In an interview with CNN, former NFL
player Jeff Rohrer said that he hopes his coming out gay opens the
door for other athletes to come out.
Rohrer, 59, came out in an interview
with The New York Times.
On Sunday, he'll become the first known
NFL player in a same-sex marriage after he and Joshua Ross, the
36-year-old founder of the skin-care company SkinLab, exchange vows
in Los Angeles.
Rohrer, who went on to become a
successful commercial producer, told CNN that had he come out gay
during his football career – six seasons with the Dallas Cowboys –
he wouldn't have been a Cowboy.
“I was drafted in '82, and, you know,
it was a different time back then,” Rohrer said. “People were
just different and being gay was not part of any kind of narrative.
And today with the millennials, and certainly I've got two teenage
kids, everybody is extremely supportive.”
“I didn't expect the kind of love and
kindness from all the friends and family and ex-teammates from Yale
to Dallas who are all reaching out.”
When asked about when we might see a
current NFL player in a same-sex marriage, Rohrer answered, “Maybe
tomorrow.”
“You know, somebody had to break the
ice. It's not the reason Josh and I did it. We did it because, you
know, we fell in love and wanted to get married, but this hopefully
will open the door for other people to feel more comfortable knowing
that people are supportive,” Rohrer
said.