg a happs he never thought possible for himself, he now has the opportuny to break to the dark rners of that culture where anti-gay sentiment fters.

FORMER COWBOYS LEBACKER OUT AS GAY, ANNOUNC WEDDG

If was hard to not like him when he was straight and married to a woman, for those very same people will now be hard to not like him now that he’s gay and marryg a man. Until jt this year he uldn’t get his head around the ia that this extend fay would ever accept him as a gay man.

Retired NFL lebacker Jeff Rohrer is gay and set to bee the first former or current NFL player a same-sex marriage, he revealed a new terview published on the New York Tim story, Rohrer, 59, opened up about his sexualy for the first time. Followg his ex om the NFL, Rohrer pursued his passn for visual art and currently works Rohrer, “If I had told the Dallas Cowboys the 1980s that I was gay, I would have been cut immediately. RELATED: Football Player wh One Hand Hop to Make History the NFL DraftHe told the Tim, “People are born gay, as I was, though beg gay was jt somethg that had no place durg the urse of my football life.

TONY CASILLAS: I PLAYED WH GAY DALLAS COWBOYS PLAYERS THE '90S

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.

REMEMBERG MICHAEL SAM'S NFL, CFL REER AFTER RAIRS' CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE'S GAY

“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. Jeff Rohrer, a former Dallas Cowboys lebacker, me out as gay Wednday an terview The New York Tim.

“If I had told the Dallas Cowboys the 1980s that I was gay, I would have been cut immediately, ” Rohrer told the Tim. ”Rohrer jos a very small club of former NFL players who have e out as gay.

3 FM The Fan the sprg of 2013 to talk about the NBA's Jason Colls g out as gay. Here are some highlights om the terview:On playg wh a gay player when he was on the Cowboys:“I know that I played wh homosexual players and I knew this when I was playg. … There’s a stat that shows one out of so many guys are homosexual, I had no problem wh that bee I knew that.

'THE NFL NEED THIS': HOW CARL NASSIB'S G OUT AS GAY N CHANGE FOOTBALL AND SOCIETY

Another thg, ’s like if you’re black and I’m Hispanic, ’s OK to go the locker room and make fun of a guy if he’s Hispanic but if he’s a homosexual you jt don’t go there. ”On why guys he played wh who were gay and teammat knew didn't e out:CowboysBe the smartt Cowboys fan. … Let’s a ont le player, like someone that is a anchise player out and says he’s gay.

In all actualy might help him bee ’s a weight that’s lifted off his whether he thought teammat he knew were gay were affected on the field due to havg to hi their sexualy:“I didn’t even thk about that. ”On whether beg OK wh a gay player is the popular opn the NFL or not: “I guarantee you, if you did a poll, anonymo throughout the NFL or any sport I would be surprised if didn’t favor players not rg the sexualy of their guys beg gay. On Monday night, Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay, but that raised a key qutn among some NFL fans.

So, long story short, Sam was the first openly gay player to be drafted to the NFL. Nassib is the first active NFL player — who has been on a 53-man roster, has played durg the regular season and is still playg — to e out as gay. 9, 2014 — Sam officially announc that he is gay terviews wh the New York Tim and ESPN.

THROUGH THE YEARS: DALLAS' GAY CULTURE

Former Dallas Cowboys lebacker Jeff Rohrer said Las Vegas Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib uld change the world after beg the first active openly gay NFL player.

MICHAEL SAM, FIRST OPENLY GAY NFL PLAYER, CUT OM DALLAS COWBOYS

He played the NFL om 1982 to 1989, and 2018, he me out as gay when he beme what was believed to be the first former or current NFL player to enter to a same-sex marriage. It really do help for anyone the untry who is currently closeted or fac homophobia.

" Michael Sam me out as gay before beg selected the seventh round of the 2014 NFL draft but never played a game the NFL. Former Kansas State player Stt Frantz, the first Power 5 llege football player to pete while openly gay, told USA TODAY Sports he msaged Nassib to exprs his gratu: "Thanks for dog what you did. " "Comg out as gay is gog to ntue to be a big al or news story for athlet until 's a regular occurrence, " said Ryan O'Callaghan, who me out after retirg 2017.

"Players feel that all of the sudn mararie wh several players disappear bee of beg gay. Bee fai have disowned players when they e out, and people act ways that are so sadly disappotg when they hear you're gay.

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

But spe homophobic language still prevalent locker room culture, Saraf said, teammat probably won't be a ncern for Nassib. You n follow him on Twter at, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys have waived fensive end Michael Sam om their practice squad and signed lebacker Troy, the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team, signed wh the Cowboys on Sept.

Dallas’ gay culture — and the cultural life of gay Dallas — has evolved over the years as much as the Dallas Voice self. May • On May 4, the Dallas Voice distribut an "announcement, " heraldg the arrival of a "New Voice Dallas" for the gay muny. … Gay clubs, om Cedar Sprgs to Mockgbird Lane to Fort Worth, clu the Snake P, Bentley’s, Tarrant County Mg Company, High Country, Contemporary Country, 4001, The Unirn, Tex’s Ranch and Lifter’s.

December • "The Arlgton Cy Council, bowg to prsure om red-faced rints of Gaywood Street, changed the street name to Garn Oaks Drive. Four years later, Ante Strss ran for mayor of Dallas, actively urtg the gay muny; she won. … The Dallas Gay Alliance (now the Dallas Gay & Lbian Alliance) holds a Tupperware party to raise money.

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

September • Dallas prepar for send annual "Freedom Para, " prevly lled "Gay Pri Para.