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

Contents:

• MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY
• THERE HAVE BEEN 11 KNOWN GAY PLAYERS NFL HISTORY
• JEFF ROHRER — RETIRED DALLAS COWBOYS LEBACKER — COM OUT AS GAY, REVEALS HE'S GETTG MARRIED
• 7 GAY NFL FOOTBALL PLAYERS
• FORMER NFL PLAYER: THERE ARE GAY, BISEXUAL PLAYERS ON EVERY PRO FOOTBALL TEAM
• THE 39 CURRENT NFL PLAYERS HAVE ALL PLAYED WH AN OUT GAY TEAMMATE
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST GAY MALE NFL COACH
• BEFORE CARL NASSIB, MICHAEL SAM WAS THE NFL’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DRAFT PICK. HE NEVER PLAYED A REGULAR SEASON GAME.
• CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY N.F.L. PLAYER, HAS BEEN A FOOTBALL EVERYMAN
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• I’M A GAY EX-NFL PLAYER. I N’T WA UNTIL PLAYERS LIKE CARL NASSIB DON’T NEED TO “E OUT.”
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST
• GAY AND BI FORMER NFL PLAYERS EXCED TO SEE CARL NASSIB TAKE THE FIELD FOR RAIRS
• EX-NFL PLAYER RYAN O'CALLAGHAN, WHO IS OPENLY GAY, ON JON GN: 'IT'S NEVER OK' TO E HOMOPHOBIC SLURS
• CARL NASSIB, FIRST OPENLY GAY NFL PLAYER, TO BE RELEASED BY RAIRS
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR U.S. PRO LEAGUE TO E OUT AS GAY

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.

THERE HAVE BEEN 11 KNOWN GAY PLAYERS NFL HISTORY

Jenks is gay and this was the the first time he wily discsed his sexual orientatn.

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

Perkz/@rlnassib/@rkrelentls)When Kansas State offensive tackle and NFL hopeful Stt Frantz me out to the natn as gay, 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.

Here's a list of players llege and pro ball who have proved you n be gay or bi and still n the gntlet.

Roy "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. Cornerback 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.

7 GAY NFL FOOTBALL PLAYERS

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. He later cled to sign wh the Tennsee Tans and Dallas Cowboys before g out as gay at 24, he told Philalphia Magaze revealed to the magaze that he'd dated a male cheerlear at Purdue who had threatened to out him then. He would later move to San Francis and jo the Fog, a gay gby team, and pen a g-out blog post 2015.

Wyatt Pertet, a special teams player and receiver for Capal Universy, will be a sophomore this season.

FORMER NFL PLAYER: THERE ARE GAY, BISEXUAL PLAYERS ON EVERY PRO FOOTBALL TEAM

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 of 2021, sayg he had fally e to terms wh his sexualy and the "next step all of this was sort of lettg people know. "He wanted everyone to know he was "still the same Colton everybody met on TV" and is "proud to be gay.

The Rairs leman ma NFL history durg Pri Month 2021 when he me out as gay a heartfelt Instagram post, beg the first active NFL player to e out as member of the LGBTQ+ muny. The Hampton Universy player ma history October of 2022 when he me out as gay an Instagram Story post, beg the first out gay football player at a Historilly Black College or Universy. "Speakg to OutSports, he ntued: "Especially at an HBCU, young Black gay men need an outlet.

Back 2013, Michael Sam was a llege football sensatn who cid to e out as the only known gay profsnal football player at the time. It was Augt of 2013 durg a team meetg, that Sam cid to announce to his llege teammat that he was gay. The word of Sam's g out as a gay player soon ronated throughout sports general as he was the only active, openly gay player at the time.

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

In the recent wake of Jon Gn's homophobic (among other thgs) rhetorics which were spewed a 2011 email that forced him to rign, was disvered that Gn ed the words "queer" and "faggot" to scribe Sam when the Rams drafted him back 2014 (for the rerd, Gn also scribed NFLPA executive director DeMrice Smh, who is Ain Amerin, as havg "lips the size of Michell [sic] tir. 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.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST GAY MALE NFL COACH

In addn, four other players who me out as gay were NFL trag mps, some playg preason gam. Kopay played wh two teammat who were gay: tight end Jerry Smh and nng back Ray McDonald. Legendary Packers and Redsks ach Vce Lombardi — who had an openly gay brother — knew that some of his players were gay.

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

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. In 2014, Michael Sam a llege football player publicly me out as a gay football player. If he achiev this feat, he will bee the first active gay football player the NFL.

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

He is a board member of the Gay and Lbian Athletics Foundatn and is also the Gay Gam Ambassador of the Feratn of Gay Gam. Smh never ma public about his homosexualy but later after his ath, was nfirmed by his relativ that he was a gay. He beme the third NFL player to e out as a gay, after David Kopay and Roy Simmons.

He has also ttified at the State Legislature Senate Judiciary Commtee hearg opposn to an anti-gay-marriage bill.

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

Wa Davis the former NFL fensive back me out of his closet 2012, clarg himself to be a gay.

Davis is a board member of the New York Gay Football League and of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network sport-advisory. Soon his parents cid to send Harris away om his hometown for further tn to hi is homosexual his retirement om Amerin football, Kwame Harris 2013 publilly revealed of beg a homosexual an terview wh CNN. (Rich Polk/Getty Imag for GLAAD)When Las Vegas Rairs football player Carl Nassib me out as gay last summer, he received praise for his honty and bravery.

But spe supportive ial reactns, the first openly gay active player NFL history is now whout a ’s not alone. One example Rsell pots to is former Las Vegas Rairs ach Jon Gn, whose misogynistic, racist and homophobic emails om 2010 to 2018 were tailed by The New York Tim 2021.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

”Back 2019, queer former NFL player Ryan O’Callahan said there was at least one player on every NFL team who is gay or bisexual.

Natnal FootballLeague team has at least one gay or bisexual player, acrdg to openly gay former player Ryan O’Callaghan, but they fear backlash for g out cludg losg sponsorships or even their place on the roster. “I thk ’s safe to say there’s at least one on every team who is eher gay or bisexual. Male sports leagu, progrs has been player Robbie Rogers beme the first openly gay athlete actively playg U.

Major league sports 2013, followed later that year by basketball player Jason NFL has yet to see an openly gay player on the field, and fewer than 10have e out first was David Kopay, now 77, who opened up about his sexualy 1975, three years after retirg. ”In 2014, player Michael Sam opened up about beg gay before beg drafted to the St. Louis Rams, but was ultimately cut om the team before playg a profsnal went on to play for the Montreal Alouett as the first openly gay player the Canadian Football League before retirg for mental health reasons one of the few openly gay former U.

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

“You have to expla to (young people), ‘You’re gog to n to some ignorant people, but you’ve got to have fah that they’ll tch up to the rt of the world and unrstand you are who you are, ’” he a teen ral California, O’Callaghan ternalized the gay jok and discrimatory language he heard his muny, and beme nvced his fay would hate him for beg gay. Some people still believe that the NFL is a “homophobic” monolh where ’s “dangero” to be gay.

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

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.

GAY AND BI FORMER NFL PLAYERS EXCED TO SEE CARL NASSIB TAKE THE FIELD FOR RAIRS

We found 39 current NFL players, who were on a roster for the 2020 season, who have already had an out gay teammate. In addn, dozens of other players have played agast an opponent they knew to be gay.

EX-NFL PLAYER RYAN O'CALLAGHAN, WHO IS OPENLY GAY, ON JON GN: 'IT'S NEVER OK' TO E HOMOPHOBIC SLURS

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.

The Arizona Cardals have the most players we know have played wh an out gay teammate.

CARL NASSIB, FIRST OPENLY GAY NFL PLAYER, TO BE RELEASED BY RAIRS

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. 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. Of urse many other NFL players have played wh a gay or bi teammate before they me out (e.

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.

Kev Maxen, an associate strength ach for the Jacksonville Jaguars football team, me out as gay on Thursday an terview wh the LGBTQ sports-foced webse Outsports.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR U.S. PRO LEAGUE TO E OUT AS GAY

In 2014, Michael Sam was the first out gay player to be drafted when he was selected by the then-St. On the achg si, several female assistant ach the NFL have prevly e out as gay, cludg former San Francis 49ers assistant ach Katie Sowers, there has prevly been no known out gay male head or assistant ach the league.

Curt Miller, who is currently the head ach of the Los Angel Sparks, is the first out gay male ach the WNBA, but there have been no out gay ach any of the four major men’s U. READ NEXTWhen You Get In Bed Wh Bigots, Please RensirWATCH: Island Hoe Staff Says “Keep Key Wt Gay”Atomic Blon: Our Film Crics Discs ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’Attempt to Remove San Diego Library’s LGBTQ Books Backfir.