Roy Simmons, ex-NY Giant who me out as gay and HIV posive, di at 57

Contents:

• CARL NASSIB IS THE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO COME OUT AS GAY
• 7 GAY NFL FOOTBALL PLAYERS
• NEW YORK GIANTS HOST GAY FOOTBALL LEAGUE CLIC WH NFL PLAYERS AND ACH
• ROY SIMMONS, 57, LEMAN WHO LATER CAME OUT AS GAY, DI
• MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY
• CARL NASSIB BE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY
• CARL NASSIB BE 1ST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST
• ROY SIMMONS, EX-NY GIANT WHO ME OUT AS GAY AND HIV POSIVE, DI AT 57
• THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB
• CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY N.F.L. PLAYER, HAS BEEN A FOOTBALL EVERYMAN
• THERE HAVE BEEN 11 KNOWN GAY PLAYERS NFL HISTORY

CARL NASSIB IS THE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO COME OUT AS GAY

Carl Nassib Is The First Active NFL Player To Come Out As Gay "I jt want to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay, " he said an Instagram vio. Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib said on Monday that he would not have been able to publicly e out as gay whout the support of the NFL and his teammat. " "I jt want to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay, " Nassib said an Instagram vio he posted on his verified Instagram acunt.

" Nassib is by no means the first gay football player the NFL, but he is the first openly gay active player the league to play the regular season. Michael Sam me out as gay followg his succsful llege reer and before the 2014 NFL draft, makg him the first publicly gay player to be drafted the NFL.

7 GAY NFL FOOTBALL PLAYERS

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. 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.

NEW YORK GIANTS HOST GAY FOOTBALL LEAGUE CLIC WH NFL PLAYERS AND ACH

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. 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.

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. 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.

ROY SIMMONS, 57, LEMAN WHO LATER CAME OUT AS GAY, DI

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

Davis is a board member of the New York Gay Football League and of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network sport-advisory.

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

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. The New York Giants last week hosted the New York Gay Football League at an event that featured LGBT flag football players, NFL ach and players, and a lot of love and celebratn. She said she was thrilled to be part of the event, part bee she has var LGBT people her life, and she has even participated a Gay Bowl wh the Natnal Gay Flag Football League.

The relatnship between the NYGFL and the Giants dat back to 2007, when the Giants participated the Gay Bowl New York. “As the NFL mov toward havg more gay players g out the league, ’s important as more lears the NFL muny ntue to show support of the LGBT muny.

The language around the team match that — she said she’s never heard a gay slur or homophobic language e out of anyone’s mouth. “I haven’t seen or heard anythg the locker room that would make anyone on the Giants seem homophobic, ” Thompson said.

CARL NASSIB BE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY

Players to have said publicly that they were gay — all after their playg reers end — died Thursday his apartment the Bronx.

Years later, 1992, appearg on “Donahue, ” Phil Donahue’s televisn talk show, and wh a former girliend and fay members watchg, Simmons ma a stunng, awkward disclosure: He was gay. The profile suggted that Simmons had e to believe that homosexualy was wrong, but his brother Gary said that was not the se.

”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn B, Page 16 of the New York edn wh the headle: Roy Simmons, 57, Leman Who Later Came Out as Gay. Over the years, Outsports has known of a few other players who are gay but have never e out, even when retired.

CARL NASSIB BE 1ST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER

In this story:Jacksonville JaguarsJaguars associate strength ach Kev Maxen beme the first publicly-known male ach Amerin men’s profsnal sports to e out as gay Thursday.Maxen spoke wh Outsports to share his journey and why he’s choosg to e out publicly.“I don’t want to feel like I have to thk about anymore,” Maxen said.

I want to be vol support of people livg how they want to live, but I also want to jt live and not feel fear about how people will react.”Maxen, who has been wh his partner Nick for over two years, exprsed that the ntued support om the people around him helped him feel fortable to share his news.“It wasn’t until recently—and wh the immense love and support of my fay, my iends, lleagu and peers, and the urage and sacrifice om my partner—that I realized I have the right and rponsibily to love and be loved, and that maybe sharg this will hopefully give someone else the strength to accept their own life and take ntrol of their own story,” Maxen said.Maxen also noted that he reached out to Carl Nassib, who is the only known gay NFL player the league right now, back Feb. Las Vegas Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib announced Monday on Instagram that he is gay, makg him the first active NFL player to e out.

”The print and CEO of the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn (GLAAD), Sarah Kate Ellis, also spoke out support wh a statement that clared Nassib’s g out a “historic reflectn of the growg state of LGBTQ visibily and cln the world of profsnal sports.

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

”“As an acplished athlete who is now the first out gay active player the NFL, ” Ellis said, “Carl Nassib’s story will not only have a profound impact on the future of LGBTQ visibily and acceptance sports, but sends a strong msage to so many LGBTQ people, pecially youth, that they too n one day grow up to be and succeed as a profsnal athlete like him. “What I really appreciated about was felt like Carl was sayg, ‘I’m an NFL football player who is gay, ’ ” Davis told The Washgton Post. Nassib signed a three-year al wh the Rairs March 2020 and last year started five of the 14 gam he Nassib would bee the first openly gay player to play an NFL game, he is not the first high-level football player or active profsnal athlete to e 2013, Major League Soccer player Robbie Rogers revealed he is gay, and later that year NBA center Jason Colls did as well.

Sam did not play an NFL snap — he was cut by the Rams before the start of his rookie season and was on the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad for a month — but he beme the first openly gay player the Canadian Football League, wh the Montreal Alouett announced June of that year that he was steppg away om profsnal football for mental health reasons. Carl Nassib, a fensive end for the Las Vegas Rairs, ma history on Monday by announcg he is gay, beg the first active NFL player to e out. In dog so, he beme the first-ever active player the NFL to publicly intify as gay durg their tenure wh a team.

ROY SIMMONS, EX-NY GIANT WHO ME OUT AS GAY AND HIV POSIVE, DI AT 57

“I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I am gay, ” the 28-year-old said a vio posted to his Instagram page on Monday. FirstThe Rairs fensive leman me out a statement posted to his Instagram acunt on Monday, beg the first active player the league to publicly intify as gay.

THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB

I actually hope that like one day vios like this and the whole g-out procs are jt not necsary, but until then I’m gog to do my bt and my part to cultivate a culture that’s acceptg, that’s passnate, ” before addg that he would donate $100, 000 to The Trevor Project, a nonprof group that foc on suici preventn efforts among lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer and qutng youth. “Sports are, many ways, one of the last bastns of a place where homophobia n thrive, ” said Cathy Renna, a spokwoman for the Natnal L.

”Michael Sam, an all-Amerin fensive leman at Missouri, had been viewed as the most likely to acquire that distctn when he announced he is gay before he beg chosen by the Rams the seventh round of the 2014 N.

The Dallas Cowboys signed Sam to their practice squad, but he never played a regular season Otero/Associated PrsSam’s draft stat was seen as a barometer of whether the climate of men’s pro sports was beg more acceptg of gay athlet, particularly bee Febary 2014 the N. Had jt bee the first of the four tradnal major Amerin men’s sports leagu to have an openly gay active player when Jason Colls joed the Sam left the N.

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

He played for ne seasons wh the San Francis 49ers and four other teams the 1960s and 1970s, and has sce bee an activist and an ambassador for the Gay Gam, a quadrennial sportg Simmons was the send former player to announce that he was gay, dog so 1992 after his reer wh the Giants and Washgton Football Team had end. ”In recent years, the league has publicly supported Pri Month through promotnal efforts like changg official social media avatars to clu rabows and supportg the You Can Play Project, which provis rourc to enurage clivy youth sports, even as some players have ma rogatory statements about gay people wh ltle penalty or supported groups that oppose gay Wewerka for The New York TimIn 2013, Chris Culliver of the San Francis 49ers and Chris Clemons of the Seattle Seahawks ma offensive ments when asked about the prospect of havg a gay teammate. ”San Francis nng back Garrison Hearst apologized 2002 for g a slur and sayg he wouldn’t want a gay player as a teammate.

His ment me after the former Mnota Vikgs player Esera Tuaolo publicly me out as gay that year after he had retired. Players like Brendon Ayanbajo, who played wh the Baltimore Ravens, fend same-sex marriage and gay rights and supported Sam at the time.

THERE HAVE BEEN 11 KNOWN GAY PLAYERS NFL HISTORY

Roy Simmons, the fun-lovg Giants offensive leman who later beme the send former player NFL history to e out as gay, died his New York home last week at 57. He juggled affairs wh women and had a dghter wh one girliend, but he was also a regular at the cy's gay bathho and equented male hookers as well. Simmons felt he had no choice except to hi the closet: "In the NFL, " Simmons said 2006, "there is nothg worse than beg gay.