The NFL is quite literally more closed than their collegiate sports. Carl Nassib is the first and only National Football League player to come out openly as gay in 2021. He didn’t play the season after he came out as gay, which felt slightly retaliatory. Nassib did play a final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022 before retiring at the end of the 2022–2023 season.
It’s interesting because it feels riskier for a player to be open about being in the LGBTQ+ community in college, when they may face greater retaliation entering the NFL if they decide to play football professionally. Perhaps it is a generational phenomenon since younger people are more open about their sexuality and are more generally accepting, it seems. College is definitely teaching the NFL something this time around.
The First HBCU Player To Come Out As Gay
Byron Perkins puts the strong in HBCU strong in 2022. Perkins is not the first Division 1 football player to come out, but he is the first one who is attending an HBCU. The brave young man came out via Instagram story. He posted: “I’ve decided that I’m going to make a change, and stop running away from myself. I’m gay, let it be known that this is not a ‘decision’ or a ‘choice.’ Yes, this is who I am, this is who I’ve been, and this is who I’m going to be.”
Cyd Zeigler, the co-founder of Outsports, pointed out that many of the first gay athletes to trailblaze are African-American males. Zeigler then made a heartwarming quote via email about Byron Perkins: “To now have Byron step out in the heart of masculine sports culture at an HBCU shows how far these men have advanced the conversation. And as Byron said, now there’s been this important first, others will feel they can be their true selves, too. Courage is contagious.” Yes!!!
In an interview with Outsports, Perkins said, “There hasn’t been an out gay football athlete at an HBCU. I want to end the stigma of what people think. I want people to know they can be themselves. It’s about that kid who’s going to see this and think he can be himself too.” There are so many beautiful sentiments there for the young and up-and-coming football players.
Byron Perkins Faces Consequences
Perkins has faced consequences for his choice to come out and express his entire identity. There was some negative reception to his news, although thankfully not from his football coaches at Hampton University. Many black men have expressed their experience of being gay at an HBCU, and I encourage you to read some of their stories here and here. They deserve to be heard, loved, and understood.
However, Byron Perkins also declared for the 2024 NFL draft with no success. He was not drafted in the NFL or signed in free agency yet. Granted, HBCU players are often overlooked in the NFL draft. In both 2020 and 2024, no HBCU players who declared were drafted. It’s unclear if it was racism or homophobia that had the greater impact on Perkins being overlooked.
The NFL Will Have To Grow Up
In over 100 years of the league, only one player has come out as openly gay while they are an active player. That will not be a trend that will prevail in the 21st century. With college players being as open as they are, the NFL will have to draft an openly gay player and allow them to play at some point.
Research has shown that seven percent of American men identify as having an orientation other than heterosexual. In any given year, there are 1,696 active players in the NFL. Seven percent of that number is 119. That doesn’t mean there are over 100 men who identify with some level of same-sex attraction; the NFL is not identical to the overall population statistically in many different categories, and sexual orientation could be one of those factors.
However, there are definitely some active roster players who are not statistically heterosexual. 257 men were drafted by the NFL in 2024. Seven percent of that would be 18 men. We could do that with many different branches of the NFL (coaches, owners, training staff, practice roster players), but we won’t. You get the point.
If that makes someone uncomfortable, they will need to look within and do some inner work because younger people are too openly themselves to hide away. It’s truly tragic that so many men in the NFL, and in America in general, have had to hide a part of themselves to fit the ideal mold of a “football player.” Byron Perkins gives us all hope.
For More Content:
Want to read more about how other minority groups in the NFL get highlighted for their contributions to the sport? May was Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month, and their articles can be found here and here, respectively.
