Former NFL rnerback Wa Davis out as gay - ESPN

Contents:

• BEFORE CARL NASSIB, MICHAEL SAM WAS THE NFL’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DRAFT PICK. HE NEVER PLAYED A REGULAR SEASON GAME.
• CARL NASSIB BE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• NOT YOUR DADDY'S NFL: FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYER COM OUT
• CT NATIVE BREAKS BARRIER AS FIRST OPENLY-GAY NFL ACH
• WILLIAMGAY

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

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.

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

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. I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay, ” Nassib said a vio msage.

”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. ”“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.

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

“He was not sayg, ‘I am a gay NFL player, ’ which is a very different thg. 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. Louis Rams — Missouri fensive end Michael Sam publicly announced he is gay.

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. Kev Maxen is gay.

No NFL ach had ever publicly e out as gay, so Maxen, an assistant strength and ndng ach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, kept quiet about his sexual that ma him angry — at himself.

NOT YOUR DADDY'S NFL: FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYER COM OUT

Men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. Former San Francis 49ers offensive assistant Katie Sowers beme the NFL’s first ach to e out as gay 2017.

Acrdg to the article, Maxen ma his cisn to do so last year and reached out for advice om Carl Nassib, who 2021 beme the NFL’s first out gay active player as a member of the Las Vegas was Nassib who put Maxen ntact wh Outsports.

Carl Nassib, a fensive end for the Las Vegas Rairs, announced on his Instagram yterday that he is gay.

CT NATIVE BREAKS BARRIER AS FIRST OPENLY-GAY NFL ACH

The journeyman leman beme the first active NFL player to adm to beg gay. I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay, ” Nassib said  a vio msage.

It’s really not very newsworthy now, except the g-out theater fulfills two val purpos: (t allows people like Gooll to wallow virtue signalg and giv the gay muny what they crave most — attentn. The print and CEO of the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn (GLAAD), Sarah Kate Ellis, lled Nassib’s announcement “historic. “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.

WILLIAMGAY

So, I gus if you want your kid to grow up and be a gay NFL player, buy him a Nassib jersey.

There is no stigma to beg gay anymore. The stigma is on “homophob” and others who don’t “accept” gay people. 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. Associated PrsJun 7, 2012, 04:47 PM ETNEW YORK -- A rnerback who spent four preasons wh three NFL teams and also played NFL Europe has e out as gay, jog a small but growg number of former athlet who are publicly acknowledgg they are gays or Davis, who played llege at Weber State and spent the 2000 and 2002 preasons wh the Tennsee Tans, said he didn't tell his teammat he was gay bee he feared the impact would have the locker room. "But Kearse said he don't thk Davis beg openly gay would have changed anythg.