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

Contents:

• THIS GAY FORMER NFL PLAYER IS USG HIS PRIVILEGE TO FIGHT HOMOPHOBIA
• FORMER NFL STAR WA DAVIS SPEAKS OUT ABOUT BEG GAY FOR FIRST TIME
• WA DAVIS GAY: EX-NFL PLAYER CONFIRMS HOMOSEXUALY
• I’M A GAY EX-NFL PLAYER. I N’T WA UNTIL PLAYERS LIKE CARL NASSIB DON’T NEED TO “E OUT.”
• WA DAVIS, OUT GAY FORMER NFL PLAYER, WILL LEAD GROUP PROMOTG LGBT EQUALY IN SPORTS
• WA DAVIS TALKS FOR THE FIRST TIME ABOUT BEG GAY THE NFL, WORKG WH LGBTQ YOUTH
• GAY FORMER NFL PLAYER WA DAVIS: ‘I BEME A GREAT ACTOR’
• BEFORE CARL NASSIB, MICHAEL SAM WAS THE NFL’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DRAFT PICK. HE NEVER PLAYED A REGULAR SEASON GAME.
• GAY EX-PLAYER SPEAKS AT MEETGS
• WA DAVIS, A FORMER REDSKS PLAYER TURNED GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST, WORKED WH NFL ON MICHAEL SAM ANNOUNCEMENT
• WA DAVIS, NFL STAR, REVEALS HE’S GAY
• WA DAVIS, FORMER FOOTBALL PLAYER, ON BEG GAY IN THE NFL

THIS GAY FORMER NFL PLAYER IS USG HIS PRIVILEGE TO FIGHT HOMOPHOBIA

At one pot, while watchg film wh his team, he remembers worryg his team would realize he was gay. And I don't want to downplay , but felt different om Michael Sam [who, 2014, was the first openly gay athlete to be drafted by the NFL]. It felt different om Jason Colls [who me out 2013, makg him the first openly gay active athlete the NBA].

And I thk that that difference that is really hard to articulate is what feels like or is what means when gay men have reached a certa level of of acceptance the public sphere. So I still thk that we have still a larger nversatn that as gay men who have lots of power, accs and privilege need to be at the foreont of ntually centerg that nversatn. And I remember watchg film one day and everythg is rerd and I remember thkg, God, I'm walkg gay.

FORMER NFL STAR WA DAVIS SPEAKS OUT ABOUT BEG GAY FOR FIRST TIME

I remember thkg I'm standg gay.

And I remember thkg, God, like, I'm nng gay.

Part of the next step is for, let's say those power, owners and ach, to be much more fluent and sophistited their abily to talk about the impact that LGBTQ folks have had on them and the specific actns that they're gog to take ensurg that locker room spac, sports facili and stadiums are ls homophobic and ls sexist.

WA DAVIS GAY: EX-NFL PLAYER CONFIRMS HOMOSEXUALY

I thk society has to have an even more sophistited nversatn about how the root of homophobia is sexism. It creat the ndns for we to also thk of gay folks as ls than.

’s, NFL team, Davis retired 2003 due to a leg his entire profsnal sports reer, Davis rried around a heavy secret: He’s gay. “I uld be out on the football field at practice makg a really betiful play, and then I’d go watch myself on film and thk how gay I look. He’s now the NFL’s first cln nsultant, alg wh issu like racism, sexism and homophobia sports.

I’M A GAY EX-NFL PLAYER. I N’T WA UNTIL PLAYERS LIKE CARL NASSIB DON’T NEED TO “E OUT.”

To celebrate LGBTQ Pri Month June, HuffPost spoke wh Davis about his journey om closeted gay athlete Ameri’s most beloved sport to ont-and-center social jtice activist.

WA DAVIS, OUT GAY FORMER NFL PLAYER, WILL LEAD GROUP PROMOTG LGBT EQUALY IN SPORTS

Me beg a gay man wasn’t the spark.

WA DAVIS TALKS FOR THE FIRST TIME ABOUT BEG GAY THE NFL, WORKG WH LGBTQ YOUTH

Once I realized that the root of homophobia was sexism, everythg else jt ma perfect you talk to me more about the notn that homophobia is rooted sexism? When people thk about beg LGBT, their first thought is gay whe men bee of the patriarchy and racism.

Younger (L) at the Gloria Awards on April 27, Schipper via Getty ImagWhat was that like beg a closeted gay man the NFL?

GAY FORMER NFL PLAYER WA DAVIS: ‘I BEME A GREAT ACTOR’

I was not out bee of what the world had ndned me to believe about gay people.

I didn’t really even unrstand like what meant to be gay. I didn’t have the skill set to al wh beg gay when I was high school, when I was llege, and when I was the pros. You’re a gay black man who’s also an ele athlete.

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

When someone says, “Wa, you’re gay but you a’t no faggot. I have a rponsibily to talk to gay men, specifilly, and tell them they need to intify as femists and do the work of femism. Bee what we’re actually fightg agast as far as homophobia, is eply rooted misogyny.

GAY EX-PLAYER SPEAKS AT MEETGS

Former NFL Star Wa Davis Speaks Out About Beg Gay For First TimeWa me out last year, but he’s jt now speakg publicly about . Wa, a former NFL rnerback who has played for teams like the Tennsee Tans and Washgton Redsks, said he first knew he was gay when he was the eleventh gra and started noticg boys gym class. “I thk subnscly I unrstood that beg gay — the way I was raised — was wrong, ” Wa said.

… And also that my football fay would accept me, jt bee of the perceptn that beg gay meant that you’re ls mascule. Wa has bee volved wh an anizatn lled the Hedggmark Instute which provis muny and a “sense of fay” for gay and lbian ’s advice to other gay athlet: “Be out.

WA DAVIS, A FORMER REDSKS PLAYER TURNED GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST, WORKED WH NFL ON MICHAEL SAM ANNOUNCEMENT

[SB Natn][Huffgton Post]– Jenny PickardMore Comg Out Stori:Queen Latifah Com Out As A LbianJim Parsons Reveals: I’m GayMatt Bomer Is Gay: ‘Whe Collar’ Actor Com Out At Awards CeremonyGet more om Follow on Twter, Facebook, Newsletter. Wa Davis, a former NFL player, has announced he is gay a Tuday article. Although Davis no longer plays, he now works wh lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr youth at the Hetrick-Mart Davis, who formerly played preason gam for the Washgton Redsks, Tennsee Tans, and Seattle Seahawks, told OutSports that he felt his first homosexual urg high school.

"I thk, subnscly, I unrstood that beg gay … the way I was raised … was wrong, and there was no way that my fay, at least my md, would accept me, " he, when he beme a profsnal player, he knew that "my football fay would [not] accept me, jt bee of the perceptn of beg gay meant that you're ls mascule.

Dpe his recent g out, Davis admted that the move probably wouldn't be popular for other athlet lookg to e out and enurage homosexualy, pecially wh a hyper-mascule area like the NFL. "Davis is part of a larger trend profsnal sports attemptg to promote the acceptance of homosexualy, although no pro league sports figur the Uned Stat have e out as the other si of the bate are sports stars like boxer Manny Pacquiao, who recently faced stark cricism over reports that he believed tradnal marriage and the biblil guidance that homosexualy is a s. This week, Carl Nassib, a fensive end for the Las Vegas Rairs, me out as gay on Instagram.

WA DAVIS, NFL STAR, REVEALS HE’S GAY

In some ways, beg gay offered me misguid motivatn. Bee I hadn’t wrtled wh my own ternalized homophobia, and I believed that I need to prove somethg to heterosexual people, I felt I had to show that I was as good an athlete as the straight guys.

I wish I knew then what I know now: that not learng to love myself as gay was a much greater loss than the possibily of not playg football. The women athlet, pecially women of lor, have had the right foc, and gay male athlet need to align ourselv wh them. Most people don’t image gay men beg able to play sports like football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer.

WA DAVIS, FORMER FOOTBALL PLAYER, ON BEG GAY IN THE NFL

WASHINGTON — Former NFL player Wa Davis, who me out as gay after retirg om the sport, will be the first executive director of the You Can Play Project, an advocy group workg for equaly for LGBT athlet sports, the anizatn announced Tuday. "A year ago, before Jason Colls or Robbie Rogers me out and before the qutns about LGBT athlet' treatment Rsia were monplace, Davis was already talkg about the fact that sports remaed an area where young people still were unfortable beg gay. "Most kids who I've talked to who are gay who play sports jt don't say anythg, " Davis told BuzzFeed.