With the Supreme Court squarely confronting the issue of same-sex marriage today, a new report suggests that a well-known and current NFL player is strongly considering coming out as gay.
CBSSports.com reports that within the next few months, a current football player will come out publicly and would continue to play in the league after the announcement.
“I honestly think the players of the NFL have been ready for an openly gay player for quite some time now,” free-agent linebacker and gay-marriage advocate Scott Fujita told columnist Mike Freeman. “Trust me, the coming out of a player would create much bigger waves outside the locker room than inside.”
As Freeman writes, the player thinking about coming out fears he will suffer “serious harm from homophobic fans” and that’s the only thing preventing him from coming out.
There has never been an openly gay man on the roster of any major league team. Gay athletes in the past, such as Esera Tuaolo (NFL), Glenn Burke (MLB) and John Amaechi (NBA) came out after they retired from professional sports.