It’s highly probable that Derek Carr’s nine-year time as Las Vegas Raiders quarterback is coming to and end after Carr wrote a farewell piece to Raiders fans, three weeks after being benched. We will always have positive memories of Carr as LGBTQ sports fans because of the manner he handled an openly homosexual teammate.
In the summer of 2021, former Raiders lineman Carl Nassib came out as gay. Carr, who stated he wasn’t sure how the rest of the team felt, spoke out multiple times in support of Nassib.
Carr declared in July 2021 on Cris Collinsworth’s podcast, “He’s our brother.” “So, you have to go through us if you want to mess with him.”
That’s precisely the kind of message Nassib needed to hear from the franchise’s face, someone like Carr.
“At first, I was shocked because I didn’t know,” Carr told Michael Smith and Michael Holley on the “Brothers From Another” podcast. “There was never any discussion about it with any of the teammates. It was his moment when he picked up his phone and completed the task that way [on Instagram]. I also gave him a call. He was working out, so I texted him. And he responded with a text message. “Derek, you have no idea how much it meant to me that you reached out,” he added. “I was hoping that you would reach out,” he said. Though I wanted him to know, I’ll let his words be his own.
While some of Carr’s remarks about Nassib’s homosexuality as a “lifestyle” were ignorant, his overall remarks across multiple interviews struck the correct chord.
Carr addressed Collinsworth, saying, “Our team has been all for having his back.” “That does not imply that everyone supports the way of life or that.”
However, in the nation in which we currently reside, many believe that love and support for one another cannot exist if there is disagreement. And that’s like the furthest thing from the reality. Consequently, a few men have brought up a few questions. However, they all affirm that we have his back without a doubt.
It wasn’t a given that Nassib would be as welcomed as he was because the NFL roster consists of 53 players, many of whom have strong Christian values and come from homes where being gay may have been preached against from the pulpit.
Nassib participated in the Raiders’ 2021 campaign, which resulted in the team’s first postseason trip since 2016. His sexual orientation was, in a positive sense, a non-story, and we have Carr to thank for that. He contributed to establishing the idea that Nassib was simply his teammate. Even though his rhetoric isn’t perfect, Carr embodies what an ally ought to be.
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