Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player in history to announce that he is gay, according to Outsports.
"What's up people?," Nassib said on Instagram. "I'm at my house in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay. I've been meaning to do this for a while now but finally feel comfortable getting it off my chest. I really have the best life, the best family, friends and job a guy can ask for."
On the Instagram post, the Raiders tweeted a heart emoji (in silver and black, which is fitting), showing the team supports Nassib.
Nassib, 28, is entering his sixth NFL season, his second with the Raiders after stints with the Browns and Buccaneers. He has 20.5 career sacks. He played in college for Penn State.
No openly active gay or bisexual player has ever played a down in an NFL regular season game. There have been 15 players who came out after playing; Michael Sam, in 2014, was out after being drafted but never made a roster.
"Carl Nassib's powerful coming out is a historic reflection of the growing state of LGBTQ visibility and inclusion in the world of professional sports, which has been driven by a long list of brave LGBTQ athletes who came before him," said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a press release. "As an accomplished athlete who is now the first out gay active player in the NFL, Carl Nassib's story will not only have a profound impact on the future of LGBTQ visibility and acceptance in sports, but sends a strong message to so many LGBTQ people, especially youth, that they too can one day grow up to be and succeed as a professional athlete like him."
According to ESPN.com, Nassib said he will donate $100,000 to the Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to the LGBTQ+ community. The NFL later stated it would match Nassib's donation.
