"What’s up, people? I’m Carl Nassib. I’m at my house here in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay."
It's momentous. I had to read it in the newspaper to know that it was momentous — and not just another moment — a "quick moment" — as life goes on around us. I'd seen the clip yesterday, but moved on, thinking, okay, fine. Thanks for the info, not that I knew who you were or need to rearrange any of my mental furniture.
But this morning I see in WaPo, "Carl Nassib becomes first active NFL player to come out as gay." The article mentions Michael Sam, and the name rings a bell and reminds me why I thought the gay-in-the-NFL issue played out long ago.
[I]n 2014 — and shortly before he was drafted by the St. Louis Rams — Missouri defensive 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....
So Sam was never an active NFL player. And in June 2014, he withdrew from football for what WaPo calls "mental health reasons."
It took 7 more years before another NFL player to come out as gay! But now, at long last, there's Carl Nassib, who just wanted to take a quick moment to say he's gay. Now, let the other gay NFL players take their quick moment and make it obvious that Nassib isn't alone.
Thanks to Carl Nassib!
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I'm getting a lot of email about Dave Kopay, so let me just post what I found and why I'm not interested in taking this conversation in his direction:.
From USA Today:
"Decades before Nassib, there was Dave Kopay, who kept his orientation secret, coming out three years after his football career ended. Sports Illustrated wrote of Kopay: "For much of his time with the 49ers, Lions, Washington, Saints and Packers, Kopay didn't come out even to himself. He tried many of the classic countermeasures: He entered a minor seminary for a while (before transferring to a regular Catholic high school) and married a stewardess. He didn't want to be gay.""
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