Does anyone know any - or know of any - who they believe fit the description and are currently playing?

One ex-pro player was mentioned in the Outsports blog as having visited a gay touch football team.

Who else has really stepped up?

I've been doing some interviews with gay hockey players for a screenplay I'm writing—no pros yet, though I'd like to talk to them as well. Players from the gay hockey team G-Force have discussed playing with straight players, and having straight players join their gay teams, so there are definitely some straight folks that are quite accepting on that front. That said, I don't know of any examples of pro straight players that have been vocally supportive of gay ones. The subject really interests me, however, so I'll keep my ears open and my eyes on this thread.

Great question. I'd love to see more dialogue on this!

Outsports also recently referenced this article about an ESPN reporter who claims to know of some pro athletes who have told him they are gay. But it seems unlikely that a closeted pro athlete would be comfortable around openly gay people.

Just the opposite.

However if their straight teammates know they are gay and apparently are supportive enough not to out the person, then you would think that those straight teammates might at least be more openly supportive of gay rights, such as gay marriage, repealing DOMA or reversing DADT.

I know that their organizations may not be particularly fond of the notion, and perhaps their are contractual limitations, but these limitations certainly don't stop athletes from openly - and some might even say inappropriately - displaying their faith after scoring a touchdown for instance.

The support of a human right should trump any such contract, written or unwritten. Straight men from other sectors of society have become "fierce"supporters of issues, like gay marriage and the right to serve openly in the military, without anyone questioning their manhood.

I don't think that all pro sports are full of homophobes or people of such delicate ego that we challenge them.

Since that writer is openly gay, unless he's making it up then those athletes must be comfortable with him. I wouldn't think he's making it up as he's not claiming to have slept with them or that one is his boyfriend, like the Brendan Lemon/Out magazine story.

I did not mean to seem as though I were questioning the author's integrity Joe. He says himself that "I don't hang out with any of these guys and don't consider any of them friends."

That is enough to suggest to me that he is being honest. His correspondents however are another matter.