Former Buccaneers DE Carl Nassib Comes Out as Gay, Makes NFL History

On Monday, Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out as gay in league history.

The Las Vegas Raiders defensive end, who played with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2018-19, shared the news via Instagram and contributed a $100,000 donation to The Trevor Project, an organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for youth members of the LGBTQ+ community.

You can find Nassib’s message transcribed below.

“What’s up people,” Nassib said in his post. “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.

“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 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 and help in any way that I can and I’m really pumped to see what the future holds.”

In a note attached to the post, Nassib shared that the Raiders organization has been supportive in his coming out and admitted that if not for their support, he wouldn’t have been able to share his sexuality publicly.

In 2014, Michael Sam became the first openly gay person selected in an NFL Draft. However, the St. Louis Rams would release their seventh-round selection before Sam ever played a down in the league, making Nassib the first openly gay active NFL player. Several former players have come out after hanging up their cleats.