Homosexuality in American football

In 2021, Carl Nassib became the first active player in the NFL to publicly come out.

There has been only one player who has publicly come out as gay or bisexual while being an active player in the National Football League (NFL): Carl Nassib, who came out as gay on June 21, 2021, while with the Las Vegas Raiders.[1] He became the first openly gay player to play in an NFL game on September 13, 2021.[2] He later became the first openly gay player in an NFL playoff game on January 15, 2022.[3][4] Six former NFL players have come out publicly after they retired.[5] In the 2014 NFL draft, the St. Louis Rams drafted Michael Sam in the seventh round, the 249th of 256 players selected,[6] which made him the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL.[7][8] However, on August 30, St. Louis released Sam as part of a final round of cuts to reduce their roster to the league-mandated 53 players before the start of the regular season.[9][10]

In college football, Division III player Conner Mertens came out as bisexual in January 2014, becoming the first active college football player at any level to publicly come out as bisexual or gay.[11][12] In August 2014, Arizona State player Chip Sarafin became the first publicly out active Division I player when he came out as gay.[13] In 2017, Scott Frantz publicly came out as gay, joining My-King Johnson as two of the first openly gay players in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.[14] Later that same year, Frantz became the first openly gay college football player to play in a game for an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision school.[15] In 2018, Bradley Kim of the United States Air Force Academy came out as gay, thus becoming the first openly gay football player to play for any military academy in the United States; open homosexuality was forbidden in the U.S. Armed Forces until 2011.[16] Also in 2018, Division II Wyatt Pertuset of Capital University became the first openly gay college player to score a touchdown.[17][18] In 2022, Byron Perkins of Hampton University came out as gay, making him the first openly gay football player at any historically black college or university.[19][20]

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Years earlier in women's football in 2001, Philadelphia Liberty Belles player Alissa Wykes of the National Women's Football Association (NWFA) came out publicly as lesbian.[21]

  1. ^ Middlehurst-Schwartz, Michael. "Raiders' Carl Nassib comes out as first openly gay active NFL player". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  2. ^ Smith, Michael David (September 14, 2021). "Carl Nassib becomes first openly gay player to play in NFL game". Pro Football Talk. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  3. ^ "Carl Nassib becomes the first openly gay player to play in a NFL postseason game". GAY TIMES. January 16, 2022.
  4. ^ "Carl Nassib Makes History: First Openly Gay Player To Play In NFL Postseason Game". January 16, 2022.
  5. ^ Zeigler, Cyd (April 23, 2013). "Coming out kicking: Openly gay former college kicker tries for the NFL". Outsports. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  6. ^ "Rams reportedly took Michael Sam in 2014 draft in deal with NFL". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  7. ^ Belson, Ken (May 10, 2014). "In Historic Pick, Rams Take Michael Sam in Final Round of Draft". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 1, 2014.
  8. ^ Carter, Chelsea J. (May 10, 2014). "Michael Sam makes history: First openly gay player drafted in the NFL". CNN. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
  9. ^ Farmer, Sam (August 30, 2014). "Michael Sam, NFL's first openly gay player, is cut by St. Louis Rams". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014.
  10. ^ Wagoner, Nick (August 30, 2014). "Michael Sam cut by Rams". ESPN. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  11. ^ Corcoran, Tully (January 28, 2014). "'I'm bisexual': Kicker becomes first CFB player to publicly come out publicly". FoxSports.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  12. ^ "College football player Conner Mertens comes out". Outsports. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  13. ^ Zeigler, Cyd (August 13, 2014). "Arizona State football offensive lineman Chip Sarafin comes out as gay". Outsports. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  14. ^ "Scott Frantz of Kansas State Wildcats details telling teammates he is gay". Espn.com. 2017-07-13. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  15. ^ Zeigler, Cyd (2017-09-04). "Big XII football team with openly gay player wins by 36 points. So much for distractions". Outsports. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  16. ^ "Air Force defensive back Bradley Kim is first openly gay service academy player". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 28 July 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  17. ^ Buzinski, Jim (September 27, 2018). "Gay college football player now an Ohio high school coach". MSN.com.
  18. ^ Buzinski, Jim (August 29, 2019). "There are 7 openly gay or bi college football players this season". Outsports. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  19. ^ Selbe, Nick (19 October 2022). "Hampton DB Becomes First HBCU Football Player to Come Out as Gay". Sports Illustrated.
  20. ^ "Byron Perkins Makes History As First Out Football Player at HBCU". www.advocate.com. October 20, 2022.
  21. ^ DuLong, Jessica (19 February 2002). "Out in the field: pro footballer Alissa Wykes talks about breaking new ground for out lesbian athletes--and the flak she's gotten along the way". The Advocate. pp. 32–35. Retrieved 12 May 2021.