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A CURRENT NFL player is seriously considering coming out publicly sometime in the next few months, according to reports in the US.

The player was not named, but according to CBS he will continue playing and become the first active, openly gay athlete in American team sports history.

From Mike Freeman:

“This player’s true concern, I’m told, is not the reaction inside an NFL locker room but outside of it. The player fears he will suffer serious harm from homophobic fans, and that is the only thing preventing him from coming out.”

NFL players have actually been the most vocal athletes in the gay rights debate currently taking place because of the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on Prop 8, which banned gay marriage in California.

A number of players including Chris Kluwe and Scott Fujita filed a brief with the court, arguing in favour of gay marriage as a civil right.

Fujita told Freeman:

“I honestly think the players of the NFL have been ready for an openly gay player for quite some time now. Trust me, the coming out of a player would create much bigger waves outside the locker room than inside.”

A really interesting part of this story is that this unnamed player has, ostensibly, come out to Freeman’s sources. So while the public waits for the first active player to come out, people in the NFL world already know a gay active player.

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