When you hear the word football, you cannot help but visualize athletic, massive, and extremely gritty men who play the competitive games we love.  We all envision time-expiring touchdowns, savage hits and checks, and wild plays that sometimes outright defy physics.   This intensity and excitement associated with football has become etched in the viewers minds.  Fans cannot wait for that moment on the field where all your troubles and struggles for your team leave your mind, while you watch perfection happen before your eyes.

As fans, seeing those athletes hustle, grind and give everything they have to create that perfect moment makes us idolize those players that much more. And because we idolize athletes so much, we as fans often forget that the athletes are humans too, that have personal lives, concerns and situations which go on outside of their respective sports. We as fans owe it to all athletes to respect their lives outside of the sport we love so much. Sometimes that can be hard when an athlete is in a controversial or sensitive situation, that we as fans may not agree with, and we let our emotions and better judgement get the best of us which unfortunately leads to criticizing publicly or changing our perspective about those athletes. And one sensitive situation occurred over this week in the NFL, and that player deserves the utmost support and respect for what he did and what he is standing by.

Carl Nassib, a professional football player for the Las Vegas Raiders, became the first active NFL player to come out openly as gay. According to ESPN, Nassib made the announcement via video on his Instagram page. Nassib stated the following:

“What’s up people? I’m at my house here in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I just want to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest. I really have the best life, I’ve got the best family, friends and job a guy could ask for. I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I’m really not doing this for attention. I just think that representation and visibility are so important. I actually hope that like one day, videos like this and the whole coming-out process are just not necessary. But until then, I’m going to do my best and do my part to cultivate a culture that’s accepting, that’s compassionate and I’m going to start by donating $100,000 to the Trevor Project. The Trevor Project provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to the LGBTQ+ community.

Nassib discussed in a statement that his donation will help it “scale our life-saving crisis services to reach the more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth who seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S.” They’re an incredible organization, they’re the No. 1 suicide-prevention service for LGBTQ youth in America. And they’re truly doing incredible things. And I’m very excited to be a part of it, help in any way that I can and I’m really pumped to see what the future holds.”

After Nassib’s announcement to the public, the reaction of the sports world fully and proudly supported Nassib. The commissioner of the NFL publicly stated, “Representation matters. We share his hope that someday soon statements like his will no longer be newsworthy as we march toward full equality for the LGBTQ+ community. We wish Carl the best of luck this coming season.”

Many other athletes, celebrities and public figures have shown their support of Nassib. The sports world as a whole supports Carl Nassib and his announcement. And honestly, the sports world has come a long way from the first openly gay player. Jason Collins, a former NBA center, came out publicly in 2013. This caused shockwaves across the sports world, and at the time the subject was still very sensitive in what seemed to be impossible in a world filled with aggressive alpha males. Some fans supported Collins and some also did not take to the announcement well. Certainly, before Collins, there have been many other athletes that have thought it best to disclose their sexual preferences after their playing career, as they were uncomfortable to do so during.

One such case which really highlights the struggles faced in the past, and how far we have come in accepting others preferences, look no further than  Yost v. Board of Regents, Univ. of Md., 1993 U.S. Dist. Yost, a former field hockey player for the University of Maryland played and attended the university from 1988-1992. In this case, Yost sued the Board of Regents , which is the governing body of the university, as well as the President of the University, Dr. William Kirwan, the Athletic Director, Andrew Geiger. Yost enjoined the three defendants and sought out an order to prevent the three defendants from further violating the rights of homosexual athletes at the University of Maryland and requiring them to prepare a plan to end the alleged discrimination. Yost also sued Assistant Athletic Director, Dr. Susan Tyler and Head Coach for the Women’s Field Hockey Team, Defendant Margaret M. Meharg. Yost sought compensatory and punitive damages against these two defendants for conspiracy to violate her rights and an order enjoining them from further violating her federal and state law rights.

Allegedly in February 1990 in response to questioning by Meharg, Yost admitted that she was “gay”, and was informed by Meharg that her sexual orientation was not acceptable to the University of Maryland. At this time Meharg made numerous derogatory and stereotypical remarks about Yost’s sexual orientation and ordered her to conceal it from the field hockey team, the athletic department, and members of the public who might directly or indirectly associate Yost with the University of Maryland. In addition, Meharg ordered Yost not to “be seen” with her girlfriend, accept rides to or from practice or class from her, or visit with her on the College Park campus for any reason. Defendant Meharg then threatened Yost that in the event that she did not comply with these orders Meharg would deny Yost the benefit of her scholarship and her place on the team.

Yost alleged that her field hockey coach, and other University employee defendants conspired to restrict her freedom of speech and association in violation of the First Amendment as a condition of scholarship and playing time. Yost asserts that the purpose of defendants in restricting her rights was to suppress any public exhibition of any lesbian athlete’s sexual orientation in order to project and preserve a false image of heterosexuality among University of Maryland female athletes.

Ultimately, the court applied that lack of jurisdiction over plaintiff’s claims for injunctive relief, and failure to state a cause of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), caused the court to grant the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. Yost’s case was entirely dismissed against the Defendants Board of Regents, Dr. William Kirwan, and Andrew Geiger. The court also dismissed the Plaintiffs claims of conspiracy against Meharg and Dr. Susan Tyler Therefore, Yost suffered defeat and lost the case against the University of Maryland. And thus, this case forced her to keep quiet about her sexuality after going through this whole ordeal.

Those challenges Yost faced would not have gone the same way today. If this were the case today, the University of Maryland would have been in some serious trouble and the court would have brought the hammer down on the university for discriminating and conspiring against this student. But for all those challenges Yost faced in her case, she helped paved the way for other gay athletes to have the courage to come out and to tell everyone about their story. Yost helped pave the way for Carl Nassib to come out as a professional NFL player, she helped Jason Collins come out, Megan Rapinoe and all the other athletes who are gay. Yost may not have known them personally, but because she had the courage to fight for her sexuality, she helped change the perspective of gay athletes and helped the sports world reach of point of acceptance for gay athletes.

While Ms. Yost suffered a defeat back in the 90’s, fortunately such legal struggles do not exist today, and the protection is there.  As of the time of this blog, there are many options for a person to choose from to protect their sexual identity. The story of Ms. Yost would be very different today and the Universities would never dare take such a tone against an athlete.

However, discrimination still exists.  No one should feel that they cannot be comfortable in their own skin and feel that their very identity is one to be locked away. Miletti Law is staunch when it comes to preserving and protecting an individual’s freedom.  Individuals have every right to project any image of themselves as they desire, and engage in any practice they desire that is non-harmful to others.

For anyone who has felt threatened or discriminated against because of their sexuality, Miletti Law is here for you to help.  Why not have the strongest name in law on your side?

As Always stay Unusually Motivated and keep crafting your knack!