The
You Can Play Project, a nonprofit group working to ensure LGBT equality and inclusion in sport, is launching its "High Five" initiative in an effort to create connections and dialogue between LGBT youth and leaders within the professional sports community. On Tuesday, the group announced the National Football League as the first professional organization to participate in the new campaign.
The "High Five" initiative will begin with former NFL players and executives visiting New York City's Hetrick Martin Institute. As one of the nation's oldest and largest LGBT organizations, the Institute provides LGBT youth with social support and programming, ranging from arts and culture, to academic enrichment and job readiness.
“We believe that the power of storytelling is a transformative experience that helps to broaden and foster our
Wade Davis in a press release. "We hope through these one-on-one interactions youth will see they are welcomed in sports.”
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| Former NFL player Wade Davis Executive Director of You Can Play. |
understanding of one another," said former professional player and You Can Play executive director
Davis himself learned firsthand about the impact that sports have on LGBT youth while working for more than two years at the Hetrick Martin Institute. “Initially, I didn’t inform the youth I was a former NFL player,” said Davis, who came out as gay after his professional career, “but as more and more found out, I realized it was important for them to know that I was gay and played sports.”
As an advocacy organization, You Can Play is dedicated to ensuring equality, respect, and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity. The organizations currently partners with the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. Together with the NFL, You Can Play is now committed to expanding its program during the 2014 season, intending to connect more players with LGBT organizations nationwide.
The “High Five” initiative is one of many reported steps that professional sports leagues are now taking to reach out to LGBT communities. And despite not having any openly gay athletes currently playing in the “big four” — the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL — the initiative demonstrates a bold move, the first of its kind offering a mutually beneficial relationship. The announcement also comes on the heels of a recent report indicating the NFL was actively working to bring an openly gay player into the league last season.
This past spring free agent linebacker
Brendon Ayanbadejo who has strongly supported the NOH8 campaign and the legalization of gay marriage,
confirmed that not one, but four National Football League (NFL) players were considering coming out as gay.
He told
Baltimore Sun that behind the scenes preparations were being made to alleviate the pressure on the men, for them to come out comfortably, and with the support of the league.
"I think it will happen sooner than you think. We're in talks with a handful of players who are considering it. There are up to four players being talked to right now, and they're trying to be organized so they can come out on the same day together."
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| NFL free agent Kerry Rhodes is suspected in-the-closet player. |
When these rumors started to circulate about the possibility of an NFL player coming out, and the rumors hit the mainstream--Ayanbadejo backed off of the initial statement about multiple players, but he still held firm that at least one player was on his way out. Turns out, his statement did more harm than good.
Just a few months prior, an unidentified gay player not only came out to a group of friends and advisers, but sent his reps in search of a team that would sign him and be completely cool with him coming out. They found the team and everything was a go, but two things happened. One was that word of the impending signing started to leak, leading to increased speculation and the reporting of rumors more or less confirmed by the likes of Ayanbadejo and others. The second was that
Jason Collins came out to great fanfare and one of the most intense media blitzes in recent history.
Though there was little negative public reaction to the coming out of Collins, the fact remains that he did so as a free agent and remains unsigned. The gay NFL player was expected to receive an offer in mid-May so that there could be while for the publicity to die down before training camp started, but that offer never came.
Some say it was because said player wanted too much money. The player (
some believe to be Kerry Rhodes) thought it was because the team got cold feet due to all of the Jason Collins attention. The bottom line is that it never happened, said player is still in the closet (and still a free agent), and as 2013 comes to a close, the NFL has yet to have their first openly gay-active player.
Former NFL players
Kwame Harris (who had a publicized domestic assault case with his lover, prior to revealing his sexuality) and
Wade Davis have both come out since leaving the league.
[GAY NET][QUEERTY]
