Photo: Tommaso Boddi/Getty
Former Dallas Cowboys player Ryan Russell came out as bisexual in an emotional first-person essay written forESPN.
The football star is currently anNFLfree agent, but previously played for the Cowboys and, most recently, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Have I lied to teammates, coaches, trainers, front-office executives and fans about who I am? Not exactly,” Russell, 27, wrote in the essay. “But withholding information is a form of deceit. And I want the next part of my career — and life — steeped in trust and honesty.”
The athlete continued, “During the season you spend more time with your team than with your own family; truth and honesty are the cornerstones of a winning culture. 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.”
After the essay was published, Russell posteda YouTube videowith his boyfriend, dancer Corey O’Brien, on their new joint YouTube channel. The athlete also posteda photowith O’Brien on Instagram Thursday, captioning the photo with a poem that began “Love is faithful, Love is kind.”
In his ownInstagram post, O’Brien wrote that he “couldn’t be more proud” of Russell for “speaking his truth as a player in the NFL and as my boyfriend.”
In his essay, Russell wrote, “Today, I have two goals: returning to the NFL, and living my life openly. I want to live my dream of playing the game I’ve worked my whole life to play, and being open about the person I’ve always been,” adding that “there isn’t a single openly LGBTQ player in the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball or the NHL.”
He also shared, “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.”
As he began to pursue a career in the NFL, Russell said he began to “compromise my personal world — and my personal happiness.”
“Though I confided in close friends and family and gave myself permission to date both men and women discreetly, I deprived myself the basic privilege of living an open life,” he wrote. “That meant I had to be strategic and cautious about meeting guys or getting involved with them during the regular season. It also meant that even though I was building important friendships on my team, I couldn’t be authentic or honest about who I am or what was going on in my life.”
The football player explained that, after his first few seasons in the NFL, he “started feeling the freedom of transparency — even if it was small at first — and the fear of people finding out and rejecting me slowly dissipated.”
“Being more comfortable in my own skin made me a better teammate,” he wrote. “I was able to play and start at the highest level in the world, and felt like I belonged.”
“I just want to play ball for a team that knows me off the field and values me on it,” he wrote. “I want to encourage teammates to be the same people they have always been. I want us to remain as close as family. I want to be able to dedicate my life to football without feeling like I can’t dedicate my life to truth as well.”
source: people.com
