Michael Sam, coming out in US football: “I’m gay and I want the NFL”

NEW YORK – 24-year-old African American Michael Sam is the first American football champion to publicly announce he is gay. Star of the University of Missouri team, he came out with an interview with the New York Times , making a gesture that breaks a very rooted taboo in a sport considered by the macho as football. He will be the first openly gay champion to play in the Nation Football League next season.

Sam is a very talented, nationally recognized player. It weighs over 120 kilos, 187 centimeters high, and plays in defense. This year his team won the championship after having strung dozens of successes. Sam was voted the best player of the year by his team-mates and next year will be among the most coveted players from the big professional clubs.

Michael’s personal story is troubled. Seventh of eight children, born and raised on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, he is the son of a single mother. He spent most of his childhood entrusted to another couple. Three of his brothers died, one killed in a gunfight, his sister when he was a newborn, and another brother was found dead two years after his disappearance. Two other brothers are still in prison. “I could have ended badly – says Michael – But I made a choice”. Studying, playing football: “I wanted my family to be proud of me”. And, from very early in life, to recognize one’s identity: “I’m not afraid of who I am”.

But on his way he also found great support, as the NYT points out. Starting with his companions, who supported him in his courageous choice. Sam told them everything before going out publicly, “but they already knew it, and they supported me.” And in television interviews with Espn and the New York Times he acknowledges the importance of his gesture for American sport but simply states: “It shouldn’t be so relevant. I’m a graduate, a football player, an African American, and I’m gay”.

Other football players have come out, like Kwame Harris and Dave Kopay, but all after finishing their professional careers. In basketball, NBA player Jason Collins announced his sexual orientation after the season ended last year. Just like the national basketball player Robbie Rogers did last year. Which thus welcomed Sam’s gesture: “His courage will inspire millions of people to live their truth”.

“We admire the courage and honesty of Michael Sam. We are ready to welcome him and support him in 2014,” the NFL said in a statement. Sam’s announcement comes at the height of a broad debate on gay rights and the sport linked to the Sochi OI and the restrictive policies of Putin’s Russia. Sam told Nyt that he had an affair with an athlete from the Missouri swim team, and told his teammates Damian Washington and Marvin Foster last year, before coming out with the whole team during a meeting with the coaches. “The coaches wanted us to tell something about ourselves,” he told ESPN, “so I took the opportunity to say that I’m gay. And their reaction was:” He finally told us. ”

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said he was proud of Sam: “Michael is a great example of how important respect is for others. He has taught so many people that it doesn’t matter what your origins are, or your personal orientation “We are all in the same team and we support each other.” His team-mate Donovan Bonner said the whole team knew about Sam for five years: “No team member, coach or staff member ever said anything. He says a lot about the family atmosphere here”.

(10 February 2014)