Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib announced in an Instagram video that he is gay, making him the first active NFL player to come out as gay. Additionally, he announced a six-figure donation to the Trevor Project.
America, meet your first openly gay active NFL player. Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib, 28, in an Instagram video announced he is gay, HuffPost reports.
“What’s up people, I’m Carl Nassib. I’m at my house in West Chester, Pennsylvania,” Nassib says. “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, I finally feel comfortable now to get it off my chest. I really have the best life, the best family, friends and job a guy can ask for.”
He also says he’s donating $100,000 to The Trevor Project, which works to help young LGBTQ youth in crisis or feeling suicidal.
“I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I’m not doing this for attention,” Nassib adds. “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, and they’re truly doing incredible things. I’m very excited to be a part of it, to help in any way that I can, and I’m really pumped to see what the future holds.”
In one of the several text images on that post, Nassib explains why this is so important:
Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Top Image via screencaps.