How many gay people are in the nfl

Examining Media Framing of Openly gay NFL Player Carl Nassib

Authors: Edward M. Kian, Ph.D.
School of Media & Strategic Communications, Oklahoma Articulate University, OK, USA

Corresponding Author:
Edward M. Kian, Ph.D.
School of Media & Strategic Communications
Oklahoma State University
201 Paul Miller Building
Stillwater, OK 74078
[email protected]
407-927-5403

Dr. Edward (Ted) M. Kian, Ph.D. is a full professor of Sports Media in the School of Media & Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Kian’s research focuses on sport media, specifically examining portrayals of gender and LGBT in content, novel media, attitudes and experiences of sport media members, and sport marketing.

Examining Media Framing of Openly lgbtq+ NFL Player Carl Nassib

ABSTRACT

This researched examined mainstream media framing of Carl Nassib becoming the first active, established NFL player to come out as male lover. Purpose: Media have historically framed the NFL as a rugged, masculine sport, but media have also been supportive of the few former professional athletes who came out as gay or bisexual. This study examined how media framed an active male lover athlete in what is construe

Dave Kopay was the first professional team sport athlete to declare his homosexuality. Since that moment in 1975, three years after his retirement from a nine-year career as an NFL running help, few have followed in his wake.

Kopay played for five teams during his career -- San Francisco, Detroit, Washington, New Orleans and Grassy Bay. He later tried to get into coaching, but the NFL and colleges expressed no interest after his homosexuality was made public.

Kopay now runs his family's linoleum business in Southern California. As part of the Outside the Lines series on gays and homophobia in sports, Kopay chatted about his life and those of other gay athletes.

Below is an edited transcript of that chat:

Chris: It has been no covert that a lot of athletes have a history of being womanizers. Did you see a lot of that happening and did fellow football players wonder why you weren't interested in partaking in their fun?

Dave Kopay:

As for being a womanizer, at a youthful age you're full of excitement and energy. And I did date women at the time. A lot of guys were married and they'd depart home to their wives. So the fact that I didn't date a whole lo

"I'm the happiest and healthiest I've ever been in my life and that means the world to me."

Over the course of the NFL's 103-year history, only a handful of players have ever arrive out as gay. In a sport where many players feel that their career could be at risk if they came out, it takes a lot of courage to authentically live their authenticity. In fact, it wasn't until 2021 that an active player actually opened up about his sexuality. But thanks to the bravery of all the players who have decided to share their story so far, there's long for that the NFL will be a more inclusive place going forward.

Find out which football stars own come out as gay…

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1. Carl Nassib

Carl Nassib, who currently plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is the first active NFL player to appear out as gay. In an Instagram video common in June 2021, Carl opened up about his sexuality and expressed his gratitude for the aid he'd been given so far from his teammates and coaches.

"I just wanted to take a rapid moment to say that I'm gay," he said. "I've been meaning to do this for a while now but finall

LOS ANGELES -- David Kopay peers out the window of his ninth-floor apartment in West Hollywood and studies the striking view: the tumbling Hollywood Hills, down to the Christmas-treed top of Tower Records, out to the Los Angeles skyline and the Pacific Ocean beyond.

He wonders where all the years went.

It has been 23 NFL seasons since Kopay, a running back for five teams in nine seasons, stunned the sports society by coming out as a homosexual. He was the first major professional team-sport athlete to complete so, but few possess followed. Guard Roy Simmons, who played 58 games for the Giants and Redskins from 1979-83, came out on the Phil Donahue Show in 1992, but that was it.

"I'm the token queer,'' Kopay muses. "I'm it.''

The belief that somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of the general population is homosexual suggests that 75 to 150 of the NFL's 1,500 players are closeted.


Troy Aikman has denied relentless rumors he is gay.

"Think about this,'' says Atlanta wide receiver Terance Mathis. "You may hold three, four gay guys on your team and not even know it.''

Says Kopay, "Of course, that is what I want to believe, and yet I don't se