Josh Cavallo: Only openly gay top-flight male footballer says FIFA's 'OneLove' armband ban has ma him feel 'exclud' | CNN

Contents:

• THE 2 OUT GAY CHEERLEARS ARE MAKG HISTORY WH THE PANTHERS
• MEET THE 16 OUT GAY AND BI FOOTBALL PLAYERS THE NFL’S 103-YEAR HISTORY
• THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB ANNOUNC HE’S GAY, AN N.F.L. FIRST
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• MY HIDN JOURNEY: A PROFSNAL SOCCER PLAYER REVEALS HE IS GAY
• RAIRS’ CARL NASSIB OUT AS GAY, THE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO DO SO
• BEFORE CARL NASSIB, MICHAEL SAM WAS THE NFL’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DRAFT PICK. HE NEVER PLAYED A REGULAR SEASON GAME.
• JOSH CAVALLO: ONLY OPENLY GAY TOP-FLIGHT MALE FOOTBALLER SAYS FIFA’S ‘ONELOVE’ ARMBAND BAN HAS MA HIM FEEL ‘EXCLUD’
• GAY HENRY
• GAY FORMER FOOTBALL PLAYER FDS CREDIBLE ACCEPTANCE THE SOUTH
• ALAI UNED MIDFIELR JOSH CAVALLO BE FIRST CURRENT A-LEAGUE MEN PLAYER TO PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE HE'S GAY

THE 2 OUT GAY CHEERLEARS ARE MAKG HISTORY WH THE PANTHERS

When Kansas State offensive tackle and NFL hopeful Stt Frantz me out to the natn as gay last week, 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.

So, wh two gay players takg the field the top tier of llege football this season, has the future fally charged onto the turf? Here's a list of players llege and pro ball who have proved you n be gay or bi and still n the KopayRunng back Dave Kopay, who signed wh the San Francis 49ers 1964, would play for five teams before hangg up his jersey 1972. Coach Vce Lombardi had apparently nfid Smh that he knew of his sexualy but would never let impact him negatively; Lombardi's brother was also gay.

Yet he nspicuoly has never been ducted to the NFL Hall of SimmonsRoy "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.

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

He would e out to HBO Sports 2002, where he discsed lghg off gay jok and slurs for years while he played DavisCornerback 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. 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.

Michael SamThe world took notice 2014 when All-Amerin fensive end Michael Sam me out as gay to ESPN while still llege.

Louis Rams and beme the first openly gay player ever to get drafted by an NFL team. He did end up playg two years wh the Montreal Alouett, makg him the first openly gay player the history of the Canadian Football BryantA Purdue alum who gaed more yards than any other non-Heisman Trophy wner Big Ten history, Dorien Bryant failed to get drafted 2008. He later cled to sign wh the Tennsee Tans and Dallas Cowboys before g out as gay at 24, he told Philalphia Magaze 2013.

THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB

He would later move to San Francis and jo the Fog, a gay gby team, and pen a g-out blog post GallagherA Universy of Ptsburgh offensive leman om 1977 through 1979, Ed Gallagher reprsed his sexualy until 1985, when he had his first sexual enunter wh a man, then attempted to kill himself 12 days later. He died LuhenA kicker for the Nebraska Cornhkers who played om 2003 through 2005, Eric Luhen told Outsports he was open about beg gay and suffered relentls bullyg om a handful of teammat. While he said he never kept his sexualy a secret, a "nspiracy of silence" left the matter unspoken the GendreA kicker for four seasons wh the Middle Tennsee Blue Rairs, Alan Gendre, openly gay om age 16 on, would end his llege reer as the lead srer Sun Belt nference history.

He ma the cisn to announce he was gay, the first active Divisn III player to do so, after nnectg wh Conner Mertens through You Can Play, he SarafArizona State leman Chris Saraf 2014 me out as gay to lol LGBT publitn Compete, makg him the first Divisn I player out of the closet.

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

The move quickly brought msag of support om the athletic partment and universy officials, and the wrer for Compete told The Arizona Republic that the school fact approached him about breakg the SimsBrian Sims 2000 was named -pta for the Bloomsberg Universy football team Pennsylvania, makg him the first openly gay llege football pta NCAA history, acrdg to Outsports. Sims, post-football, entered polics and 2012 beme the first openly gay polician ever elected to the Pennsylvania Hoe of DarrowAn offensive leman for Prceton, Mason Darrow me out 2015. He's now pursug a ont-office job profsnal JohnsonMy-Kg Johnson, a recent grad of Tempe High School Arizona, is set this fall to be the first openly gay scholarship player reced to play major-llege football, takg the field wh the Universy of Arizona.

He said he wanted to enter his fal season of llege ball livg openly and hontly, and emailed the newspaper shortly after Kurdzlek, a iend and opponent on the field, me out PertetWyatt Pertet, a special teams player and receiver for Capal Universy, will be a sophomore this season. Booker and Crawford are out gay, Black male cheerlears a sport domated by heteronormativy and all of s cultural trappgs.

It’s like, ‘Yeah, maybe I should be as gay as I possibly n, bee that’s what the stereotype believ me to be, ’” he said. For two out gay men, that’s no small feat. The NFL has played for more than 100 years and there have been 16 gay or bi players to e out publicly.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

16 and the first one to e out as gay while on an active roster. Over the years, Outsports has known of a few other players who are gay but have never e out, even when retired.

The NFL Network produced a documentary on Smh beg gay.

MY HIDN JOURNEY: A PROFSNAL SOCCER PLAYER REVEALS HE IS GAY

Jenks is gay and this was the the first time he wily discsed his sexual orientatn. In June, Carl Nassib of the Rairs me out as gay.

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

The subject was the impact of Carl Nassib g out as gay the NFL for the Las Vegas Rairs. Matea offensive leman Jake Strer, who is gay, is one of five current or former LGBTQ athlet profiled. “When I returned to football my sophomore year after g out was bee I knew that if I qu football was jt the begng of thgs I would qu or hold myself back om bee I was gay, ” Strer told Outsports.

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

“To fast forward to my last football game my senr year and have end wh ‘NFL 360’ there to clu me a story celebratg the first openly gay football player NFL history is still really unbelievable to me.

EST, we see scen of Strer’s last game as a Matea Mtang, terspersed wh him speakg about beg gay football and what Nassib’s g out meant to him. Their experienc are universal, ways good and bad, for many LGBTQ people — Pick talkg about the pa om the ial rejectn by her mom; O’Callaghan discsg suicidal thoughts before beg rcued by a therapist; Rapoport’s touchg rellectn of g out to NFL Commissner Roger Gooll by approachg him at a Super Bowl event holdg her girliend’s hand and Gooll’s se upon seeg ; Saffold discsg growg up Black and gay on the South Si of Chigo “where there are rampant levels of homophobia” and Strer on how he ed to worry “about how bad my life might be after I me out. “I thk 11- or 12-year-old kids playg football prr to Carl Nassib g out didn’t thk there uld be a gay football player, ” Rapoport said.

JOSH CAVALLO: ONLY OPENLY GAY TOP-FLIGHT MALE FOOTBALLER SAYS FIFA’S ‘ONELOVE’ ARMBAND BAN HAS MA HIM FEEL ‘EXCLUD’

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTRairs’ Carl Nassib Announc He’s Gay, an N.

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. ViotranscripttranscriptCarl Nassib Be First Openly Gay Active N.

I jt want to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay.

GAY HENRY

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

GAY FORMER FOOTBALL PLAYER FDS CREDIBLE ACCEPTANCE THE SOUTH

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.

L., and mak him the first openly gay active player the league’s 101-year history. “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.

ALAI UNED MIDFIELR JOSH CAVALLO BE FIRST CURRENT A-LEAGUE MEN PLAYER TO PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE HE'S GAY

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.