The NFL’s Courageous Carl Nassib Gives a Boost in the Battle Against Homophobia
By Ken Reed
Las Vegas Raiders’ defensive lineman Carl Nassib announced he was gay this week. He is the first active NFL player to do so.
It was a landmark announcement that will help thousands of young LGBTQ athletes and non-athletes alike. It’s a milestone that has — and will continue to — garner a lot of attention.
Nassib’s announcement has resulted in an outpouring of support, including from President Joe Biden, who tweeted:
“To Carl Nassib and Kumi Yokoyama [a Japanese soccer player who came out as transgender] — two prominent, inspiring athletes who came out this week: I’m so proud of your courage. Because of you, countless kids around the world are seeing themselves in a new light today.”
Nassib’s jersey became the number one seller in the NFL the day after his announcement.
Nassib’s decision, as an active player in America’s favorite sport, can truly make a positive difference. The world of sports, in particular football, might be the last bastion of unadulterated homophobia in American culture. Homophobic language and gay stereotypes are common in football locker rooms and there’s an emphasis on brute physical strength and machoism in the game’s culture.
Nassib’s emotional and spiritual strength will give more LGBTQ athletes the courage to come out and be true to themselves. It’s a shame that we still live in a society in which many LGBTQ citizens feel they need to suffocate who they truly are in order to fit in and be accepted. Nassib was fed up with that kind of life and decided he could be both an NFL player and an authentic and truthful human being.
“I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I’m not doing this for attention,” said Nassib in his announcement.
“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 and I’m going to start by donating $100,000 to the Trevor Project. They’re an incredible organization, they’re the number one suicide-prevention service for LGBTQ youth in America.”
What a beautiful cause: preventing suicide among LGBTQ youth in America. According to the CDC, LGB youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth.
The journalist Patrick Hruby nailed this whole issue while talking about Jason Collins being the first active, openly gay athlete to come out in the NBA:
“Sexuality is irrelevant…. Imagine the lack of joy, the sheer, inescapable loneliness, a lifetime seeking support with a finger planted on the censor button, wondering if anyone will embrace you for being, you know, you. Now realize how utterly unnecessary all of that should be. How unnecessary all of that actually is.”
Some day, an NFL player coming out as gay won’t be a big deal. But today it is. And kudos to Carl Nassib for taking that bold step.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman, and has a long involvement with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sport (now called the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition). We discuss the state of college athletics today, given the pressures of NIL, the transfer portal, sports gambling and huge media contracts. McMillen then provides great perspective on the poor state of physical fitness our young people are experiencing today.
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Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Episode #24 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Mental Health and Athletes: Ending the Stigma – Nathan Braaten and Taylor Ricci are the founders of Dam Worth It, a non-profit created to end the stigma around mental health at colleges and universities through sport, storytelling, and community creation.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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