NFL's Carl Nassib Pledges $100K to the Trevor Project after coming out
June 25, 2021
Earlier this week, Las Vegas Raiders' Carl Nassib made an announcement via his Instagram that he is gay. With the annoucement, he became the first active NFL player to come out as gay. Immediately following, the 28-year-old pledged $100,000 to The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention service for the LGBTQ+ community.
“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.”
Nassib noted that he did it publicly to support his realization and acceptance of who he truly is.
"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 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."
Stay in the Game Network member, The Trevor Project, is a leading organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ youth. They admired Nassib’s donation, saying in a statement that it will help "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."
According to its 2020 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, 48% of LGBTQ youth reported engaging in self-harm in the past twelve months, including over 60% of transgender and nonbinary youth, with 40% of LGBTQ youth attempting suicide over the last year.
"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,” said Nassib.
In a statement, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league "is proud of Carl for courageously sharing his truth. 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."
There have been supportive reactions and messages to Nassib’s announcement throughout the NFL and across the sports sector overall, hopefully signfying that his actions will contribute to more progress in LGBTQ acceptance and rights in the sports world.
Source: ESPN