Ryan Russell and Corey O’Brien
As you may or may not be aware, Ryan Russell is one of the few openly gay players in the NFL. Now a free agent, the defensive end has come out publicly in 2019, writing a courageous ESPN essay. At about the same time, he announced his relationship with Corey O’Brien and launched their own YouTube channel, Corey & Russ. It currently has almost 17K subscribers.
Russell stated that coming out publicly had a liberating effect on him, and the incredible and priceless support of his family, friends, and former NFL teammates made it an excellent experience.While he’s currently a free agent, Russell becoming an NFL player would make him the only and first athlete in the four major American professional sports leagues to identify as part of the LGBTQ community, which is a significant step forward for the whole group.