As we showed in our Out In Sports study, athletes widely accept their LGBTQ teammates. Those messages don’t reflect the direction of sports or the NFL.
This wasn’t just a flippant remark, this was a series of messages over the course of several years. Yet Gruden has no one to blame but himself. People say stupid stuff, and I prefer a path to redemption that advances our inclusion in sports. I’ve been consistent about that over the years. I’m not a big fan of people losing their jobs or careers over stupid anti-LGBTQ language. While some “fans” will ramp up their claims of boycotting the NFL for putting inclusion ahead of wins, Gruden brougt this upon himself. Leading up to it, the NFL has produced various messages of support for the LGBTQ community. The fact that the openly gay player - Nassib - has a position with the Raiders and Gruden - who’s won a Super Bowl - has been forced to resign signals a powerful moment for the league. The general line was that this proves how anti-LGBTQ people in football really are. In the moments after some of the contents of Gruden’s homophobic emails were publicly released, there was a flood of social media exchanges excoriating the NFL. “Mark, like his father, won’t tolerate anything he believes diminishes the Raiders.
Yet according to reports, Davis simply couldn’t accept a potential trip to the Super Bowl if it meant doing so with someone who had sent graphic racist and homophobic emails. He was supposed to be the guy who brought the silver and black back to the promised land.
He’s the coach who beat the Raiders in the Super Bowl two decades ago.
Gruden was the guy Raiders owner Mark Davis hand-picked to return to the Raiders and lead them into a new stadium, a new city.
One of the most storied franchises in American professional sports has said “yes” to a gay player and “no” to a coach who used a gay slur in emails a few years ago. Just minutes after it was publicly revealed that Gruden had called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a “faggot,” in addition to other homophobic and racist language, Gruden was forced to resign from his position as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, the very team that employs Nassib.