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
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB OUT AS GAY, THE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO DO SO
• IN A LLEGE FOOTBALL FIRST, HBCU PLAYER OUT AS GAY
• COLTON UNRWOOD, ‘BACHELOR’ STAR, COM OUT AS GAY
• NFL PROUDLY CLAR 'FOOTBALL IS GAY' NEW VIO
• CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER, ULD BE TURNG POT FOR MALE SPORTS
• NFL: CARL NASSIB BE FIRST ACTIVE PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY
• BEFORE CARL NASSIB, MICHAEL SAM WAS THE NFL’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DRAFT PICK. HE NEVER PLAYED A REGULAR SEASON GAME.
• CARL NASSIB IS THE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO COME OUT AS GAY
• CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY N.F.L. PLAYER, HAS BEEN A FOOTBALL EVERYMAN
• 8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY
• GAY FOOTBALLER SPARKS A FORBIDN LOVE AFFAIR THE LOCKER ROOM: PREVIEW

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

Our list of ne feature-length LGBTQ sports documentari that provi behd-the-scen glimps of heroism and homophobia athletics was such a h, we’re followg up wh a look at feature-length narrative LGBTQ sports films.

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

Dennis is a 28-year-old gay man who plays on a Wt Hollywood softball team wh his close, tty pals.

Intertgly, this film was directed by gay producer Greg Berlanti (hband of gay soccer player Robbie Rogers) and stars actor John Mahoney who lived the glass closet until his 2017 ath.

The straight-washed trailer above only hts at the gay storyle buried this film’s send half.

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

When Iceland’s bad-boy football star Ottar Thor out as gay, his entire life flat quicker than a punctured soccer ball.

IN A LLEGE FOOTBALL FIRST, HBCU PLAYER OUT AS GAY

But when he’s given a choice to return to the pro-sports closet or start playg on a smaller gay lol team, Thor has to choose between a glamoro life or an thentic one. The director, Michael Akers, -wrote the screenplay om terviews wh wheelchair-g gay men, and ’s one of the few films existence to al wh gay men and disabili.

COLTON UNRWOOD, ‘BACHELOR’ STAR, COM OUT AS GAY

As Conor’s teammat prsure him to abandon Ned, Ned fds himself creasgly sick of his school’s homophobic snobbery, brgg both boys to a breakg pot that uld end their iendship. Cocky and cunng Jason — played by gay actor Rsell Tovey— seems termed to get unr A’s earnt exterr. The NFL has played for more than 100 years and there have been 16 gay or bi players to e out publicly.

NFL PROUDLY CLAR 'FOOTBALL IS GAY' NEW VIO

Over the years, Outsports has known of a few other players who are gay but have never e out, even when retired. 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.

“I jt want to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay, ” Nassib said a vio posted to his Instagram acunt. 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.

CARL NASSIB, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE NFL PLAYER, ULD BE TURNG POT FOR MALE SPORTS

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.

Players had prevly announced publicly that they were gay, but all after their playg reers were over. David Kopay beme the first pro football player to publicly e out as gay 1975, three years after he retired. 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.

Simmons also said he never would have clared himself gay durg the four seasons he played for the N. ”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.

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

”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.

Carl Nassib #94 of the Las Vegas Rairs celebrat a 31-26 w over the Los Angel Chargers at SoFi Stadium on November 08, 2020 Inglewood, How | Getty ImagLas Vegas Rairs fensive leman Carl Nassib announced on Monday that he is gay, beg the first player on an active Natnal Football League roster to e out. "I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay, " Nassib said an Instagram post.

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

We wish Carl the bt of luck this g season, " NFL Commissner Roger Gooll said a 2014, Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be selected the NFL draft when the St. Sam was cut jt before the regular season Colls, who is now retired, beme the first active openly gay NBA player 2013.

A Hampton Universy football player me out publicly as gay, a first for a football player at a historilly Black llege or universy, acrdg to, an LGBTQ sports news se. Byron Perks, a Divisn I fensive back for the Hampton Universy Pirat, me out as gay an Instagram story shared Wednday. ’ Y, this is who I am, this is who I’ve been, and this is who I’m gog to be, ” Perks wrote the story, acrdg to (Instagram stori are only available for 24 hours, so Perks’ origal story is no longer viewable) several Divisn I football players have e out as gay durg their llege reers — cludg the College of Idaho’s Cy Hicks, Amherst College’s Avery Saffold and Kansas State’s Stt Frantz — Perks is the first to do so at one of the untry’s 101 HBCUs, acrdg to both Outsports and Perks.

Perks told Outsports that he’d like to help other gay Black men who are stgglg wh their sexualy. “I’m sure the young man has heard his fair share of slurs om teammat unaware that he is gay. Cyd Zeigler, the -founr of Outsports, noted that “so many ‘first’ gay athlet — John Amaechi, Jason Colls, Michael Sam — have been Black men.

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

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe 29-year-old former football player had wrten about qutng his sexualy a memoir, published Shotwell/Invisn, via Richard Shotwell, via Invisn, via Associated PrsColton Unrwood, a star of “The Bachelor” and a former football player, me out as gay an terview wh Rob Roberts that aired Wednday on “Good Morng Ameri. “‘You know, Colt, we’d still love you and support you if you were gay, ’” he relled his mother tellg father was more nontatnal.

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

“He’d pulled up the history of recent Google search, which clud gay porn s and a variety of qutns: ‘Am I gay? In a vio shared on Twter on Monday, the Natnal Football League clared, "Football is gay. "In whe letters on a black background, the word "gay" was then replaced wh words cludg "lbian, " "betiful, " "queer, " "transgenr, " "power" and "life.

“I jt want to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay, ” the fensive leman for the Las Vegas Rairs said a vio posted to his Instagram acunt Monday.

8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY

And while someone g out 2021 might not feel like a big al, wh that simple statement, Nassib beme the first openly gay active player NFL that simple statement, Nassib beme the first openly gay active player NFL history. Though there are many openly queer women profsnal sports, the same nnot be said for homophobia of men’s sports culture has been well documented.

GAY FOOTBALLER SPARKS A FORBIDN LOVE AFFAIR THE LOCKER ROOM: PREVIEW

Currently, there is only one openly gay player on a profsnal men’s team the “big five” Amerin sports: Soccer player Coll Mart of the USL Champnship League (Mart me out 2018 as a member of Major League Soccer’s Mnota Uned) NFL has existed for 101 years, and that time, there has never been a player on an active NFL roster who has publicly acknowledged his gayns.