Posted on 04/19/2005 1:27:46 PM PDT by real saxophonist
Gay football player talks about his life
Jesse Fanciulli
April 19, 2005
Esera Tuaolo isn't the man you might expect.
He weighs 310 pounds, and says he feels light as a feather.
He spent nine years as a defensive lineman in the manly-man world of the National Football League. And he's gay.
Tuaolo spent most of his life trying to be the man everyone expected: The man who laughed at fag jokes in the locker room and bedded women he met at bars.
"I made sure my teammates saw me kissing women and going home with them," Tuaolo told an audience of about 40 people who gathered to hear him speak Monday night at the University of Northern Colorado.
Tuaolo was apparently as good at acting as he was on the field.
None of his teammates with the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers or Atlanta Falcons knew Tuaolo was gay until he came out of the closet in 2002 after retirement.
The revelation cost him friendships with many of his former teammates, but being honest about his sexuality lifted a huge burden from Tuaolo's broad shoulders.
Tuaolo learned early in life that being openly gay was dangerous. He remembers seeing one of his childhood acquaintances throwing rocks at another boy, calling him a fag, queer and homosexual.
That was the day Tuaolo decided to keep his sexuality a secret.
"That's when I started to be an actor," he said at UNC. The decision to hide who he is might have been a wise one from an educational and professional standpoint.
As the youngest child in a poor family of banana farmers in Hawaii, Tuaolo was the first in his family to attend college, thanks to a football scholarship. Later, he would find success as a professional football player.
Tuaolo is convinced that his NFL teammates would have shunned him if he revealed his sexual identity -- so he took great pains to live a secret life.
He said numbed the fear of being discovered as gay with alcohol and was deeply depressed. It was not until after he retired that Tuaolo made the decision to come out. He had adopted two children with his partner Mitchell and wanted his children to know that families came in many combinations, and that it's OK to have two daddies.
"My life now is just beautiful," he said.
Tuaolo is an inspiration for UNC Noah Slauson, 22, who saw the former NFL player on the cover of a gay magazine: "I grew up in an era when I never imagined I could look up to a professional athlete."
Tuaolo spoke at UNC on behalf of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender organization.
Seems appropriate.
an evil genius.
my favorite kind.
Can you pwease be more tholerant.
LOL! Not a chance!
Sounds like a fabricated story to me. How young was he when this happened? He knew he was gay then? So, in jr. high and high school he didn't date or do more to any girls? How about college? How big was he--and he worries about other people's retractions? Bottom line, no one cares.
I heard he was a good guy. You know the type that
never leaves his friends behind.
Garcia is engaged to a Playmate, and reportedly dumped another for her. If he's really gay, he's done a masterful job of finding beards.
His chicks of choice may have had something to do with his release from the Cleveland Browns. Beware the Heather Kozar curse!
When I was in elementary school, we called EVERYONE a fag or a homo. We had no clue what it meant, but we knew it was bad. Methinks he didn't know either.
SOMEthing rubbed off on him.
Ping
Further proof that the "love that dare not speak it's name", has now become the "love that won't shut the hell up."
"The Fudge Bay Packers"
How about the Minnesota Viqueens?
Or Tampa Bay Buccanrears?
Why doesn't he just say he's bisexual?
Could be him . . . .
Homosexual Agenda Ping.
Too bad he hasn't seriously research reparative therapy. He doesn't HAVE to be "gay".
I bet his family is not happy about it; sounds like a Samoan name and they are generally very socially conservative.
Let me and DirtyHarryY2K know if you want on/off this pinglist.
LOL - good one
He probably just needs money. That's what all this "coming out" is about. Jerk.
Same here. That's what I thought. How old was he when this incident happened? I don't believe it for a minute, but mostly, I just don't care. I'm just enjoying all the jokes on here. lol
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