Former Football Player, Michael Irvin, Supports Gay Rights – On The Cover of “Out Magazine”

Former Dallas Cowboy player, Michael Irvin, is on this month’s issue of Out Magazine speaking about his support for acceptance of women and men with alternative lifestyles.

Out Magazine is a publication targeted toward gays and lesbians. In the issue, Michael Irvin discusses dealing with his brother being a homosexual man, why he kept it a secret throughout most of his career, being afraid to be associated with a gay man and whether he believes that professional athletes can ‘live out loud’ without being scrutinized in this day and age.

Michael Irvin on how he was affected by his brother’s sexuality

“We went back to [the day I first saw my brother in women’s clothes] and through it all, we realized maybe some of the issues I’ve had with so many women-just bringing women around so everybody can see-maybe that’s residual of the fear I had that, if my brother is wearing ladies’ clothes, am I going to be doing that? Is it genetic? I’m certainly not making excuses for my bad decisions. But I had to dive inside of me to find out why I was making these decisions, and that came up.”

“I’m not gay, but I was afraid to even let anyone have that thought. I can only imagine the agony-being a prisoner in your own mind – for someone who wants to come out. If I’m not gay and I am afraid to mention it, I can only imagine what an athlete must be going through if he is gay. I believe, if a teammate had said he was gay, we would have integrated him and kept it moving because of the closeness. We had a bunch of characters on that team. Deion [Sanders] and Emmitt [Smith]. I believe that team would have handled it well.”

On whether a player should come out now that it’s more accepted or keep it private

“I think it’s his own preference, who he wants to share that with. But I would like to see players come forward and be happy with who they are. Hopefully, as we move forward, we’ll get to a place where there’s no way it’s even considered; it just is what it is and everybody can do what they do. That’s the ultimate goal.”

“If anyone comes out in those top four major sports, I will absolutely support him. That’s why I do my radio show every day. When these issues come out, I want to have a voice to speak about them. I think growth comes when we share. Until we do that, we’re going to be stuck in the Dark Ages about a lot of things. When a guy steps up and says, ‘This is who I am,’ I guarantee you I’ll give him 100% support. The last thing I want is to go to God and have him ask, ‘What did you do?’ And I talk about winning Super Bowls and national titles. I didn’t do anything to make it a better world before I left? That would be scary.”

Irvin On homophobia in the black community

“I don’t see how any African American with any inkling of history can say that you don’t have the right to live your life how you want to live your life. No one should be telling you who you should love, no one should be telling you who you should be spending the rest of your life with. When we start talking about equality and everybody being treated equally, I don’t want to know an African American who will say everybody doesn’t deserve equality.”

“I have to make sure we do things to bring people together. The Super Bowls will be the footnotes on my resume.”