Carl Nassib, a Las Vegas Raiders defensive end, has become the first active NFL player to come out as gay.
The 28-year-old made his announcement via an Instagram post on Monday, during the LGBTQ Pride Month, which included a video message.
Nassib started, "What's up people? I'm at my house here in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I just want to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay. I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest. I really have the best life, I've got the best family, friends and job a guy could ask for."
"I'm a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I'm not doing this for attention. I just think that representation and visibility are so important. I actually hope that one day, videos like this and the whole coming out process are not necessary, but until then I will do my best and my part to cultivate a culture that's accepting and compassionate."
In March 2020, Nassib signed a 3-year, $25 million contract with the Raiders.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell expressed his pride in Nassib's brave confession.
"The NFL family is proud of Carl for courageously sharing his truth today. Representation matters. We share his hope that someday soon statements like his will no longer be newsworthy as we march toward full equality for the LGBTQ+ community. We wish Carl the best of luck this coming season."
Nassib is the first-ever active player to come out publicly as gay in NFL history, although many players have come out after they retired.
Nassib has teamed up with The Trevor Project, a non-profit organization focused on suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to LGBTQ youth under the age of 25. He initially made a donation of $100,000, saying, "They're an incredible organization, they're the No. 1 suicide-prevention service for LGBTQ youth in America. And they're truly doing incredible things. And I'm very excited to be a part of it, help in any way that I can and I'm really pumped to see what the future holds."
The organization thanked Nassib, saying in a statement that his donation will help "scale our life-saving crisis services to reach the more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth who seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S."
Source:
https://www.skysports.com/nfl/news/12118/12338256/carl-nassib-las-vegas-raiders-defensive-end-becomes-first-active-nfl-player-to-come-out-as-gay
