This NFL free agent, formerly of the Cowboys and Bucs, comes out as bisexual
NFL free agent Ryan Russell, who played with the Dallas Cowboys for one season and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two seasons, announced he was bisexual in a first-person story told to ESPN.
Dallas drafted Russell in the 2015 NFL Draft’s fifth round before playing the 2016 and 2017 seasons with the Bucs. He missed the 2018 season with a shoulder injury.
The defensive end said in the ESPN story that “withholding information is a form of deceit,” and he wanted to be honest moving forward.
“My truth is that I’m a talented football player, a damn good writer, a loving son, an overbearing brother, a caring friend, a loyal lover, and a bisexual man,” Russell said in the story.
In 2014, Michael Sam became the first openly gay football player to be drafted when the Rams took him in the seventh round.
There are other instances of players coming out following their careers.
“There isn’t a single openly LGBTQ player in the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball or the NHL, brings me pause,” Russell said in the story. “I want to change that -- for me, for other athletes who share these common goals, and for the generations of LGBTQ athletes who will come next.”
In addition to telling ESPN in the story he was bisexual, Russell made the following points:
- His goal is to return to the NFL and to live his life openly.
- He felt playing football was in the straight column, while he wrote poetry and romance stories that he put in the gay column.
- A gossip blogger figured out Russell was dating a man through social media findings, but heard him out and granted him a favor of not outing him.
- Until recently, he was ashamed of who he was.
- He began feeling the freedom of transparency after confiding in some loved ones and getting a chance to play for the Bucs.
- After the injury that cost him the 2018 season, his best friend passing away from cancer and battling severe depression, Russell said truth was part of his survival.
- He said in the story, “there are a lot of problems in the world, and a lot of issues facing the NFL. And I can say with confidence that LGBTQ players having the comfort to be themselves, date who they want, share parts of their life with friends and teammates will not rank among those issues.”
- He’s not looking to be a symbol or a media star.
