7 Gay NFL Football Players

No active NFL player has ever declared his homosexuality publicly. Many NFL players have confessed being gay football players after retirement.

Michael Sam

In 2014, Michael Sam a college football player publicly came out as a gay football player. He plays in the defensive end and is tipped to have a bright future. Many analysts believe, with his potential he will surely get his ticket to play with any National Football League (NFL) team. If he achieves this feat, he will become the first active gay football player in the NFL.

Here we take a look at all the other gay football players who played in the NFL.

Note: Please do not take this post to heart.

#1

David Kopay

David Kopay played as a running back in the NFL. In 1975 he became the first professional NFL football player to come out as gay. He is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation and is also the Gay Games Ambassador of the Federation of Gay Games.

In his biography, “The David Kopay Story”, David talks about his affair with Jerry Smith, another NFL player. Although he didn’t name Jerry in his book, but after Jerry died of AIDS, David revealed his name.

#2

Ray Douglas McDonald

Ray McDonald played for the Washington Redskins as a running back in the National Football League. In 1968 he was arrested by the police for having sex with a man in public.

#3

Jerry Smith

Jerry Smith a former tight end NFL player died of AIDS on October 15, 1986.After the death of Smith, David Kopay a former NFL footballer revealed about his affair with Smith. Smith never made it public about his homosexuality but later after his death, it was confirmed by his relatives that he was a gay.

#4

Roy Simmons

Roy Simmons was an American football player who played as a guard for New York Giants and Washington Redskins in the NFL. In 1992, he declared himself a homosexual on The Phil Donahue Show.

#5

Esera Tuaolo

In 2002, Esera Tuaolo former NFL football player publically declared to be a gay. He became the third NFL player to come out as a gay, after David Kopay and Roy Simmons. He is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation. He has also testified at the State Legislature Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in opposition to an anti-gay-marriage bill.

In June 2010, he was arrested in North Oaks for assaulting his boyfriend.

#6

Wade Davis

Wade Davis the former NFL defensive back came out of his closet in 2012, declaring himself to be a gay. Davis is a board member of the New York Gay Football League and of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network sport-advisory.

#7

Kwame Harris

Kwame Harris is a former football offensive tackle who played for six seasons in the NFL. When Harris was a kid, he told his parents that he was attracted to other boys. Soon his parents decided to send Harris away from his hometown for further education to hide is homosexual status.

After his retirement from American football, Kwame Harris in 2013 publically revealed of being a homosexual in an interview with CNN.