Although rumors have long suggested that an NFL player is about to come out as queer, Alan Gendreau would like to shatter the pro sports closet by being the first player to enter the league as gay.
The 23-year-old former Middle Tennessee State kicker completed his college career two years ago and was open then about his sexual orientation and is hoping to make it to the pros this season. Gendreau, who also identifies as Christian, opens up to OutSports about his journey.
Gendreau slept with a Bible next to his bed as a child. “I used to flip to the back to see if the Bible defined homosexuality,” he said.
Coming out at 15, he never hid his orientation from family and friends, even while playing for the Blue Raiders from 2008-2011.
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“Everyone just saw him as a football player,” Josh Davis, a former teammate remembered. “He was just one of the guys. The fact that he proved himself on the field, there was a respect for him. He’s a good guy. He’s a lot of fun to be around. With all the coaches and players, he had a good relationship.”
Has the landscape changed enough for Gendreau to become the first openly gay pro footballer? Minnesota Vikings punter and equality advocate Chris Kluwe thinks so.
“It’s totally legit that he can get into the league,” Kluwe told OutSports. “Place-kicking is all about doing this one specific skill set. And if you can do that, you can make it whether you’ve been out of football for one year or 10 years.”
Photo: Twitter
Katbox
HE’S 23?!!?!
looks way older.
2eo
@Katbox: I got told I looked 39 this morning. I’m 28.
BJ McFrisky
Good for this guy. Wish him well.
@2eo: It’s understandable. Sometimes it’s just very difficult to distinguish you from other women born in 1973. Maybe use a little more make-up?
DOFEK
Alan, sweetheart tell them all to suck egg. You are brave sweet and hot man. AdamHomo
jwrappaport
@salomybaby: You had me at hello. I sense a connection between us that transcends words, yet speaks volumes to me.
B Damion
@BJ McFrisky …lol girl I am in stitches over here LMAO…
Charles175
The article said: “Gendreau slept with a Bible next to his bed as a child. ”I used to flip to the back to see if the Bible defined homosexuality,” he said.” Truth is that none of the passages that are used against us, none of them can I (as a gay man) relate to on a personal or spiritual level. Yet the story of young David and Johnathan does have all the base root components that a modern day gay relationship has. Customs of the time may be different but the root is still the same. This irrelevant of sexual contact itself not being mentioned. Jonathan’s father, King Saul, was always trying to murder David because of this relationship. Jonathan was the only viable heir to the throne of King Saul and their relationship was a direct threat to this.
balehead
Sounds opportunistic…..Why didn’t he make it the first time?……
balehead
I would like to see all this talk about being “ok with gay players” talk to proven…to be just talk…just more learned speech for the media moment…
fredo777
This dude is cute + if he’s got the goods, I hope it works out for him.
@balehead: Are you going to add anything that isn’t snarky/negative? Why didn’t he make it the first time? Perhaps, because there are no guarantees that one will make it to the NFL…?
Joetx
I wish Alan the best.
BTW, not only does he look his age, but he’s a win for Team Gay – what an attractive guy!
Dakotahgeo
Very, very happy and proud for Alan! The Sports World is finally ‘growing up’!!!
bledoutcolor
I really don’t like this. He is just pandering to the right winter Christians by trying to be an acceptable middle ground.
By adding the Christian modifier and featuring it prominently he is creating the “good gays” who aren’t too upitty and know third place and the badevil godless heathen gays. I’m not saying that being a Christian is bad necessarily, I’m saying prominently featuring that as just as important as being gay in a move that has nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with being proud of you gayness and being the first gay player is a bad move and its kinda offensives.
Its fine that he is Christian, but don’t hold it up up like its a defense of being gay or like its ok for you to be gay and coming out because your not TOO queer or TOO outside of the norms by salvaging the wholesome religious persona that your pretty much using to pander to the religious nuts so your very existence wont offend them. Its BS. He shouldn’t have “Christian” in the title of that video because it isn’t the subject at hand.
And don’t forget, Christians have made themselves the enemies of gay people by denying us our rights and demonizing US not the other way around, so making a big deal about a being a “gay CHRISTIAN” I.e. an acceptable gay its gonna chafe hides. Reminds me of being told its fine to he gay as long as you are celibate. No either accept me whole hog or GTFO. This guy comes off as a pompous jerkass. I’m sorry but I don’t like him.
That wasn’t terribly erudite nor was it nearly as clear as I meant it to he but I’m angry now and I’m pretty sure it jumbled the intent of this post. /end rant
bledoutcolor
Sorry for the double post but I have one thing to add. In the same vein the “he was just one of the guys” bit is tired. He had it easier than some gay boys because he was a football player and masculine. He never had to deal with people accusing him of trying to act or “put on” being effeminate and therefore was an acceptable gay. People need to remember that what happens to the “least” of us is an affront to ALL of us so when people pick on femme gay boys I read them to filth and shut that s*it down, even if I’m not an effeminate gay, because put simply they are people to and they’re gays too and oftentimes they are the most courageous for fighting the BS and instigating change even when they have it rougher than the masc gays do. Something about that statement in he article
“He was just one of the guys” really bugs me. So is the boy with the lisp who sashés down the hall. One is no more acceptable than the other as long as neither are “putting on” and denying who they really are. That’s what is truly unacceptable. And a real man, “one of the guys” has the courage to not give a flying f*** in space and do and act how HE pleases.
Uh sorry for the second longwinded rant lol. Not trying to he fatty or anything this article just rubbed me so many wrong was I think it gave me an “anti-gasm”. Lol.
bledoutcolor
Urgh. That was supposed to say catty. Stupid tablet.
One other thing. He shouldn’t have to “prove himself” as a man by being good at football. See above post, yadda yadda.
Mykey
@Katbox: I was thinking the same thing, more like 35
Daggerman
..well, this may sound shocking to some but he looks very cute indeed and needs to be put over my knee and spanked until he wets himself including me!!
Badger88
@bledoutcolor: If Gendreau truly is a masculine, religious, one-of-the-boys type of guy, then what’s wrong with him telling others that? Remember, there’s a unfair stereotype that if you’re gay, you are an effeminate, Godless person who likes to go shopping with the girls. Nothing wrong with gays like that, but if that’s simply not that type of guy Gendreau is, then he has a right to rebut that presumption.
It’s like how the conservatives always say, “Why do you people gotta tell everyone you’re gay? Why don’t you just keep it to yourself?” And the answer is that there’s also a presumption that most people are straight, so we need to explain that we’re different, or otherwise people will assume we’re something that we’re actually not.
Cee
A Gay Christian. That’s like an oxymoron.
Dakotahgeo
@Cee: Only an Oxygen-depraved moron would make such a remark in regards to the term, ‘gay Christian.’ You need to be educated, and fast!
Dakotahgeo
@Dakotahgeo: Correction: “OXYgen-depraved….”
Badger88
@Cee: Do you have a Bible that quotes Jesus condemning the gays? Nope, didn’t think so.
oilburner
@2eo: omfg the same thing happened to me last weekend I also got asked by a bank teller if I had a kid in high school
viveutvivas
To the bitter old queens going on about his age, you are just sour that he is hotter than you. Why don’t you publish YOUR pathetic faces on here for us to criticize?
miagoodguy
let’s just hope this isn’t a publicity stunt like that girl who tried out a couple of months ago.
Badger88
@miagoodguy: I honestly don’t think it’s a publicity stunt. He is taking a risk by coming out before this year’s NFL Draft. Unlike some professions, being openly gay doesn’t help your cause in football. With most teams, it might not hurt him either, but there’s simply no benefit. Being gay isn’t going to get him picked over more qualified contenders, because football is about winning games, not serving as affirmative action programs to promote diversity. And if he’s matched against other kickers of comparable skill, it’d be easy for a team to simply pick the straight player, since that avoids unnecessary controversy.
Having said that, he’s a brave guy, so I really hope it works out for him.
Royce
@Katbox: If you think he looks way older than 23, there’s something wrong with your vision. Regardless, he is very hot and a talented ball player. Stop hatin’ so much.
tardis
Who let the haters out?
bledoutcolor
@Badger88: The problem is that he makes being a Christian so prominent in a story when it doesn’t have a emanate thing Otto do with it. He is being a Christian apologist a**hole. The Christian Bible says to stone gays to death, so forgive me if I’m not warm and cuddly to the type of gay who kisses Xtian a** everytime they open their mouth. There is no reason to make it a prominent part of being the first gay footballer. If he was doing something Christian oriented then fine, but like I said he is doing it to appeal to and appease the hateful Christian right wingers or else he wouldn’t feel the need to spend so much of the story (more space is devoted to his Christianity than his sexuality) gushing about how he humped his Bible as a kid eveyr night before he fell asleep.
And again nothing wrong with the one of the boys type gay. The problem is the speech of the people in this article elevates them as acceptable or ideal gays and that inherently disenfranchises the “less acceptable” masculine gays. There is no point in going on about how masculine he is other than to try to compensate for his gayness and that being seen as femenine. Its more pandering. And its BS. If he really cared about the gay community this story wouldn’t be all about him and how Christian and Masculine and All American etc. he is, rather it would be about how what he is doing helps other gays break into a very heteronormative world of sports and even just make any teenager who may be struggling with being gay feel better about themselves and who they are. Its awesome that he is proud to be masculine and non steretypical and an everyguy etc, and its good he is proving the stereotype wrong. But at the same time this is a prime opportunity for him to step up as a masculine gay and say ” Hey those stereotypes are wrong. There are masculine everygays out there. But there are also “stereotypical gays” who are effeminate. And guess what, both are perfectly legitimate and one is no better than he other”. But instead he seems to be using his masculinity to validate his sexuality, which is absolutely disgusting.
Hell, it’d be honorable if he was reaching out to gay Christian teens and helping them come to terms with being both gay and Christian and feeling a strong identity in both BUT ITS ALL ABOUT HIM. That is the problem here. He is being self serving and at the same time is making one of his target audiences angry Christians who hates gays by trying to “prove” he is an acceptable Christian.
And yes, while gay Christians aren’t really oxymorons, in my opinion they ARE gays who either lost or never had any self respect. I don’t have time for any religion period, but especially not ones that take and bash a fundemental aspect of who I am for control of the sheeple. I may sound cynical, but that’s what happens when people routinely assault you citing Leviticus, plan your assault with authority figures (which can be anything from a teacher to a bus driver to a police officer) beforehand so they look the other way, and just generally make your life hell because of who you are. You stop putting up with the bulls*it and you start confronting it.
This guy is being a tool. And probably a good half of his defenders are doing so because he is cute. You don’t seem to be one of them, you just honestly seem to see the best in people, but I just wanted to point out how much more leneint us gays can be when we have a cute face or ripped abs to look at. And again I may be reading between the lines here, but generally that is a good skill to have, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that has this guy pinging the self loathing checkmark on my mental list-of-things-that-make-you-a-tool.
I still feel like what we need is for someone already IN the NFL to come out, not someone already out to ENTER the NFL lol. That’s the impact we need right now. A big name player to draw the attention to the fact that gay guys are just like everyone else. This guy just doesn’t seem like a candidate that would do good for the lgbt community, if all he can do is make it all about him and how wholesome and acceptable his brand of queer is.
bledoutcolor
*that was supposed to say less acceptable non-masculine gays in the second paragraph.
Its sad that Chris Kluwe and Brendan Ayanbadejo have been more conscientious, erudite, and just generally better allies than this gay man is being to ALL queer people, and not just the ones that have what are deemed as “acceptable” traits or traits that “redeem” their gayness.
I guess gays are just as quick to form castes and step on each other to get ahead as anyone else in the world. At least he didn’t say anything directly condemning non Christian or non masculine or non *insert trait that makes being gay a little less awful to the mainstream here*. But he certainly isn’t doing anything to break the caste, or indeed, annything to substantially help the entire Queer community as a whole in any way.