Carl Nassib made history on Monday by becoming the first out gay NFL player to compete in a regular season game. Making the watershed moment for LGBTQ+ inclusion in sports even sweeter, the 28-year-old linebacker for the Las Vegas Raiders capped off the game by leading his team to victory.
The Monday Night Football match against the Baltimore Ravens was tied at 27-27 during overtime when Nassib strip-sacked quarterback Lamar Jackson, forcing a turnover in Ravens’ territory. The Raiders scored in just three plays, with the game culminating in a 31-yard throw from eighth-year quarter Derek Carr to wide receiver Zay Jones. Nassib’s team ultimately won 33-27.
Nassib, who has spent five years in the NFL, said the evening was “really special” in a post-game press conference.
“I’m really happy we got the win on the day that kind of made a little bit of history, which was really, really nice to do,” he said in a video posted to the Raiders’ website. “I had a lot of people come before me in the LGBTQ community that helped me get to where I am and I’m super thankful for that.”
In addition to being the team’s first matchup of the season, the game was heavily anticipated after Nassib came out as gay this June. Although Michael Sam made history in 2014 when he was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the seventh round of the NFL draft, he never saw playing time. After his sexual orientation was branded as a “distraction” by league insiders, he was cut during training camp. He briefly played in the Canadian Football League (CFL) before leaving the sport altogether.
Earlier this year, Nassib emphasized that he was coming out because he believes “representation matters.” “I stand on the shoulders of giants, incredible people who paved the way for me to have this opportunity,” he wrote, in a post that made him the only NFL player to ever come out while active in the league.
Monday’s historic game follows a wave of LGBTQ+ athletes coming out in recent months. Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop became the first active NHL player to come out as gay in July, followed minor league baseball player Bryan Ruby, a first baseman for Oregon’s Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, earlier this month. While other minor league players have opened up about their sexual orientation in the past, Ruby is the only out male athlete currently playing professional baseball in the U.S.
The deluge of coming out shas meant that a gay man is active in all five of America’s major sports for the first time ever, as Outsports recently reported. In addition to those previously mentioned, soccer player Collin Martin plays for the San Diego Loyal, while Derrick Gordon is playing basketball in Germany.
Nassib’s gameplay shows that times are changing even in a sport as historically unwelcoming as football, according to former NFL player Ryan O’Callaghan. O’Callaghan, a former offensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots, recently told The Daily Beast that he frequently heard epithets like “fa***t” in the locker room, which forced him deeper into the closet. He said he played football “as a cover for being gay.”
“When you hear one of your teammates and friends call someone a fa**ot, you remember that,” he said.
O’Callaghan continued to hide who he was until his 2011 retirement, but since coming out in a 2017 interview with Outsports, he noted that he’s partnered with the NFL to further inclusion in the league. In a 2020 National Coming Out Day PSA, he joined other athletes like R.K. Russell and Wade Davis in urging NFL players to live their truths.
“To all current players who are thinking of coming out, when you are ready, so are we,” the PSA stated.
It could be years before the league fully embraces LGBTQ+ players, but for now, Nassib said that he has been met with widespread support from the Raiders. “I’ve got a great locker room, great teammates,” he told reporters at an August press conference, his first public appearance since coming out. “I’ve been met with nothing but love and support. It’s been incredible.”
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