Ryan O’Callaghan, who played in the NFL from 2006 to 2011 and came out publicly in 2017, has told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that every National Football League team has at least one gay or bisexual player.
“I can promise you there’s plenty of closeted NFL players,” said Callaghan. “I think it’s safe to say there’s at least one on every team who is either gay or bisexual. A lot of guys still see it as potentially having a negative impact on their career.”
In his book “My Life on the Line: How the NFL Damn Near Killed Me and Ended Up Saving My Life,” Callaghan details the stresses and suicidal depression he experienced as a closeted professional football player – and credits a team psychologist with the Kansas City Chiefs for helping him build up courage to come out. The book will be published on September 3.
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