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Sports

Gay Dallas Cowboys Player Reveals Why He Came Out Later in Life

"Being a gay Dallas Cowboy was not going to happen in the '80s," Jeff Rohrer, the first NFL player ever to marry someone of the same gender, said in a new doc.

Taylor Henderson

Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one!

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Taylor Henderson

cornbreadsays

December 05 2019 6:53 PM EST

May 26 2023 12:38 PM EST

Former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Jeff Rohrer opens up about his "modern family" in a new documentary from NFL Films.

The retired football star tears up when he shares the decades-long story of hiding who he was, his coming out, and his divorce from his wife.

"It was something that I suppressed so hard for so many years that I really had no idea," Rohrer says on growing up in the '70s and '80s. "My story was you kind of, go on a track of who you're supposed to be, not who you want to be."

It seemed like his life was falling apart when he finally admitted his sexuality to himself and family, but he soon found happiness. In 2018, Rohrer married skin-care expert to the stars Joshua Ross, becoming the first NFL player ever to get married to someone of the same gender. He now lives with his husband, ex-wife, and two kids all in the same house—a truly modern family living situation.

Through it all, Rohrer remained nervous about what the football community might say, but "what I've learned is that they both have been very accepting," he says. "I'm so happy, so proud that I'm out, so proud that I'm gay. And I'm just going to go forward."