Michael Sam is one of many gay men actively playing in the NFL.
The free agent, who was released from both the St. Louis Rams and Dallas Cowboys this year after becoming the first openly gay player ever drafted, told Oprah Winfrey in an OWN special that aired over the weekend that “there’s a lot of us out there.”
“I’m not the only one,” Sam said. “I’m just the only one who’s open.”
Sam said during the same interview that he was contacted by “a very few” after coming out during an ESPN interview last February.
“[They] pretty much just told me their gratitude, how they were thankful,” Sam said, without giving Winfrey an exact number. “They wish that they had the courage to come out.”