For gay high school football player, simple team photo meant a lot - Outsports

Contents:

• THIS GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER IS BEG HONORED FOR BOOSTG LGBTQ PRI HIS HOMETOWN
• THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB
• IT WAS A SIMPLE TEAM PHOTO, BUT MEANT THE WORLD TO GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER
• IN A LLEGE FOOTBALL FIRST, HBCU PLAYER OUT AS GAY
• JEFF ROHRER — RETIRED DALLAS COWBOYS LEBACKER — COM OUT AS GAY, REVEALS HE'S GETTG MARRIED
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB OUT AS GAY, THE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO DO SO
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST
• GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER SAYS FEAR KEEPS HIM THE CLOSET
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY
• JAKE DANIELS BE FIRST UK MALE FOOTBALLER TO E OUT AS GAY SCE 1990
• ‘I HAVE BEEN FIGHTG MY SEXUALY’: A-LEAGUE MEN PLAYER JOSH CAVALLO OUT AS GAY

THIS GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER IS BEG HONORED FOR BOOSTG LGBTQ PRI HIS HOMETOWN

In addn to creasg visibily, Jake, 17, wants to normalize g out and beg gay his hometown. His favore football memory happened durg his sophomore season, when he revered the ball on fense, and everybody on his team went wild. The subject was the impact of Carl Nassib g out as gay the NFL for the Las Vegas Rairs.

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

THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB

“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. 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.

IT WAS A SIMPLE TEAM PHOTO, BUT MEANT THE WORLD TO GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER

It was a simple team photo, but meant the world to gay high school football player.

IN A LLEGE FOOTBALL FIRST, HBCU PLAYER OUT AS GAY

15-year-old sophomore Jake Strer serly thought of qutg his Illois football team after beg outed, but he cid to embrace who he was and ma all the difference. Though I am on the team, ’s still a b awkward when you are a 15-year-old gay guy. There is absolutely a “gay by associatn” phobia high school and ’s a big unspoken thg.

I get and unrstand that wh matury the realizatn that gay isn’t ntag. I had never had an actual verbal nversatn wh any of my teammat about me beg gay. I am not the gay guy — I’m jt a football player.

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

Their embrace of me was somethg I never expected after a year of anxiety and stggle of g to terms wh beg gay.

I started hearg that people outsi of the team heard I was gay.

RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB OUT AS GAY, THE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO DO SO

It was someone I had tsted wh the rmatn that I was gay and knew I was not out. Two weeks after I me out to my parents, right after my football season had end, I went on Snapchat and posted the gay flag emoji on my story. I then said, “If you don’t get , I’m gay.

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

I was bldsid when some kid who I really didn’t know my last perd class kept g LGBTQ slurs while knowg I was gay. I didn’t know how to handle beg outed, how to handle g out to my fay or people at my school, and I fely didn’t know how to handle gay bashg. I was sayg was OK to drive someone om a sport bee they are gay.

GAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER SAYS FEAR KEEPS HIM THE CLOSET

I was fearg the “gay by associatn” that is a livg breathg thg for teens, pecially guys. I am proud to say I am gay. Jake Strer, 15, is a sophomore at Metea Valley High School Aurora, Illois, and an offensive and fensive leman on his high school football team.

When Kansas State offensive tackle and NFL hopeful Stt Frantz me out to the natn as gay last week, he shared that his teammat, to whom he'd e out earlier, had warmly received the news, a sign the most alpha of locker rooms may fally be ready for equaly.

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

So, wh two gay players takg the field the top tier of llege football this season, has the future fally charged onto the turf?

Here's a list of players llege and pro ball who have proved you n be gay or bi and still n the KopayRunng back Dave Kopay, who signed wh the San Francis 49ers 1964, would play for five teams before hangg up his jersey 1972.

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

Coach Vce Lombardi had apparently nfid Smh that he knew of his sexualy but would never let impact him negatively; Lombardi's brother was also gay. Yet he nspicuoly has never been ducted to the NFL Hall of SimmonsRoy "Sugar Bear" Simmons, an offensive leman for the New York Giants and Washgton Redsks, beme the send NFL player ever to publicly reveal he was gay.

So Coach Vce Lombardi knew McDonald was gay when he took over learship of the team 1969, but ma clear there would be no discrimatn his locker room, those close to the legend say. He would e out to HBO Sports 2002, where he discsed lghg off gay jok and slurs for years while he played DavisCornerback Wa Davis, who played preason wh the Tennsee Tans, Seattle Seahawks and Washgton Redsks and spent two seasons wh NFL Europe teams Berl Thunr and Barcelona Dragons, me out as gay 2012, nearly a after his retirement.

JAKE DANIELS BE FIRST UK MALE FOOTBALLER TO E OUT AS GAY SCE 1990

He would later nfirm his sexualy on CNN and s down wh ESPN to discs the challeng of growg up gay Jamai and playg football while closeted. Michael SamThe world took notice 2014 when All-Amerin fensive end Michael Sam me out as gay to ESPN while still llege.

‘I HAVE BEEN FIGHTG MY SEXUALY’: A-LEAGUE MEN PLAYER JOSH CAVALLO OUT AS GAY

Louis Rams and beme the first openly gay player ever to get drafted by an NFL team.