Gay college football players

Being gay seemed like none of that. Subscribe to our Newsletter today. Here's a list of players in college and pro football who have proved you can be gay or bi and still run the gauntlet. When Xavier Colvin stood on a stage in front his teammates with a microphone earlier this month, he knew there was no turning back.

Battling bouts of depression, he sought refuge with a school counselor who opened his eyes to a more loving way to view his own identity. They supported him wholeheartedly. His Butler teammates made sure Colvin knew he was loved. It had been a long journey for Colvin from childhood to that stage.

Every person at school he told was supportive, and every supportive message built a foundation of strength in him to share his true self with his coaches and his team. Seeing others come out to their teammates and coaches also inspired Colvin. As a young gay football player with precious few examples that felt like him, merging football and being gay in his own head was difficult.

This is a list of notable, openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, and queer -identifying athletes associated with American Football, namely the NFL. This includes those who were posthumously outed. Still, those lingering images of strong, heterosexual men dominating football lingered in his mind.

The Butler Bulldogs linebacker had finally become comfortable with being gay, and he wanted his entire team to know who he truly was. As he came out to a couple teammates and friends earlier this year, the fog lifted from his eyes. List of LGBTQ American football players For a more in-depth discussion of the topic go here: Homosexuality in American Football.

This story first ran in and is being republished as part of our Pride Pioneers series. Our weekly playbook is packed with everything from locker room chatter to pressing LGBTQ sports issues. While their response would have shocked Colvin a year ago, overwhelming support has now become the most common reaction from college football players across America.

He had grown up with his father, two-time Super Bowl champion Rosevelt Colvin, being one of those macho role models.

It was all positive. There have been many publicly out gay and bi college football players, including at least a dozen in NCAA Division I alone. It had been an amazing transformation for Colvin that had happened so rapidly, going from completely closeted to talking about being gay in front of the entire team.

Yet over the last two years Colvin has come to a different understanding. I got so caught up trying to please others that I fell into a path of always trying to help others and not myself. Finally I became courageous enough to be myself.

It was after months of reading many coming-out stories on Outsports that Colvin reached out last year, still struggling to find the strength to come out to the people closest to him. His linebackers coach, Derek Day, thought it would be good for Colvin to share.

Not even a single negative reaction.